Meet Alumni, Fellows, Faculty and Graduate Students to discuss pathways to success, careers, job shadowing, volunteering, mentoring, apprenticeship & internship opportunities and more!
Students will have the opportunity to connect with Faculty of Health graduates, professors, and professionals in various fields.
A variety of occupations and careers will be represented at the event for example: Nursing, Founder of a charitable community organization, General Manager, Board member for a biopharmaceutical company, Advancement Coach & Strategist and Founder (2015) of Apply Yourself: The Advancement Spot Inc, Business Strategy and Human Capital expert, Master’s student in Health Evaluation at the University of Waterloo
PLEASE NOTE: While we make every effort to include a wide variety of occupations and careers, we cannot guarantee that specific professions will be present at the event, as some participants may be unavailable due to last minute scheduling issues.
Date: Thursday, February 2, 2023
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Registration Link: https://tinyurl.com/CareerConversationFeb2nd
Location: 101 Stong College (MDR)
If you have any questions about the event, please email: gujral@yorku.ca
Meet the Facilitators and Panelists
We have a diverse set of peer leaders from various clubs and organizations to share their experiences with students. Feel free to get to know them before the event by reading their bios.
John Andonoff
Program of Study: Psychology & Communications
General Manager
John Andonoff holds a Postgraduate Certificate of Business Administration from Heriot Watt University’s Edinburgh School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts Double Honours Degree in Mass Communications and Psychology from Toronto’s York University where his honours thesis on the Detection of Deception was published in the Journal of Psychophysiology.
With over 25 years of Canadian healthcare experience John has proven to be an experienced operational leader who has a demonstrated ability at scaling up organizations with cross-functional leadership to achieve maximal revenue and profit. He is known to set a clear vision focused on achieving key quantitative metrics to meet stakeholder expectations. John currently is the General Manager of a Canadian distributer of medical diagnostic tests assisting Canadians to stay safe through the various stages of the COVID Pandemic. He has held Senior Level roles with healthcare companies for established and start-ups including Pharmaceutical, Vaccine, Medical Device, Contract Business Consultants and Medical Cannabis. In addition to being a recognized commercial leader John has experience in Government Affairs, Media Communications, Operations, Finance and Employee Relations.
John has a unique ability to expertly facilitate cross functional teams through a strategic brainstorming planning process that turns ideas into action, launching products on the path to become National and Global market leaders. This has been applied to multiple companies (including outside the healthcare industry) through his past consultation work.
In addition to his General Manager role John is a board member for a biopharmaceutical company, program advisor for two Toronto area post-secondary institutions and is the founder of a charitable community organization.
Gurneet Bhela
Program of Study: Global Health
Master's Student in Health Evaluation at the University of Waterloo
Gurneet Bhela is a Master’s student in Health Evaluation at the University of Waterloo. She completed her undergraduate degree in Global Health at York University, specializing in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. During her time at YorkU, she served as a Student Health Ambassador (SHAY), Presidents Ambassador, and worked at the Faculty of Health as a Recruitment and Liaison Assistant. For the past two years, Gurneet worked at Grand Challenges Canada as a Program Analyst for the Global Mental Health program, where she supported the bold ideas of innovators looking to generate health and social impact in low- and middle-income countries. She is passionate about knowledge mobilization and aspires to become a professional program evaluator in the global public health space. In her spare time, Gurneet enjoys listening to podcasts, volunteering in her community, and baking.
Janet Chan
Program of Study: Nursing
Professional Practice Specialist
Janet Chan is a nurse working in the home care sector for over 10 years. Since she graduated from York, she has gone on to persue her certified nurse educator certificate and masters in nursing. As she furthered her nursing education, her career pathway also progressed from frontline, to clinical educator, and her current position as a professional practice specialist. Throughout her career pathway, she has had the opportunity to experience a different side of nursing which she would love to share with nursing students.
Kara Golani-Tran
Program of Study: Honours BA in English and Communication Studies
Business Strategy and Human Capital Expert
Kara Golani-Tran is a seasoned Change Management, Business Strategy, and Human Capital expert that has supported large scale transformations at Fortune 300 companies, like Microsoft, CIBC, and TD Bank. She holds an Honours B.A. in English and Communications Studies from York University and is a certified PROSCI Change Leader and Six Sigma Green Belt. Kara recently joined the HR Center of Excellence at Celestica as the Senior Manager of Global Talent and Performance, where she designs and leads innovative solutions in support of the global talent strategy and business goals to enable the world’s best brands.
Clayton Rhodes
Program of Study: Psychology
Professor at Durham College
Clayton earned his Honours Bachelor of Arts undergraduate degree from York University in 1996 with a major in psychology. In 2006, he completed his Master of Arts in Education from the University of Phoenix. Clayton Rhodes has been full-time faculty with Durham College since 2006. Currently, he is teaching Creativity: A Personal Understanding, Hockey: The First Century, and Academic Writing for Success. In 2021, Clayton received Durham College’s Faculty Employee Excellence Award. As an alumni member, Clayton has been thrilled to participate in many York University alumni-student connection opportunities such as Career Matters, LEAD with Us, Career Spotlight webinar, Career Compass, Take A Student to Eat (TASTE), Speed Networking with Psychology Alumni, alumni career stories, and Calumet College Award and Bursaries Adjudication Committee. In 2021, Clayton was proud to receive the Calumet College’s Amethyst Purpose Award for influential leadership. During his spare time, Clayton enjoys bowling, kayaking, slo-pitch and inline skating. He is also a contributor to www.creativityandeducation.com. He has also coached youth baseball, softball, volleyball and bowling. Clayton lives in Whitby with his wife, his twin boys, and his daughter.
Adrienne Shnier
Program of Study: Health Studies
Lawyer at Shnier Law & Policy Consulting
Advancement Coach & Strategist at Apply Yourself: The Advancement Spot Inc.
Dr. Adrienne Shnier, M.A., Ph.D., J.D., is a mother and founder of two companies. Adrienne is the Advancement Coach & Strategist and Founder (2015) of Apply Yourself: The Advancement Spot Inc., where she holistically, healthily, and strategically works collaboratively with university students and their families to achieve lives beyond their wildest dreams, often starting with graduate and professional school applications using her personal experience with applications cycles, as well as her extensive experience as a member of academic admissions committees. Adrienne also founded Shnier Law & Policy Consulting, Professional Corporation (2020), serving small businesses, health-related clinics and practices, and regulated and unregulated health professional associations. Adrienne is also a professor of health and pharmaceutical policy, regulation, and law at a Toronto university and Toronto law school. Adrienne has published and lectured on her research internationally and supervises undergraduate and graduate students in their research.
Suresh Subramaniam
Program of Study: Psychology
Real Estate Broker, Firefighter
Suresh went to York University and started in the Kinesiology Program. He decided to change his major to Psychology. While enjoying the program he was in he started to gravitate towards becoming a firefighter. He enjoyed fitness and helping others so he decided to put all of his effort into obtaining a job that allowed him to do both while allowing him to have free time to attain other goals. After approximately 6 years as a firefighter in Markham he decided he needed to challenge himself. He decided to do Real Estate which allowed him to create new relationships while also helping the ones close to him. After 3 years as a Realtor he decided to get his Broker license incase he ever planned to open his own brokerage. In late 2022 Suresh decided to start his own Real Estate Team and currently has one new Realtor under him with other close friends that he trusts also getting their license to join him. Suresh has always treated his clients fairly, with full transparency and honesty while going above and beyond each time. Suresh is more then a Realtor, he is a friend to all of his clients. You may follow him on Instagram at sureshgtarealtor to see his journey as he grows his business and he is happy to help anyone that has questions on how to get into the business.
Ehsan Yavari
Program of Study: Kinesiology and Health Sciences
Medical Student at McMaster University
Ehsan Yavari is a Kinesiology and Health Sciences Alumni (Class of 2020) who currently attends the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University (Class of 2023). One of his first experiences with the Faculty of Health was through volunteering as a student leader as a part of the Healthaid Network. He thoroughly enjoyed his time and later helped the Student Health Ambassador Program as a student ambassador as well. Eventually, Ehsan founded the Climate Initiative club to work on projects that he was personally passionate about. During his final year, he had the distinct honour and pleasure of working with Dr. Tara Haas for his NSERC-USRA and undergraduate honour’s thesis. He is interested in soccer, baking, reading, and movies. Ehsan is currently applying for residency to become an Orthopedic Surgery resident
