Fox medal winner beats stroke, takes on forensic studies

Jodie Warren’s career goals could have changed after she suffered a severe stroke at 23. Instead they took a detour.

Despite a lengthy recovery and permanent loss of the use of her right arm, this year’s winner of SFU’s Terry Fox gold medal stayed in the driver’s seat. At 29, she is a graduate student in the school of criminology, investigating how temperature change affects the development of insects found at homicide sites. Warren is working with well-known SFU forensic entomologist Gail Anderson.

The stroke came unexpectedly during a Christmas break while she was an undergraduate student at SFU. It left extensive damage, including paralysis in her right arm. A year later she required open-heart surgery as a preventative measure against future strokes.

Despite months of physical rehabilitation and mental adjustment, Warren completed her bachelor’s degree at SFU, majoring in biology, excelled in a forensic science certificate program at BCIT and became a volunteer in Anderson’s forensic lab, where she has found ways to adapt herself, or her equipment, to conduct her experiments.

Warren, who resides in Burnaby, will receive the award, given to those who show courage in adversity and dedication to society, during SFU’s third annual Terry Fox Day on Thursday, Sept. 18. The presentation follows a 5km walk/run by members of the campus community (leaving from the Terry Fox field about 11:30 a.m.) and will take place in Convocation Mall at 12:30 p.m.

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