SARA MIDDLETON
BA ’97, RECREATION AND LEISURE STUDIES
Sara, Director, Community Impact, for United Way Elgin Middlesex, has been seconded for up to two years to United Way Centraide Canada as of June 2022. Sara is helping advance national community impact work by sharing expertise about social issues affecting local communities with the national movement.
WAJID AHMED
MSC ’07, HEALTH STUDIES AND GERONTOLOGY
Wajid served as Medical Officer of Health in Windsor-Essex County Health for a number of years before joining the Ministry of Health. He is currently working as the Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ontario. In his role, Wajid has not only supported the provincial COVID-19 pandemic response, but also supports the public health units in the west region in their COVID-19 pandemic response.
CECILIA COLLINS
BSC ’08, KINESIOLOGY
Cecilia began a new role in 2022 at VelocityEHS (formerly Humantech,
Inc) as Manager of Customer Experience/Operations. She oversees a team of ergonomic consultants supporting proactive ergonomic design initiatives at Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America.
LUBNA ALMAZROEI
MA ’10, TOURISM POLICY AND PLANNING
Lubna started a new role on February 2022 as the Tourism Manager, Economic Diversification Investments in the Oman Investment Authority. Lubna has also been designated as the chair for the board of trustees at the Oman Tourism College since December 2020.
MICHAEL PEARSON
BSC ’11, KINESIOLOGY
Michael started a new position as Territory Manager at Bausch + Lomb Canada.
THIV PARAMSOTHY
BSC ’13, HEALTH STUDIES
Thiv recently founded his next startup, Hera Fertility, after seeing friends and family struggle to afford fertility treatments. He hopes to improve access and affordability for all.
MARC LAFLEUR
BSC ’14, HEALTH STUDIES
Marc has recently joined Minti Labs as a Product Advisor to help with their recent launch of IMSA Fastlane. Similar to Dapper Labs’ Top Shots, IMSA Fastlane has become the licensed NFT and digital collectable marketplace for North America’s largest Motorsports association. And in other good news, Marc and Irma Brcanovic got married on October 15!
IMRAN ADRIAN KHAN
BSC ’03, KINESIOLOGY, AND MPH ’15, PUBLIC HEALTH
Imran is starting as Associate Medical Officer of Health at Public Health Sudbury and Districts, having recently completed residency training at NOSM University in the Public Health and Preventive Medicine residency program. He writes that the knowledge gained, competencies developed and friendships established during the MPH training was instrumental in enhancing his understanding of the social determinants of health and health equity, and further deepened his interests in pursuing public health and preventive medicine residency training.
RUBIN KATAKI
BA ’17, RECREATION AND SPORT BUSINESS
Rubin started a new position as the Senior Fundraising Strategist and Account Manager at Frontier Marketing Co.
KYLIE SULLIVAN
MSC ’19, KINESIOLOGY
Kylie has returned from the west coast and started as a Research Assistant in the Bone Health and Exercise Science (BonES) Lab at the University of Waterloo.
CELIA LAUR
PHD ’19, HEALTH STUDIES AND GERONTOLOGY
Celia is an implementation scientist working as the scientific lead of the Office of Spread and Scale at Women’s College Hospital Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care (WIHV). In August 2022, she gained the affiliation of Assistant Professor in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) at the University of Toronto.
KRISTA URCHENKO
MPH ’19, PUBLIC HEALTH
Krista recently started a new role as a Senior Policy Analyst, Office of the Vice-President and Deputy Chief Public Health Officer at the Public Health Agency of Canada. She previously was with Health Canada working in pharmaceutical regulatory affairs.
HILARY PROUSE
BA ’19, RECREATION AND LEISURE STUDIES
Hilary is currently working as the Alumni and Events Coordinator for the Alumni and Advancement Office at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
TIANQI ZHU
MHI ’20, HEALTH INFORMATICS
Tianqi has become a software engineer at ADP, a human resource company. He is so kind that when he’s hiking, birds come over and perch atop his head.
MARIO KANGESWAREN
MPH ’21
Mario completed the MPH during his Northern Ontario School of Medicine Public Health and Preventive Medicine post-graduate medical education (residency). He is also a family physician. During his MPH, the COVID-19 pandemic arose, and Mario was able to concurrently undertake full-time courses and provide much-needed health-care support. He is also the newly appointed Medical Officer of Health for the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit.
KAILEIGH DAKINS
BA ’22, RECREATION AND SPORT BUSINESS
Kaileigh began her career with the Toronto Blue Jays in May 2022. She is a Fan Services Representative and helps to improve the fan experience at Blue Jays games!
From our #UWHealthAlumni Instagram Feature
Nearing the end of his Recreation and Leisure Studies degree (BA ’15), Thomas Black started working as an axe-throwing coach with the Backyard Axe Throwing League (BATL) at their new Kitchener location. With axe throwing growing as a sport and the development of a governing body for the sport, this job began to turn into a career.
He spent three-and-a-half years managing and operating the Kitchener venue as the general manager, then moved to a sport management role with the International Axe Throwing Federation (IATF). “Fast forward through the pandemic and with the continued growth of the Federation, I am now senior manager of the IATF.”
Last year, Thomas also started working for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League team as their video coach. This September will be his second season with the Knights, and he’ll be leaving Waterloo for the first time since 2010 to relocate to London.
“I contribute a lot of my personal and professional success to my time at UWaterloo and having had the opportunity to spend seven years (through school and beyond) as an assistant coach and video coach with Coach Brian Bourque and the Waterloo Warriors men’s hockey program.”
Outside of work, Thomas likes to volunteer his time in the region helping younger generations in sport through goalie coaching.
