From exploring more inclusive approaches to cancer screening and mental health to examining the role of artificial intelligence in healthcare, the next generation of researchers took centre stage at Women’s College Hospital during the annual Summer Student Research Symposium on August 13.
This year, 40 high school and post-secondary students presented research and learnings from their summer placements at WCH, including nine Emily Stowe high school students, 22 Emily Stowe post-secondary students, and 9 regular summer students.
The symposium marks the culmination of WCH’s summer student research programs, giving this year’s students the chance to share their work with scientists, clinicians, staff and peers while developing their skills and confidence as emerging researchers.
Exploring healthcare through new perspectives
The breadth of projects reflected the diversity of research underway across WCH. Equity was a strong theme throughout the day, with projects examining mental health interventions for newcomer, Indigenous and 2SLGBTQ+ communities; prostate cancer communication for Black communities; inclusive menopause research; cervical cancer screening inequities; and healthcare for trans and gender diverse people.
Creating pathways into research
Through WCH’s summer student programs, students gain first-hand research experience alongside mentorship, networking and opportunities to learn about different careers in health and science.
The Emily Stowe Scholar Program (ESSP)
is also part of a broader effort to create pathways into health sciences for communities historically underrepresented in healthcare and research.
For high school scholar Maggie Zheng, the experience has given her added confidence as she takes the next steps in her education.
“The things I’ve learned here, the hard skills and soft skills, are very applicable to university,” she says. “It provides me a bridge so that I don’t feel like there’s a big gap between high school and university.”
Post-secondary scholar Chloe Oyebola, who begins medical school this fall, found the experience helped clarify the role she hopes research will play in her future.
“I really found a love for research,” says Chloe. “I think there’s a type of research that suits everybody. You just have to find what it is.”
Read Maggie and Chloe’s reflections on their experiences as Emily Stowe Scholars.
Building the next generation of healthcare
As a teaching hospital, WCH has an important role in developing the clinicians, researchers and health leaders of tomorrow.
That work also advances Healthcare Revolutionized 2030, where learning and discovery help enable WCH’s ambitions to lead the new era of sex and gender in health, move the needle on health equity and reimagine the health system with and for patients.
The students’ experience would not be possible without the WCH staff, scientists, clinicians and research teams who welcomed students into their work this summer. From supervising research projects and answering day-to-day questions to sharing their own career journeys through micro-mentoring sessions, colleagues across WCH gave students something that extends beyond research experience: an opportunity to see the many different paths a career in health and science can take.
For students like Maggie, those conversations helped make unfamiliar careers feel more accessible. “The mentorship sessions kind of helped me to see what I like and what I’m not interested in,” she says, noting that learning about WCH’s Crossroads Clinic helped spark an interest in primary care.
Thank you to everyone who supervised, mentored, presented to, or simply made time for a student this summer. By sharing your experience, you are helping create a more accessible path into healthcare and research and helping shape the people who may one day become our colleagues!