by Kristen Ashworth

Graphic design by Anne McGrath

The Institute of Medical Science (IMS)’s Peer-to-Peer Mentorship Program (P2P) was established in 2017 by IMS students, for IMS students. Reflective of its namesake, the program aims to provide incoming graduate students of IMS (the “mentees”) with paired upper-year IMS graduate students (the “mentors”) who can lend support in the academic, extracurricular, and social spaces of graduate school life. The program has made an immense impact since its founding, having grown to encompass over one hundred active IMS student members this year (2023-24) alone.

P2P starts a new cycle of mentee-mentor pairings each September—in time for the large onboarding of new graduate students to the IMS community. The P2P executive team thoughtfully pairs students based on similar research fields, shared career goals, and/or other areas of common ground, such as shared personal interests and hobbies.

The “ice breaker” that kickstarts the connections for this new cohort of pairings occurs in October, with the “Meet Your Match” event. “Meet Your Match” provides a fun, informal, in-person environment (over pizza and snacks, of course) for all pairings to get together and connect for the first time. After this event, P2P mentors meet one-on-one with their mentees once a month for the duration of the school year. Mentors cover a diverse range of support to mentees—whether it be supporting the transition into a graduate school schedule, providing guidance on scholarship applications, navigating through lab and research work dynamics, and many other common quandaries of a first-year student. 

In addition to once-a-month mentorship sessions between mentees and mentors, the P2P executive team organizes staple events throughout the year to reconvene program members and cultivate a sense of community outside of individual mentor-mentee pairings. These additional events usually involve networking as well as personal and professional development opportunities. For example, the “Thriving Through Grad School” webinar in November 2023 featured a Q & A to address pressing and pertinent topics for first-year students related to upcoming grant and scholarship deadlines, as well as information on the first Program Advisory Committee meeting. Another topical workshop that took place in February 2024, entitled “Abstracts and Presentations”, provided valuable insights on crafting a strong abstract and presenting research findings in an effective manner. In the summer ahead, P2P is hosting IMS Connects, an annual collaborative professional development program, facilitated in conjunction with the IMS department, IMSSA, and SickKids Career Development Committee, that aims to provide a networking opportunity for IMS students to engage with IMS alumni and learn about careers in industry.

This year, P2P is being led by five dedicated IMS graduate students that compose its executive team: Nayaab Punjani, Program Director; Maryam Sorkhou, Operations Lead; Alice Shan, Treasurer Lead; and Tafsia Hussain and Ilakkiah Chandran, Marketing and Communications Co-Leads. Many members of the executive team start their roots in the P2P program as mentees themselves. Nayaab, P2P’s current Program Director, is a 4^th year PhD student at the Krembil Research Institute studying a neuroprotective peptide drug for cervical-level traumatic spinal cord injury. When she started in IMS in the COVID-19 cohort of 2020, she joined P2P as a mentee. She explains that the mentorship she gained from P2P played a pivotal role in her ability to integrate into the IMS and connect on a deep level with fellow IMS students. Following her positive experience as a mentee, Nayaab sought a leadership role with P2P, stating that, “I wanted to give back [to P2P], after having benefited so much from the program myself… it’s been a really rewarding experience to connect on a larger level with all the IMS students in this role.”

Maryam, P2P’s Operations Lead, and a 3^rd-year PhD student at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health studying the effects of cannabis within major depressive disorder, explains that her motivations to be involved in P2P as an executive member also stem from her previous experiences being mentored. She states, “I’ve benefited so much from my mentors and keep in touch with them even still, and because of this, I wanted to give that experience back.” Maryam explains the usefulness of mentors in IMS specifically, stating, “empowering other students and helping other students navigate IMS is important, especially because I think IMS can be difficult to navigate for some because it’s such a broad program, and everyone has really different experiences.”

The P2P program has continued its success and growth over the years. This is largely attributable to strong leadership from a committed executive team, and a large team of IMS student mentors who are motivated by their previous experiences as mentees to provide strong mentorship to the next generation of IMS students. When asked about the most rewarding part of being a leader of the P2P program, Maryam reflected, “I would say at the end of the year, I find it so lovely when I receive thank you emails from mentees, giving updates on how, for example, their PAC meeting wasn’t as scary as they thought thanks to their mentor […] or another one where someone received an award after being guided by their mentor through the application process. It is those little communications that you get near the end of the semester that is my favorite part.”

If you are an IMS student, you (or someone you know from IMS) has likely experienced the personal impact of P2P Mentorship at some point in the IMS journey – whether it be as a mentee, a mentor, or an active leader in the program. Not only is P2P a special initiative unique to IMS, but it is also an invaluable one. We look forward to all of what P2P continues to do to cultivate an integral community of mentee-mentor bonds in IMS for years to come!