LMP alumni career panel: breaking into the workforce
From the Graduate Mentorship Committee in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology.
Open to learners in LMP.
Join us as we hear from graduates from the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology who will discuss their career paths and give advice to those following in their footsteps.
The Centre for Graduate Professional Development will deliver a short workshop on transitioning from grad school into work (title TBC).
The LMP Graduate Mentorship Committee will also celebrate the end of the latest mentoring cycle and hand out mentoring awards.
Submit questions in your registration for the alumni panel to discuss.
- 5 - 7:30 pm, Friday, June 9 with celebratory food and drink
- Medical Sciences Building - Red Room, opposite the Bamboo Garden on the ground floor.
If you have any questions about this event, please email jenni.bozec@utoronto.ca.
Host
Ryan Hiebert (MSc 2022)
Senior Policy and Program Advisor, Ontario Ministry of Health
Ryan pursued his MSc in the lab of Dr. Samira Mubareka, studying respiratory virus transmission and diagnostics. During his graduate studies, Ryan took part in a variety of student initiatives and has a passion for student engagement and community building.
Ryan currently works in the Ministry of Health as a Senior Policy and Program Advisor. In this role, Ryan coordinates procurement for publicly funded vaccine programs and manages policies for government information management systems.
Ryan’s recent transition into the job market was heavily influenced by the mentorship he received while studying at LMP, and his experiences are emblematic of the powerful influence mentorship can have on recent graduates looking to break into the job market.
Workshop
Kevin Chavez Laxamana
Programming Coordinator at the Centre for Graduate Professional Development
Alumni panel
Dr. Amanda Mohabeer (PhD, 2020)
Schmidt Futures Postdoctoral Program Manager in the Office of Research Services at the U of T Faculty of Arts & Science Data Sciences Institute
Amanda completed her PhD in LMP with Dr. Michelle Bendeck, where she studied cardiovascular diseases.
She has a background in teaching and trainee development through working as a course instructor and academic consultant.
She is experienced in research operations from her time at the Donnelly Centre as their Facilities and Research Coordinator. Amanda then moved on to be the Research Awards and Honours Officer in the Office of the Vice-Principal Research and Innovation at UTSC. Now she is the Schmidt Futures Postdoctoral Program Manager in Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Raj Lehal (MSc, 2007)
Chief Executive Officer, Cellestia Biotech AG, Basel, Switzerland
Raj is a scientist by training and an entrepreneur by passion. He brings two decades of experience as a cancer researcher and a track-record of turning basic research into clinical assets. Raj did his graduate studies at the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology as a Masters student with Dr. Eldad Zacsenhaus. Then he moved to Switzerland for doctoral studies at the Institute for Experimental Cancer Research-EPFL.
During his time at EPFL, he established a drug discovery platform to target undruggable Transcription Factors to address diseases such as cancer, auto-immune and inflammatory disorders. Building upon that platform, Raj co-founded Cellestia Biotech.
Raj is winner of several national and international awards for excellence in science and entrepreneurship (Canadian Genetic Disease Network scholarship, the American Association for Cancer Research-Scholar in Training award, a University of Toronto fellowship, the Frank Fletcher Memorial scholarship for cancer research, the Al and Hannah Peryl Graduate student scholarship, Innogrant, Swiss National team of venture leaders in 2013 and 2018). He also mentors budding Swiss entrepreneurs in an Innosuisse sponsored program. He is also a co-founder of Viventis Microscopy. Currently Raj Lehal serves as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors at Cellestia Biotech.
Dr. George Charames (MSc 2005 and PhD 2010)
Associate Professor in LMP, Director and Head of the Advanced Molecular Diagnostics Lab at Mount Sinai Hospital
George gained an interest in molecular diagnostics while obtaining his MSc and PhD in the lab of Dr. Bharati Bapat at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute.
Following his graduate studies, George went on to complete his Clinical Molecular Genetics Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, USA. He is currently a board-certified Clinical Molecular Geneticist at Mount Sinai Hospital's Department of Pathology and Lab Medicine, and he is an Associate Professor in LMP. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ABMGG), and a Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG).
George is responsible for developing and implementing new genomic tests that aid in the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of Ontario cancer patients. He has a special focus in breast, ovarian, and gastrointestinal cancers, in addition to sarcomas. In addition, he serves on numerous provincial committees that aim to improve healthcare through the expansion of genomic test offerings, and widening of patient eligibility and access across Ontario. Aside from his clinical and administrative duties, George has translational research interests with the objective of improving precision medicine. For example, George is working with colleagues of other subspecialties on an “Oncogenomics” initiative that will provide patients with options when standard of care management plans have been exhausted.