Julianah Oguntala

Julianah Oguntala
Home Institute: University of Toronto
Supervisor: Dr. John Sievenpiper, Department of Nutritional Sciences

Hello! My name is Julianah, and I am a first-year medical student at the University of Toronto. I completed 3 years of a Biomedical Sciences degree at the University of Guelph and will be graduating with a General Bachelor of Science degree in June 2021. I was born in Nigeria and immigrated to Canada with my family at the age of 8. For as long as I can remember, I have always been interested in science, especially biology and loved learning about the human body. I discovered the field of research in high school and since then, I have been privileged to work on a variety of research projects. These range from studying the impact of vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy on maternal and child clinical outcomes to working on the development of a portable ultrasound machine at Sunnybrook to studying the impact of bean consumption on dyslipidemia. I have greatly enjoyed all my research experiences and I am fascinated by the wide variety of research currently underway and their potential to change how we approach patient care in the future. In my spare-time, I love tutoring, singing, and catching up on my favourite show, The Blacklist.   

Project Title: Relation of healthy pant-based dietary patterns with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in the United States; a prospective analysis of the national health and nutrition examination survey (NHANES)

I will be spending the summer in the Sievenpiper lab with a team studying the impact of five plant-based diets on cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. I will be involved in calculating the diet scores of respondents to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and comparing the risk of CV and all-cause mortality in individuals with high scores versus those with low scores. This will help provide more evidence on the role of healthy plant-based diets in preventing premature death. I am looking forward to this project as I am beginning to appreciate the impact of lifestyle on health and wellness.

I am looking forward to the Amgen Program to gain exposure to other fields of research, develop my research skill and to further explore what it means to combine a career in medicine with one in research. I am excited to immense myself in a project that I am enthusiastic about and connect with individuals that can act as mentors during my path to hopefully becoming a physician-scientist. I am also looking forward to meeting with liked-minded students who are passionate about research and potentially medicine. The Amgen program promises this and more and I am looking forward to an amazing summer!