Life Sciences Career Symposium
The St. Michael’s Research Student Association (SRSA) holds an annual Life Sciences Career Symposium in July which aims to connect trainees to professionals with diverse careers in the field. Each year, we select a theme and invite distinguished speakers to deliver a keynote presentation and participate on a panel where trainees can network, ask questions and get advice.
LSCS 2025 - July 7, 2025
In 2025, SRSA held our annual Life Sciences Career Symposium, with the theme "Beyond the Bench" where we highlighted careers outside of academia for current graduate research students. This year we had over 150 in-person attendees and many amazing professionals to help share their journeys.
Keynote: "Insights into Careers Beyond the Bench"
Dr. Muhammad Mamdani, PharmD, MA, MPH | Vice President Data Science and Advanced Analytics at Unity Health Toronto
Panel: "Recent Graduates and Their Career Paths"
Lauren de Freitas - Senior Specialist Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence
Dr. Stephanie Tran - Medical Advisor, Johnson and Johnson
Natasha Girdharry - Medical Editor, Klick Health
Dr. Hanna Wabnitz - Scientific Communications Specialist, Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation
Career Development Workshops:
Job Search Strategies - Dr. Nana Lee, Director, Graduate Professional Development - University of Toronto
Resume Building - Jon Bray, Career Educator, University of Toronto
Science Communications - Farah Qaiser, Medical Genomics Researcher
Authentic Networking - Vida Maksimoska, PhD Student at the Institute of Medical Sciences, SRSA Vice Chair
Networking Professionals:
Dr. Antoinette Bugyei-Twum - Associate, Intellectual Property Group at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Dr. Aravin Sukumar - Scientific Communications Specialist, Boston Scientific
Dr. Paul Turgeon - Consultant, ClearView Healthcare Partners
Matthew Gee - Collaborations and External Engagement Director, Siemens Healthineers
Dr. Yeseul Lee - Experiential Learning and Partnership Lead, BioHubNet
Dr. Epshita Islam - Advanced Skills Development Lead, BioHubNet ENGAGE
LSCS x AIM 2024 - June 24, 2024
In 2024, SRSA collaborated with the Science 2 Business Network for our annual symposium to host a joint Life Science Career Symposium | Academia to Industry Meeting. This was a hybrid event with over 150 attendees that participated in person, we held hybrid sessions in parallel so graduate students and industry professionals from all across Canada could attend. The theme for this year’s symposium was “The Future of AI in the Life Sciences”.
Keynote:
"Navigating the Future: Emerging Trends, Applications, and Career Paths in AI”
Frincy Clement - Head of North America & Ambassador for Canada, Women in AI, Principal Data Scientist, ADP
Panel 1: AI & The Future of Life Sciences
Dr. Pascal Tyrrell, PhD - Associate Professor, Director, Data Science, Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto
Christopher Li - CEO and Founder, BioBox Analytics Inc.
Simon Smith, MA - Executive Vice President of Generative AI, Klick
Jake Malliaros - Quantum Stream Lead, Senior Venture Manager, Creative Destruction Lab Toronto
Career Development Workshops:
Dr. Bruce Seet - Find Your Skills - Discover Your Superpower
Jean Chow - Authentic Networking: Level Up Your Leadership Skills
Kirby James - Negotiating What You Are Worth
Dr. Alex Lang - Building a Career Toolkit: Strategies for Resume and Cover Letters
Elle Liang, Kevin Tse, Gurleen Sandhu, Yun-Kyo Kim - Beyond the Bachelor’s: Insights into Career Trajectories
Organising committee: Jady Liang, Kayla Baker, Vida Maksimoska, Noa Chazot, Sharon Binstock, Priyal Shah, Sarah McColman, Johnny Lu, Asa Lau
Check out our event booklet for more details on the 2024 LSCS x AIM!
LSCS 2023 - July 5, 2023
The 6th annual LSCS was the first LSCS back in-person after the Covid-19 lock downs. The first panel was focused on careers in biotech, from research and development to medical affairs. The second panel was on the wide range of careers in corporate advising in the life sciences, such as intellectual property and venture capital.
Panel 1: Careers in Biotech
Dr. Carla Spina - CEO & Co-Founder - Noa Therapeutics
Dr. Bruce Seet - Director of Medical Affairs - Novavax
Dr. Valentin Peretroukhin - Computational Research Scientist - Structura Biotechnology
Panel 2: Careers in Corporate Advising in the Life Sciences
Dr. Gabriella Chan - Lawyer & Scientist - Yocto Law
Dr. Kenneth Grise - VC Investment Associate & Science Consultant - Sixty Degree Capital
Dr. Celina Yang - Business Analyst - Lifescience Dynamics
Dr. Kevin Szkop - Senior Consultant - Shift Health
Organising committee: Zoya Tawhidi, Christopher Zhang, Farbod Khorrami, Kayla Baker, Vida Maksimoska, Jady Liang, Bhakti Pandey
LSCS 2022 - July 15, 2022
The 5th annual LSCS was held virtually on July 15, 2022. The symposium was composed of two sessions: Health Promotion & Policy, and Entrepreneurship.
Panel 1: Health Promotion and Policy
Maureen Gustafson - Knowledge Translation & Exchange Specialist, Mamow Ahyamowen
Dr. Karen Woodall - Assistant Professor and Forensic Toxicologist, University of Toronto
Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi - Scientist, MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael’s Hospital
Panel 2: Entrepreneurship
Olugbenga Olubanjo - Founder and CEO, Reeddi Inc.
Sarah Nersesian - Founder, Co-Owner, and Scientific Illustrator, Design That Cell
Dr. Allan Kember - CEO, Shiphrah Biomedical Inc | Engineer and Senior Resident Physician, University of Toronto
Organising committee: Kevin Won, Madison Walker, Zoya Tawhidi, Christopher Zhang, Natalka Parzei, Andreea Furdui, Farbod Khorrami