Francesca is a Mental Health & Addiction professional. She completed Honours Bachelors of Science, majoring in Psychology from the University of Toronto. She then completed a Post-Grad Diploma in Addictions and Mental Health from Humber College. Her experiences include working for non-profit organizations that serves the vulnerable and marginalized, as well as working in St. Michael's Hospital in their Withdrawal Management Services serving women suffering from addictions. Ultimately, Francesca would like to attain her license in Psychotherapy and provide supports for those suffering from mental health!

Eva Kyleman is a graduate of Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto (2003). After being selected for a future leaders rotational program at GE working in eCommerce, Manufacturing and Technology, she moved into the world of packaged goods at Unilever. With experience working on brands such as TRESemmé, Hellmann’s, Vaseline and Ben & Jerry’s and holding roles in Supply Chain, Sales and Marketing (yes, engineers can do marketing!), Eva currently leads the in-store displayer business at Unilever Canada.

Eva is a big supporter of women in STEM and is a speaker for the Dove self-esteem project, reaching over one thousand young people with self-esteem education.

Despite being strong in high-school Math and Science, she viewed Engineering as a discipline for “those very, very smart people over there”. Learn about Eva’s journey through her Bachelors of Applied Science, the doors that it opened, and her unconventional career trajectory.

Hi! My name is Tamara and I am a student in the Master of Science in eHealth program at McMaster University. I graduated from the Life Sciences program at McMaster in 2020 and found an interest to continue my academic career in the digital health industry. Currently, I am completing my internship at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton as a Project Analyst. When I am not at work, you can catch me finding new shows to watch or exploring trails in Hamilton. As an ND alumna, I am excited to share my academic journey with current Dame students!

Dr. Giulia Rossi is a postdoctoral fellow working in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough. As a comparative animal physiologist, Dr. Rossi is deeply interested in understanding the innovative solutions that animals use to overcome life’s most extreme challenges. Broadly, her postdoctoral research in the Welch Lab explores the mechanisms that allow hummingbirds to fatten sufficiently before embarking on their fall migration from Canada to Central America. Dr. Rossi recently completed her PhD in the Wright Lab at the University of Guelph, where her research was similarly focused on metabolic physiology. She studied a unique group of fishes that move between aquatic and terrestrial habitats (i.e., amphibious fishes), and investigated how their bodies change to facilitate survival in these two dramatically different environments. Dr. Rossi routinely integrates behavioral, physiological, and biochemical approaches so that her lab-based studies will translate into ecological contexts.

Dr. Payne is a graduate from Howard University, Washington, DC where she obtained her Doctor of Pharmacy Degree.

Dr. Payne was awarded a Fellowship from Harvard University Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, to train at the Cognitive Neuroimaging and Neuropsychology Laboratory, at McLean Hospital. She is also a proud Torontonian, being a graduate from Claude Watson School of the Performing Arts at Earl Haig High School.

Dr. Payne is currently working as an Associate Director, at Allergan, specifically as Area Scientific Lead (Toxins), Western Europe & Canada in Medical Aesthetics. Prior to joining Allergan, Dr. Payne worked more than ten years at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in the field of HIV/AIDS. At NIH, she participated in the design of Phase II-IV clinical trials, global site visits and drafting of regulatory requirements. Dr. Payne also collaborated with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to draft continuing medical education (CME) and risk evaluation and mitigation strategies (REMS) programs.

Upon returning home to Canada, she served as a Consultant with Canadian pharmaceutical companies for several years providing guidance and expertise on drug submission processes, payer reimbursement and market access strategies.

Ms. Aronoff is a fifth year PhD student in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. She currently studies the immune response to viral infection of the heart. Her project goals are to better understand the role of certain immune cells during infection and their relationship to disease outcomes.

Ms. Aronoff completed her Bachelor of Science in Biology and Minors in French and Biochemistry at Mount Allison University, in Sackville, NB. Having taken a number of laboratory courses, she became interested in research. She worked as a summer student for the National Research Council after 3rd year studying wheat fungus. She then did a research project in her 4th year looking for Borrelia, the causative agent of Lyme disease, in wild rodents. After graduating from Mt Allison, Ms. Aronoff worked as a summer research student at SickKids doing clinical research in the Cancer Genetics Program. This led to a position as a clinical research project assistant for the remainder of the year as she applied to graduate school. After two years of graduate school, Ms. Aronoff wanted to continue her research and transferred to a PhD, which she is scheduled to finish up in the next year.

Ms. Forster grew up in the United States, in the Washington D.C. suburbs. For her undergraduate studies, she majored in molecular biology and applied mathematics at Johns Hopkins University. After working in public health research and teaching part-time, she completed her master's degree in biology at New York University. She then worked for a biotech start-up company in New York City, developing viral therapeutics. She is now working towards a PhD in a structural biology lab at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Hailey Hoffman graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph in the spring of 2020 after completing the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program. Dr. Hoffman completed an internship in small animal internal medicine, surgery, and emergency medicine at the Veterinary Emergency Clinic and Referral Centre (VEC). Following the completion of her internship, she joined the team at Toronto Veterinary Emergency Hospital (TVEH). In her spare time, she enjoys reading, going to the gym, traveling, adventure seeking and spending time with her family/friends and her dog Stevie.

Victoria is a Process Engineer at Oxford Properties. She studied Computer Engineering at Ryerson University and graduated in 2021 with a BEng. During university, she interned at Canadian Tire Corporation as a System Program Analyst.

At Oxford Properties, she leads continuous improvement initiatives to streamline processes in the organization through methods such as automation. She works closely with her co-op student and technical and business teams to achieve these initiatives. Her other career interests include product owner and product management roles in the software development space.

Ms. Thulasiram is a third year PhD student in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. She is originally from Winnipeg, MB where she completed her BSc. in Cognitive Science from the University of Manitoba.

During her undergraduate years she was funded through an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA), helping push forward her research into the effects of 2D vertically moving targets on reaching and grasping strategies. The training she acquired included MotionMonitor, EyeLinkII, Optotrak Certus, and MATLAB. An extension of this work was continued for her Honours thesis and accepted for publication.

Currently, Ms. Thulasiram is investigating hearing regeneration at the Sunnybrook Research Institute. Her focus is on finding biological solutions for hearing impairments/loss.

Alongside her research, she is a Site Coordinator with Let's Talk Science and is a coordinator with the Confederation of Laboratory and Pathobiology Students (CLAMPS) at U of T. In these roles she manages volunteer experiences and organize STEM opportunities for students in Manitoba and Ontario. Further to her science background, Ms. Thulasiram is a dance instructor and choreographer with the India School of Dance, Music, and Theatre - focused on the classical Indian Bharatanatyam dance style.