Fielding Alum Makes a Generous Donation to Honor Faculty

Stephen Chiang, M.D., Ph.D.

Fielding alum Stephen Chiang, M.D., Ph.D. (HOD’2024) has made a generous gift to Fielding Graduate University, establishing the Rosenthal-Nelson-Appelbaum Fund in honor of the exceptional teaching he received from three distinguished faculty members in the School of Leadership Studies: Patrice Rosenthal, Ph.D., Annabelle Nelson, Ph.D., and Richard Appelbaum, Ph.D. 

Each of these three faculty members will have access to one-third of the total fund, which can be used at their discretion to further their teaching and benefit Fielding students. 

Upon making this generous contribution, Dr. Chiang shared: “Dr. Rosenthal [dissertation chair] taught me a tremendous amount of knowledge on how to conduct research. I also greatly appreciated the dedication, patience, and exceptional advice she provided to me during my Fielding years. Dr. Nelson taught superbly in her courses. She also rendered me unparalleled support during the process of my dissertation. Dr. Appelbaum is an inspiring teacher. His extraordinary teaching made my Fielding PhD journey worthwhile. I was so lucky I had the opportunity to learn from these three magnificent teachers.” 

While the gift from Dr. Chiang was a pleasant surprise, faculty recognition in this way is a common practice among Fielding alums who thank faculty members by contributing to their research, collaboration with students, and named scholarships. 

Upon hearing the news, Dr. Rosenthal wrote: “Deep thanks to Stephen Chiang, M.D., Ph.D., for this amazing donation to Fielding! I was honored and uplifted to work with Stephen as mentor and chair of his dissertation committee. Indeed, my work with Stephen has been a high point of my time in Fielding. It has been wonderful to partner with Stephen as he stepped into his identity and accomplishment as a strong scholar and researcher. I have been so impressed by the quality and integrity of his process. In his research on Indigenous people’s experience of health care in Canada, Stephen has made important scholarly contributions, producing a deeper and more rounded exploration of Indigenous individuals’ experience than is available in the literature to date. His research delivered important practical insights for the improvement of medical care for First Nations people. I extend deep appreciation to Stephen for his excellent research and for this most generous donation to Fielding.”  

Dr. Nelson shared: “I was very honored to have work with Chuk-Yim Stephen Chiang as a member of his dissertation committee and as a faculty for research and literature review courses. Stephen’s research giving First Nations people voice in their medical care is groundbreaking in addressing healthcare inequity.  Already holding an M.D., Stephen’s quest for his own learning and extending medical services to First Nations is inspiring and shows his gracing his intellect with compassion.” 

“It has been a truly great honor—and an equally great pleasure—to be able to accompany Dr. Chuk-Yim Stephen Chiang on his Fielding journey. I have learned from his wisdom, scholarship, and life experiences, both in classes and, of course, from his brilliant dissertation. His dedication to providing quality health care to Canada’s First Nations spans his life’s service and his research——truly a model for everything Fielding espouses. Congratulations, Dr. (MD, PhD) Chiang!” added Dr. Appelbaum.  

Dr. Chiang’s generosity reflects his deep appreciation for the mentorship and support he received during his time at Fielding. His donation will not only honor the contributions of his esteemed faculty but also ensure that future students continue to benefit from their exceptional guidance and teaching. This fund will empower Dr. Rosenthal, Dr. Nelson, and Dr. Appelbaum to enhance their educational initiatives, further fostering an environment of academic excellence and collaboration at Fielding. 

Stephen has practiced medicine for over 30 years. After obtaining his MBA and Chartered Accountant (the equivalent of CPA in the US) designations, he started his career as an executive in business. Although he had a great opportunity for advancement and a promising future in business, he was unhappy because he found that life needed purpose. He was greatly urged to care for people instead of managing the business. Therefore, he went back to school to study medicine. Since he became a licensed physician, he has never been so happy in his life. Stephen has a varied medical practice, caring for patients in his office, the hospital in-patient wards, and the emergency department. In addition, he looked after patients in two long-term care facilities. He also attended to inmates in a nearby provincial jail and employees of some local mining companies. He was actively involved in hospital administration, being the Chief of Staff of three hospitals, the Chief of two emergency departments, the medical director of two long-term care homes, and the lead physician of a family health team. Stephen is also very enthusiastic about teaching medical students and residents, being an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in Canada. Stephen greatly admires researchers, so he enrolled in Fielding to learn to become one of them. An incident involving an Indigenous man in 2019 at a large hospital in Northern Ontario raised the possibility of healthcare inequality for Indigenous peoples. This aroused Stephen’s interest in learning about the healthcare of Indigenous peoples; therefore, he conducted his study to examine the healthcare experiences of Indigenous peoples in Northern Ontario.