Vincent Lam

Vincent Lam (born September 5, 1974) is a Canadian writer and medical doctor.

Vincent Lam
Born	(1974-09-05) September 5, 1974 (age 50) London, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Short story writer, novelist, medical doctor
Period	2000s–present
Notable works	Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
Spouse	Margarita Lam Antoniades
Website
www.vincentlam.ca/index.php

Early life and education

Born in London, Ontario, and raised in Ottawa, Lam's parents came to Canada from the Chinese expatriate community in Vietnam. He attended St. Pius X High School and did his medical training at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1999.^{[citation needed][1]}

Career

Lam worked as an emergency physician at Toronto East General Hospital^[2] and has done international air evacuation work and expedition medicine on Arctic and Antarctic ships.^[3] He is currently working as an addictions physician at Coderix Medical Clinic.

Writing career

Lam's first book Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures is based on his experiences in medical school. Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures won the 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award, on November 7, 2006. Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures was also a finalist for The Story Prize in 2008. His second book, the Flu Pandemic and You, which was co-authored by Colin Lee, was published in 2008.

Following Lam's Giller win, Shaftesbury Films announced that it had reached a deal to adapt Bloodletting into a television series,^[4] which debuted in January 2010 on HBO Canada.

Lam published a biography of Canadian politician Tommy Douglas, as part of Penguin Canada's Extraordinary Canadians series of historical biographies.^[5]

His first novel, The Headmaster's Wager, was published in 2012 by Doubleday Canada and has been shortlisted for the 2012 Governor General's Literary Award.^[6]

Personal life

Lam currently lives with his wife and three children in Toronto.^[7]

Bibliography

• The Flu Pandemic and You, co-written with Colin Lee with a foreword by Margaret Atwood (2006, ISBN 0-385-66277-7)
• Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures (2006, ISBN 0-385-66143-6)
• Extraordinary Canadians: Tommy Douglas (2011)
• The Headmaster's Wager (2012)
• On the Ravine (2023)