One of 40. One of ours.

When members of a STARS air medical crew pull on their blue flight suits, they prepare to step into situations where the stakes can be extraordinarily high. 

Dr. Katie Lin brings something particularly valuable to those moments: deep expertise in both emergency and stroke medicine, an ability to translate complex medicine into practical care and a passion for helping other health-care providers become even better at what they do. 

Now, those qualities are earning recognition beyond medicine. Avenue magazine has named Dr. Lin one of Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2026. 

It is an impressive honour, but the accomplishments behind it tell an even better story. 

Dr. Lin was the first physician in Canada to complete dual certification in emergency medicine and stroke medicine. Her unusual combination of expertise connects two critical parts of a patient’s journey: the urgent care provided when every minute matters and a sophisticated understanding of what needs to happen to protect the brain and improve a patient’s chance of recovery. 

That expertise follows Dr. Lin into her work at STARS. 

Sometimes she is physically part of a mission. Other times, she supports a rural physician by phone as that doctor manages a critically ill patient while waiting for the STARS team to arrive. She also teaches STARS transport physicians and air medical crews, sharing her knowledge of neurological emergencies and facilitating simulation training. 

For Dr. Lin, supporting another clinician through a difficult case is one of the most rewarding parts of the job. 

“You can still just be that voice in that moment so that they don’t feel alone as they’re managing that patient,” she said. 

Raising the people around her 

Perhaps one of Dr. Lin’s greatest strengths is that her expertise does not stop with her. Her success reflects what becomes possible when talented women have opportunities to build careers in emergency and transport medicine. 

She is an associate professor of emergency medicine and clinical neurosciences at the University of Calgary, teaches nationally and internationally and developed the Synapse Neuro EMS Essentials Course to help health-care providers strengthen their knowledge of neurological emergencies. Her teaching includes work with rural emergency departments where specialist support may be limited. 

Dr. Lin brings more than representation to STARS. She brings a rare breadth of clinical knowledge, a passion for teaching and an ability to connect expertise across specialties and settings. Her career has repeatedly crossed traditional boundaries, from emergency medicine into stroke care, from hospital practice into prehospital medicine and from caring for patients herself to equipping other clinicians to provide exceptional care. 

It is also a career built with the support of others. Dr. Lin readily credits the mentors who saw potential in her and encouraged her to pursue opportunities, including joining STARS earlier in her career than she had imagined. Today, she is helping create those opportunities for others through teaching, mentorship and sharing her expertise. 

And while Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40 recognizes Dr. Lin as an individual, she is characteristically quick to recognize the people around her. 

“None of us can really succeed alone,” she said. ​“It’s really that community that supports you.” 

It is a fitting sentiment for STARS, where no mission is the work of one person. 

The blue flight suit may be what patients and families remember seeing. What matters most is the person wearing it: a clinician with years of training, specialized knowledge, sound judgment, compassion and a commitment to keep learning and teaching. 

In Dr. Lin, STARS has all of that, along with one of Calgary’s newest Top 40 Under 40 honourees. 

Read the Avenue Magazine article here.