VANCOUVER – On June 14, Dr. Eric Yoshida was awarded the Order of British Columbia, the highest distinction a province can bestow upon its citizens.
Yoshida, along with 15 other honoured British Columbians and their friends and families were invited to a ceremony where B.C. Premier Christy Clark and Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichan presented them with the awards.
“British Columbia’s greatest strength is British Columbians – people who use their talents and passions to make a difference both here at home and, in many cases, around the world,” said Premier Christy Clark at the ceremony. “On behalf of all British Columbians, I want to thank this year’s recipients for their dedication, and everything they do to make B.C. a wonderful place to live, work and raise a family.”
“To be on the stage with Christy Clark, incredible feeling, you kind of have this feeling that you’re unworthy,” Yoshida tells the Nikkei Voice in an interview. Now that time has passed, he has been able to appreciate the ceremony for what it was. “It was enjoyable – but at the time there were lots of butterflies in my stomach,” he says.
Yoshida, who is a professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia and the head of gastroenterology at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) is far from ‘unworthy’. Receiving his award for his clinical research in liver disease, he has changed the medical culture not only in B.C., but also the rest of North America. Because of this, Yoshida has also changed the lives of people who receive medical treatment for liver disease.
In his clinical research, Yoshida found that First Nations people in B.C. are more likely to suffer from primary biliary cirrhosis and autoimmune liver disease. This changed the medical assumption from negative stereotypes, that First Nations coming to the hospital with liver disease were alcoholics, which would make them ineligible to have liver transplants.