Future Physicians: Meet the incoming MD Class of 2T9

For future doctors, unique moments shape their paths to medicine. For the incoming class of 2T9 at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, their journeys are fueled by experiences with access to care, scientific curiosity and a desire to improve the health-care system, among other passions and issues. As we welcome our newest cohort of physicians-to-be, nine students share their motivations for choosing medicine and what they want to explore in their future careers.

Zara Hasan

My first friend and cousin passed away when we were both 10, largely due to socioeconomic factors. Her family didn't have citizenship in the country they had immigrated to and couldn't afford health care. When my cousin became ill, this pressured them to prematurely withdraw her from hospital care, resulting in her death.

Trying to rationalize this, I spent a lot of time searching for possible treatment options, but none were financially viable. I then realized that nothing could justify a lack of health-care access. Being from a low socioeconomic background myself, I felt powerless against the circumstances when I was young, but seeing my parents struggle to navigate Canadian health care turned those feelings into motivation to pursue an education correcting socioeconomic imbalances in community-level, health-care accessibility. 

However, no one in my family had pursued health care in any capacity before me, so I had no idea where to begin.

In high school, I decided that volunteering at a hospital would be a good start, and I got a position in the same hospital I was born at — Mount Sinai. I felt right at home and extremely welcomed by nurses and physicians. I specifically remember how relieved patients and families would seem when recalling how their doctors helped them resolve health issues or clarify suspicions — even while delivering bad news, and sometimes by just being present to answer questions.

I realized that doctors are often the first point of contact for many in the health-care system, and as such have a large impact on patients’ lives. I think that if I’m able to optimize those clinical interactions by thoroughly addressing health concerns, and actively accommodating for socioeconomic considerations directly, I will be able to carry on the legacies of loved ones through my actions. By becoming a great doctor, I want to fight the socioeconomic barriers that prevent others from receiving essential care.

I know my interests will evolve as I make my way through medical school, but given my experience so far, I love speaking to patients and coming up with ways to improve community health. As a result, I’m passionate about reducing financial barriers to care, promoting culturally sensitive care in medical education, and equipping patients with the knowledge to prolong healthy living. 

Bryan Inibhunu

In high school, I got into science. First time it clicked was realizing how every part of the body works together, and how even the smallest change in one area can affect the whole system. That curiosity grew. I wanted to know how small changes in DNA could lead to different conditions, or how one tiny disruption in a process could throw an entire organ off. That still interests me.

Then there was volunteering. I started with the required hours, but I kept going. In the hospital, I’d push wheelchairs, walk with patients. I remember one patient telling me it was the first time they’d laughed all week. Stuff like that stays with you.

Over time, the science and the people side came together. I knew I wanted to understand conditions and how to treat them, but also be there for people the whole way through.

I did my undergrad at Queen’s University in Life Sciences, specializing in drug development and toxicology. I loved learning how pharmaceuticals could influence the body to heal. Along the way, I found a new interest in epidemiology, looking at population health and figuring out how to create interventions for people who are often overlooked. I’m passionate about providing equitable, holistic care. Through different roles in research and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) leadership, I’ve seen how strengthening equity can change outcomes for patients. I’m also drawn to advancing research in rare diseases and underserved populations, making an impact in areas that don’t always get the attention they deserve. And I love learning about the body’s systems and tracing it all together, seeing the big picture of how it works.

Maggie Mallabone 

My grandpa was one of my biggest cheerleaders growing up. He constantly encouraged me to pursue a medical path, and his gentle persistence sparked my interest in becoming a doctor. As my grandma was going through cancer treatment, he saw firsthand the impact of struggling to access health care. Because they didn’t live close to the cancer treatment facility, he had to drive my grandma over three hours to each of her appointments to ensure she got treatment. He saw the desperate need for more physicians and he really felt like this was something I could excel at.

My family’s experiences, as well as my own, made me recognize the immense impact of positive patient-physician interactions. Of course, the actual medical care is important. But it’s so much more than that. Even seemingly minor things — like connecting with my health-care provider over a common interest or having short but meaningful conversations about my life — emphasized the importance of the patient-physician relationship. This played a big part in my desire to pursue a medical career.

Through my journey to medical school, I have become very passionate about women’s health. In the research I did during my undergraduate studies, I learned about the underrepresentation of women’s health in research, which sparked that passion. Many gender-based biases and inequities still exist in health care and as a physician, I hope to help overcome them. Specifically in my cardiology research, I found that the presentation of disease can differ between the sexes. This means that the diagnosis and treatment of disease may also need to differ, but this was not often considered during many cardiology studies. I would really like to change the ways these gaps are addressed so I can ensure my patients always feel heard and cared for.

David Gou

Two experiences in high school sparked my interest in health care: reading Compassionomics by physician scientists Stephen Trzeciak and Anthony Mazzarelli, followed by a personal and unexpected encounter with our health-care system.

The empirical evidence presented by Trzeciak and Mazzarelli that, yes — compassionate care does make a tangible impact on subjective and objective patient outcomes — combined with my need for compassion amidst uncertainty about my own health, really inspired me to strive toward a future in medicine. Since then, my time volunteering and working in medical settings, engaging with health literature, and participating in community outreach has only strengthened my desire to be that listening ear and caring figure that helps others through their times of great need. I'm extremely grateful for the privileged position I find myself in, where every day I can honour that privilege by serving others with the same empathy and dedication that drew me to this path.

I’m really interested in the way information asymmetry impacts care. Information asymmetry is one of the core features of the patient-physician relationship, owing in part to the extensive training that doctors undergo. However, patients have few opportunities to approach medical information through modern media, whether that's because of technical language, paywalls or a general lack of content geared toward the public.

Unfortunately, this information deficit can perpetuate distrust in the medical system and reinforce the power imbalance within the patient-physician relationship. So much time and effort goes into medical research — why not broaden its impact by making it more accessible to patients? Ensuring patients have access to digestible and timely information about their conditions and treatment options is critical for giving agency back to patients. Regardless of what my future holds, I know that combatting information asymmetry on both personal and community levels will be an important part of my work.

Rozhin Garousi

I have always been fascinated by science and the intricacies of the human body. In my first year of undergrad, I found myself strongly drawn to psychology. I fell in love with understanding the mind and nuances of human behaviour, and I realized how deeply mental and physical health are intertwined. I knew that the mental health landscape was an area that I wanted to explore further.

This curiosity led me into volunteer roles within crisis response settings where I supported individuals in moments of vulnerability. In these spaces, I saw the significant influence of simply being present for someone, and how even brief interactions could offer comfort and hope. This made me see medicine as a way to explore the science I loved, but also as a way to address the psychological and emotional needs of patients alongside their physical care.

As a first-generation immigrant, I have witnessed health care through different cultural and systemic lenses. I saw and experienced the gaps in health literacy and the confusion that can come from navigating unfamiliar systems. Most importantly, I saw the way disparities in access and knowledge shape outcomes. These experiences deepened my commitment to health equity and inspired me to pursue a career where I could be both a knowledgeable clinician and a trusted advocate for my patients and community.

Every aspect of medicine excites me, and I feel incredibly grateful to be on this path. My work in mental health support roles taught me the balance between caring for others and caring for yourself, which is a valuable lesson I will carry forward as a future physician. I am committed to establishing meaningful connections with patients and their families, ensuring they always feel heard and empowered.

Philip Pranajaya 

I’ve always been interested in human health, but I wasn’t sure what type of health-related career I wanted to pursue until Grade 12. That year, I started working in French, Francophone, and Franco-Ontarian education as a mathematics teacher and language summer camp counsellor. The opportunity to give back to my sociolinguistic community was invaluable, and I learned a lot about the challenges that community faces in accessing language-concordant health care.

My interest in language-concordant medicine grew during my bachelor’s degree, where I worked part-time as a patient care assistant at a rehabilitation hospital. There, I saw how linguistic challenges affect care provision too, impacting patient satisfaction and quality of life. It was only at the end of my first year when the idea of becoming a language-concordant physician clicked, after using my French dialect and conversational Spanish and Portuguese to better connect with monolingual patients and ultimately better serve their care needs.

This June, I graduated from Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Health Sciences, specializing in microbiology and immunology. In addition to my teaching and health-care work, I’ve also held odd jobs as a fast-food worker and freelance artist. All these positions have shaped my mission of making high-quality, timely care easier to access, especially in the context of language concordance and palliative cancer care, which I believe are crucial targets for Canada’s aging, diverse society.

I was introduced to palliative care and cancer care ‘by accident. That is to say, I was assigned there for six months as a patient-care assistant. However, as I assisted in end-of-life care for dozens of patients, primarily patients with advanced cancer, I gained a deep appreciation for palliative care and its contribution to comfort near the end of life. I've had the privilege of sitting in during and participating in hard discussions with loved ones surrounding changes in functional ability and intake, and that has profoundly shaped the role I wish to embody as a physician — as a guide and mentor. My interest in this area has only grown through two summer studentships in palliative care with the Durham Regional Cancer Centre, and I hope to someday become a pioneer in palliative advanced cancer care, especially in Canada, an aging society where cancer is the leading cause of death.

Megan Laing

Growing up, I knew I liked science, but I had no idea what I wanted to do career-wise. I thought human biology was interesting and discovered the field of health sciences. I took various classes — including Greek and Roman history classes — to try to discover what I loved, and found that anatomy classes were among my favourites. After working in an anatomy lab and doing public health research, I realized that medicine was a field I found really interesting.

Before joining Temerty Medicine, I was at McMaster for my undergrad in health sciences and got a minor in Greek and Roman studies. I loved learning about how people from so long ago were just like us: they face love, loss, and life just as we do, and from their letters and monuments, we can learn a lot about how our own world came to be. There are key lessons from this field that I will take into medicine with me. For starters, the idea that the human experience is universal and that we are all living life for the first time. We are all learning, we all make mistakes and we can all grow together.

When I took my first Greek and Roman mythology class, another of my favourite lessons was that every myth had to be learned in context. Because we do not have the full story for a lot of myths, we have to make some assumptions about the stories and their meanings. Depending on the political climate, how the Greeks/Romans viewed others, and how different social classes lived life, the myths told different stories and had different motives. Especially with my interest in global health, I think it's important to practise medicine in the context of where and who you are working with: asking key questions such as, ‘What has this patient lived through?’ And, ‘What care do they have access to?’ Or, ‘Am I helping them in the context that they need to be helped?’ I believe all these questions are important to ensure patient-centred care.

I'm most passionate about ensuring equitable access to health care: no matter who or where patients are, developing and delivering the care that they need around the world is where my interests lie. I think it is of the utmost importance to critically analyze how health care is delivered, and to learn how practitioners can help ensure equitable health care. In addition, I’m very interested in looking at the unique challenges that women and LGBTQ+ individuals face when interacting with health-care systems, and in their historical lack of representation in health research.

I am involved in a research project that included interviews with newcomers to Canada, to learn about their health experiences in a new country. Hearing about how issues such as language barriers or lack of culturally competent care greatly affected their interactions with health care, I realized that care needs to be designed to meet patients where they are at, tailored and delivered for them. It's hard to describe exactly why this is so important to me: I think it just goes back to knowing that all of us are human, and we have a duty to help and support one another. I believe knowing medicine is just part of being a doctor: connecting with people and ensuring that you are doing everything in your power to give them the care they need helps complete the title.

Rukevwe (Rukkie) Inikori

I grew up in Nigeria, where health care often felt like a privilege rather than a right. I witnessed loss in my own family from conditions that could have been prevented, and I often asked myself what could have been done differently and how things could be improved. When I moved to Canada, I began to notice similar challenges faced by underserved communities here as well. Those same questions continued to guide my academic pursuits and personal passions, eventually crystallizing into my decision to study medicine. For me, medicine represents the perfect meeting point of scientific curiosity, advocacy and systems-level change. It offers the chance to care for individuals, but also to engage with the broader challenges that shape community health. My aspiration is to bring this perspective into my work as a physician, where healing, trust and equity are all essential to delivering meaningful care.

I am passionate about the intersection of medicine and advocacy. Growing up in communities with a deep mistrust of the health-care system, I often witnessed how fear and uncertainty keep people from seeking the care they need. These experiences showed me that trust and advocacy are essential to meaningful care. During my undergraduate studies, I sought out roles where I could support marginalized communities, whether through mentorship, creating spaces for dialogue, or contributing to initiatives that addressed health inequities. These experiences confirmed for me that advocacy is not something added onto medicine but a core responsibility of being a physician. What excites me most is the opportunity to carry this forward in medical school and throughout my career, combining clinical work with advocacy and systems change to ensure that all patients feel seen, respected, and empowered.

Masa Kudsi

I have always admired the idea of knowing what career one wanted to pursue from a young age. But this was not the case for me. Throughout my life, many pivotal events have fostered my growing desire to pursue a career in medicine.

First, as a volunteer in McMaster’s Physical Activity Centre of Excellence (PACE), my role was to assist physically disabled patients with exercises, in hopes of improving their health. I met many patients with various conditions including Multiple Sclerosis, cancer, fibromyalgia, paralyzed limbs, etc. This role completely changed my perspective on life. Although one may think that these individuals lack optimism due to their health challenges, in fact they were the most appreciative and hardworking people I have ever met. They found happiness in the smallest moments, and every slight improvement was a win. This was the most emotional but rewarding role that I could have ever taken on; it instilled a deep desire in me to pursue a career in medicine, as I wanted to forever be a part of patients’ journey to wellbeing. I will forever cherish the patient connections that I made, and I am eager to make more.

Another pivotal event was when I tore my hamstring in 2024, two weeks before my karate national championships. This competition was crucial, as it would determine whether I requalified for the national team. I felt mentally defeated, as I was unsure if I would even be able to compete. Although I wasn’t in my best shape and was unable to train leading up to the competition, I was able to participate in the championships. This is an outcome I wouldn’t have achieved without the support of my health-care providers, as they were there for me every step of the way. Their dedication to help me heal and be able to do what I love most inspired me deeply, ultimately reinforcing my desire to pursue this career path.

I am incredibly passionate about preventive care, as many people neglect how important this is in optimizing one’s health. Throughout my life, I witnessed many of my loved ones struggle to take measures that will help them properly take care of their health. Many times, these preventative measures were overlooked until a serious condition arose. Seeing these challenges firsthand has deepened my commitment to promoting preventive care. I hope to educate patients about its importance and support them in making feasible lifestyle changes that will optimize their health and wellbeing.