A Public Health student’s experience completing research at Odette Cancer Centre

Sharmi Sritharan (she/her) is a fourth-year Public Health student who’s minoring in addictions, mental health and policy. She speaks about how she learned to consider research positions, even though she doesn’t have a traditional science background.

Sharmi’s co-op journey:

Work term one: Sharmi’s first role was with MedChart as a junior data analyst. She remotely received patient records and input the information into the correct accounts. Additionally, she searched for information that lawyers and health insurance companies requested.

Work terms two, three and four: Her second, third and fourth work terms were spent as a research assistant at Odette Cancer Centre in their gastrointestinal (GI) department. Here, she worked on lab sample processing, administrative work and met with patients to get their consent for studies. She also contacted monitors for sponsors to ensure that they had the correct information and did patient/study data entry.

Q&A with Sharmi:

Do you feel like your program prepared you for all your co-ops?

“My second co-op job was a research position and as a Public Health student, I hadn’t taken any science-based courses. The last time I took a biology course was in high school.”

“So, going in with no information and no background on science was a bit of a challenge. It took me about six months to get comfortable with the day-to-day tasks and understand everything that was going on. My team was very supportive and really helped me understand my work.”

Why did you decide to stay at your current employer for three work terms in a row?

“At first, I wasn’t sure if I would like the position, but then as time went on, I found that I really enjoyed working with my team.”

“They were so supportive! Even though most of them have a biology or life science background, they never made me feel left out and always took time to teach me everything until I fully understood it.”

“Since my team treated me so well, I was eager to stay with them and learn more.”

“So, at the end of my second co-op term, I asked them if I could come back for my next co-op and they said yes!”

“In my last co-op term, I also got the chance to work with one of my coworkers on a grant and we created a project to show how caregivers are affected when looking after a loved one with cancer. We created a video for our patients' caregivers. We had asked a few caregivers we had known to talk about their experiences and how they got through it. At the end, we also listed a few resources that they could use to reach out for help.”

Link to the video: Caregivers in Oncology

“This job gave me the opportunity to see what options are available to students studying in a Life Sciences program or Health Sciences program. It also showed me how Public Health students can get involved in that kind of career field as well.”

What would you want to tell other Public Health students?

“Before this co-op, I didn’t think doing research was an option for me. Then as I learned more about it and how it operates on a daily basis, I became really interested! I had no information on how research works before, and now that I’ve done it, I found it’s a really cool opportunity. I am keeping this on the side as I'm finishing school to see if it is something I'm interested in doing in my future career.”

“Our program is very broad and built to allow you to pivot into anything in the health field so take advantage of that. Even during my first job, when I was working on medical charts, that taught me a lot of computer and data entry skills.”

“Every job is an opportunity for learning, especially in the health field so don’t limit yourself when applying.”

Were there any downsides to your co-op?

“Of course, for example I had to wake up really early in the morning to commute to work and I worked about eight-nine hours a day. Sometimes I would be at work for almost ten hours. Some days I would be so busy running about from the clinic to the lab that my other work will be pushed back. Moreover, in this job things would come up, the whole day would change and we would just have to adjust accordingly. ”

“The job could be very stressful and there were times I felt overwhelmed but at the end of the day, it's worth it. The experience allowed me to learn a lot about myself, it forced me to improve my habits and lifestyle choices.”

What’s been the most interesting project you’ve worked on?

“Definitely the grant that we received through Sunnybrook. It was $1,000 and could be used for any project that could teach something to patients.”

“As mentioned before, our project focused on how caregivers are affected by caring for loved ones with cancer.”

“It was a very interesting project because I didn’t think I could make such a big change with only $1,000. It also taught us about how to create content in a hospital setting and the different approaches you can take to share information.”

“We ended up creating a YouTube video which we posted all over social media and in the waiting rooms.”

What's next for you?

“I am planning to apply for my master's in public health”

“I also really liked the job that I was doing, so I’m considering either applying to work there full-time or pivoting towards the policy side of health care. Something like the Ministry of Health or Health Canada. I enjoyed working on policies and I feel that I could do a lot of good in that kind of position.”