Sasha Doodnath, Medical Biophysics

Throughout my five years at the University of Toronto, I’ve had many wonderful opportunities to lead a variety of student groups and champion impactful student initiatives. As the president of my student union, I was able to create a tight-knit student community in my department by organizing and leading various academic events and social impact projects. As a student advocate, I successfully co-created the Temerty Faculty of Medicine (TFoM) Graduate Representation Committee, whose guiding principal was to inform, listen and advocate for all TFoM graduate students. Through this committee, my team and I successfully lobbied for increased student funding and restructuring of scholarship top-up practises, resulting in a 7-10% increase in student stipend over the past 2 years. Additionally, in collaboration with GLSE, I was able to co-create an online system for students to assess the quality of their graduate experience and education, allowing for continuous academic reformation. By helping students foster a sense of comradery with their peers through social events, alleviating their financial stresses and assuring a strong graduate tenure, I believe every graduate student's experience across TFoM has improved and a stronger sense of UofT community has emerged.

My personal leadership philosophy centers around motivating and inspiring others towards a united vision or task; By fostering an environment of mutual respect, open communication and support, teams will be driven to better their goals and scale to newer heights.