by Nayaab Punjani

Graphic design by Andrew Janeczek

The Institute of Medical Science Students’ Association (IMSSA) is the largest student group at the Institute of Medical Science (IMS) with an executive team of 40 people. This group is also the oldest student group at IMS, being founded in the 1970’s shortly after the creation of IMS. IMSSA provides a platform for IMS students at various research sites to network, share common interests, have a central resource hub, and connect with the broader community. IMS Magazine interviewed 2021-2022 IMSSA Co-Presidnts, Kayvn Aflaki and Serena Peck, and current Co-Presidents, Hamzah Khan and Valentina Tamayo, to explore the IMSSA’s evolution over the years.  

Past Reflections: Navigating engagement during COVID-19 and establishing new opportunities 

Kayvan and Serena started their Master’s programs during the COVID-19 pandemic and joined IMSSA as Sports Director and Toronto General Hospital Site Representative, respectively; with goals to socialize with other students and gain insight into academia. In their second year, they served as IMSSA Co-Presidents, aiming to further build connections within IMS and the broader community. As their leadership occurred during the pandemic, Kayvan and Serena explained that their main challenge was maintaining student engagement amidst Zoom fatigue. 

Throughout their presidency, Kayvan and Serena‘s aimed to enhance access to graduate resources and events, as well as establish opportunities for IMS students to network and develop new skills. They also created the IMSSA website as an accessible centralized notice board for all IMS students. Over the academic year, they facilitated joint events with the Black Graduate Student Association to build connections outside of IMS. Near the end of Kayvan and Serena’s Co-Presidency, with the help of the Jay Keystone Memorial Award for Science Communication, they established the Healthcare Innovation Challenge, a competition whereby IMS students can apply their problem-solving skills to develop innovative solutions to issues in Canadian healthcare, with proposal finalists pitching their solution to a panel of judges. 

Navigating the various facets of IMSSA helped Kayvan and Serena strengthen their management, public speaking, and accountability skills through coordinating meetings, serving on additional IMS committees, and attending each IMSSA event. The skills from their roles as active leaders also carry over to their work now. Kayvan, working as a Naval airfare Officer with the Royal Canadian Navy, explains that “a good leader is someone who gets down on the ground with people and works with them. Appearances really matter and leadership is not about yourself, but about the collective, and representing the interest of the whole.”

Current Reflections: Enhancing student engagement and community outreach.

In 2022, while returning to IMS for his PhD, Hamzah became involved in IMSSA in the role of PhD Representative. Valentina also joined IMSSA during her first year of her MSc, looking to meet new people and give back to the community by serving as Director of Community Outreach and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). This academic year, Valentina and Hamzah are now the current Co-Presidents, aiming to foster connections between incoming IMS students and upper-year students, which they accomplished through several events including a pre-election roller skating social at the start of the school year. Valentina and Hamzah also wanted to strengthen connections outside of IMS, hosting an interdisciplinary Halloween party in collaboration with the Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology Program. 

As Co-Presidents, Hamzah and Valentina share a passion for community outreach. Valentina speaks about her personal experience: “I came to Canada with my parents as an immigrant and as a refugee. We’ve worked hard and now we’re really lucky, so I’ve always wanted to give back to others less fortunate.” 

Further acting on the values of community outreach, Hamzah integrated Pueblo Science, a small organization aiming to enhance science education in low-resource communities, with IMS. In addition to the benefits the organization’s initiatives served in the community, integrating Pueblo Science with IMS created a platform for graduate students to build their teaching experience and science communication skills. Specifically, Pueblo Science’s annual fundraiser and interactive STEM event, Good Morning Science, was run last year with the help of 24 IMS students, having approximately 120 attendees and the most amount of money raised since the annual event began. 

While discussing the impact of IMSSA on their experience at IMS, they echoed similar sentiments as Serena and Kayvan. Through building a close-knit student community, navigating the logistics surrounding running a large student group, understanding the organization of IMS, and managing different work ethics to achieve the goals of IMSSA, they have gained vital skills. “IMSSA has been woven into my heart as part of my graduate experience,” Hamzah highlights. “IMSSA has really allowed me to come out of my shell and… has helped me learn who I am as a person.” Furthermore, Valentina highlights her personal experience with the opportunities for mentorship in IMSSA. “It’s nice to have someone [who’s] already been through it and who I can ask questions to about literally anything. I think joining these types of student groups [will] provide you with that advantage for mentorship.”

While reflecting on the year, Hamzah and Valentina are proud of the amount of in-person programming and the significant student engagement within IMSSA. As they did not have pre-pandemic information, there was a lot to navigate in terms of in-person events and hybrid formats; however, the work of our current Co-Presidents sets the stage for the future leaders of IMSSA. In terms of events to keep an eye out for, in addition to the next Good Morning Science for Pueblo in July, there is an overnight IMS Camping Trip planned for the summer, and the bi-monthly IMS Research Rounds have begun, highlighting the diverse research by IMS students.

For students considering getting involved, IMSSA has a lot of options depending on your interests and allows you to network and build additional skills.  Serena mentions, “Be genuine. Don’t join something because you think it might look good on a resume or application. Join things that are meaningful to you, and you’ll have a richer experience”. 

Hamzah highlights, “This is a family and people genuinely want to make friends and get to know each other, so just try it out. If you don’t like it, you don’t need to do it; if you love it, then you’ll be lucky.”