Congratulations to Science alumni Batool Barodi (BSc ’19), Clarelle Gonsalves (BSc ’18) and Shalini Iyer (BSc ’20) for being named among York University’s 2023 Top 30 Alumni Under 30. Launched in 2021, the Top 30 Alumni Under 30 program seeks to highlight the success and diversity of the University’s young alumni community, while inspiring the next generation of young alumni leaders to make a positive difference locally and globally.
Batool Barodi
Health equity advocate
BSc ’19, Faculty of Science
In 2016, Batool arrived in Canada as a Syrian newcomer. Upon graduation from York, Batool was selected to represent Canada as a youth delegate at the Open Government Partnership Global Summit 2019. Following her selection, she received a scholarship to start her master’s degree in Global Affairs and Justice at the University of Toronto where she received the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Award to study the impact of the Canadian medical, economic and social policies to promote successful integration of refugees and newcomers. Batool is currently a second-year medical student at Central Michigan University where she focuses her research on heart transplant surgeries with an emphasis on developing measures to improve outcomes of heart primary-graft dysfunction. She was awarded the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research scholarship in 2022 by the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre due to her extensive work on heart research in Canada and US. Batool creates videos documenting her journey of becoming a doctor and supporting students who don’t have access to mentorship opportunities. Her goal is to make the journey accessible to everyone, regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, religion or socioeconomic background.
Clarelle Gonsalves
Health equity advocate
BSc ’18, Faculty of Science
Clarelle is a first-year paediatrics resident at the University of Toronto based out of The Hospital for Sick Children. Clarelle is dedicated to standardizing and optimizing health outcomes for children who do not readily have access to tertiary paediatric centres through research and clinical practice. She completed her MD at McMaster University where she co-developed a quality improvement and patient safety workshop for health professionals and trainees aimed at recognizing and speaking up against racism in healthcare and medical education. During her time in medical school, she worked closely with local organizations to develop resources for children new to Canada to connect them with primary and preventative healthcare and ensure food security. Her research work has been featured in leading paediatric journals and has been cited in the Canadian Paediatric Society position statement on protecting adolescents against the harms of vaping. Clarelle is also a passionate mentor to students pursuing careers in medicine. She is currently involved in working towards removing systemic barriers and increasing equity in the medical school application process as well as developing medical education curricula that fosters sustainable and equitable healthcare delivery.
Shalini Iyer
Scientist, STEM educator and EDI advocate
BSc ’20, Faculty of Science
MSc ’22, Faculty of Health
Shalini is a scientist, leader and equity diversity and inclusion (EDI) advocate. One of Shalini’s goals is to help break down systemic biases and barriers in the scientific community and to provide equitable opportunities for marginalized communities in Canada. At York University, Shalini was dedicated to increasing accessibility to STEM education for youth across Canada through her work with Let’s Talk Science. As the former site coordinator for York, Shalini increased the site’s outreach to marginalized communities by organizing hands-on STEM workshops catered towards different learning styles. She helped establish several large STEM events and obtained several sponsorships to help break down socioeconomic barriers for less affluent communities. As the program assistant for Let’s Talk Science, she developed online STEM workshops to increase accessibility in the pandemic. She also helped design STEM activity kits which were delivered to the homes of youth from communities where online content was not accessible, such as low-income, Indigenous and rural communities. Shalini had also been actively involved in increasing science accessibility for Black youth in the Jane and Finch community, where she conducts weekly STEM workshops and organized career workshops highlighting people of colour. Following her MSc in Neuroscience at York, she began her PhD in Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia and looks forward to continuing her advocacy work.