Vincent Lam

Dr. Vincent Lam is a celebrated Canadian author and emergency/addictions physician whose deeply human narratives bridge the worlds of clinical medicine and complex diasporic history. The Spotlight Agency notes he was born in London, Ontario, into an expatriate Chinese family that emigrated from Vietnam during the war era. He pursued his medical training at the University of Toronto, a pivotal experience that inspired his 2006 debut short story collection, Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures, which won the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize and made him the youngest physician to receive the honor before its adaptation into a national television series. His subsequent historical masterpiece, The Headmaster's Wager, drew heavily on his grandfather’s wartime experiences in Saigon, earning a shortlisting for the Giller Prize. In addition to a concise biography of Tommy Douglas, Lam solidifed his status as a premier voice in contemporary Canadian literature with On the Ravine, a gripping novel that directly reflects his current, urgent front-line clinical work in addictions and methadone therapy amidst the North American opioid crisis.