Giving Day 2025: The generational impact of philanthropy

For Michael Zarathus-Cook, a first-year student in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s MD Program, the University of Toronto’s annual Giving Day is an opportunity to celebrate our community’s continued generosity and the impact donor support has in advancing inclusive health, education, research and patient care.

While Michael holds both a Master of Health Science in medical physiology and an Honours Bachelor of Science in health & disease from U of T, his journey to becoming a member of Temerty Medicine’s MD Class of 2T8 demanded an uncommon level of perseverance – Michael was living in a homeless shelter at the start of his undergraduate degree.

Michael credits much of where he is today to U of T’s faculty members and leaders who took the time to listen to his story, as well as to the donor-supported scholarships, bursaries and awards that have played a critical role in lowering the barriers he faced.

Emma Jones spoke more with Michael about his unique journey into medical school and why he’s proud to serve as Temerty Medicine’s 2025 Giving Day student ambassador.

You completed an undergrad and a master’s degree at U of T and are now a medical student. Can you tell me a bit more about your journey?

I initially started as a philosophy student at University of Toronto Scarborough. I had a lot of stress that year – my living situation was precarious, and I was working to find ways to support myself while also being a student. I ended up taking some time off school to work in the arts and when I came back, I re-enrolled as a human biology student at UTSC. It was several hours of commuting every day, and I felt I would be better able to pursue my goals on St. George campus.

I submitted an application to transfer but was denied several times for various procedural reasons. This was during the pandemic, so everything felt inaccessible and very stressful. One evening, after my third rejected application, I called the offices of all seven deans at the Faculty of Arts and Science to leave a voicemail requesting help to get the transfer approved. It was late in the evening and I didn’t expect anyone to pick up, but the administrative assistant at the Innis College office did. I explained what I was going through and she eventually gave me the home phone number of Dean Steve Masse.

Again to my surprise, Dean Masse answered the late call and listened while I went through my experiences in my first year, why I decided to come back to school, my goals of getting into Temerty Medicine, and why I felt I needed to be closer to home to make all this work. After rallying a bit more support across a few more colleges, I was eventually able to transfer to the St. George campus, which made it way more feasible for me to work and study and support my family. So it was extra special when, a couple years after this ordeal, I got an email to notify me that I’d be graduating as a Dean’s List scholar.

We need empathic institutions as a society – these bigger organizations that can really move mountains. U of T has that great duality of being a large institution, but it also has enough support and resources to give students the time to be humans and to be treated as a human.

How has support from scholarships and bursaries made a difference in your time as a student?

I received scholarships and bursaries throughout my undergraduate studies that very significantly made a difference in my ability to complete my degree.

On top of working full time running a magazine and going to school, I was supporting my family back in Nigeria because they didn’t have the social resources and economic safety nets that we had here during the pandemic. I was also paying for my brother to attend university to become a nurse. I wouldn’t have the resources to do all of this without the support of these bursaries. And by helping me, the donors have helped my family. Their financial help has already had a generational impact.

We can have all the conversations about equity that we want to have. But if people can't afford to be here, then the campaigns and conversations that we want to have about diversity and equity are just performative.

Why is it important to you to champion U of T Giving Day as a student ambassador?

I strongly believe in finding ways to contribute to things from which you benefited. I think that's where it starts for me.

Another thing is visibility. There are just so many people I've met who want to apply to medical school but have a billion reasons why they think they'll never get in. I want to speak to the people at the back of the room who think it's never going to be them.

Donor support is the second part of that puzzle. If the money is there and the university has the capacity to listen to their students, then we’re going to have a lot of really good doctors. Doctors who have fought like hell to earn the privilege of treating patients.

I understand that Temerty Medicine Dean Lisa Robinson also played a small, but meaningful role in helping you when you were exploring medicine as a career. What is your connection to her?

I am really excited about Lisa Robinson’s role as dean. I reached out to her when I was in undergrad. I was looking for guidance on how to find research opportunities in cardiology, and she agreed to talk to me. It was a five-minute conversation and she gave me a few names I could reach out to – one of whom happened to be working at Mount Sinai and ended up being my mentor for a few years. It was really impactful. She's probably had hundreds of these five-minute conversations that end up charting the path for students for years to come.

When I started at Temerty Medicine, Dr. Robinson had just been announced as the new Dean. I didn’t know if she would remember who I was, but I wanted to congratulate her, so I reached out to her over email. She got right back to me and said, of course I remember you – congrats on finally getting in. She really does pay attention to who she's speaking with and that's a really unique capacity on her part.

About U of T Giving Day

U of T Giving Day is a university-wide fundraising campaign aimed at promoting inclusive excellence.

On Wednesday, March 26, 2025, please join us and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine community in promoting education and research by giving to the Temerty Medicine fund that matters most to you. In addition, all gifts to the Dean’s Priority Fund made between February 26 – March 26 will be matched dollar-for-dollar! (Up to $1,000 per donation while matching funds last.) Your donation, regardless of the amount, truly will make a difference in the lives of current and future health professionals.