March 18, 2013
Applied health sciences student receives co-op award
Fourth-year student is already an author of eight scholarly articles and is looking toward medical school.
Nemica Thavarajah, Applied Health Sciences student, University of Waterloo
As a first year student in applied health sciences, Nemica Thavarajah was keenly interested in the medical journal articles she read for her courses. “I thought it would be so amazing if some day I could submit articles to journals and be cited by other researchers,” says Thavarajah, winner of a 2012 Waterloo Co-op Student of the Year Award.
Today, the talented fourth-year student is a prolific author of scholarly articles in pain management and oncology journals and she presents new research on managing cancer pain at international conferences.
Helping patients with cancer
Thavarajah got her start as a medical researcher through a co-op work term with the Rapid Response Radiotherapy Program (RRRP) at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. The program provides palliative radiation treatments to relieve the symptoms of patients with advanced cancer.
“We pick the very best like Nemica, who is hard-working, clever and very caring with patients,” says Dr. Edward Chow, a radiation oncologist and head of the RRRP. “We encourage them to take ownership for their research and last year our Waterloo co-op students produced 50 papers. Their contributions elevate the profile of the program and our patients benefit from better care.”
In her three work terms at Sunnybrook, Thavarajah, one of six Waterloo co-op students honored this week, has had eight papers published, three more accepted for publication, and has delivered a dozen poster presentations at cancer conferences in Toronto and New York.
Dreams of medical school
She was first author on a study that evaluated the clinic’s success in reducing patient wait times and led a pain management needs assessment survey aimed at helping radiation therapists manage pain better. She’s also working on a national clinical trial for a new medication to prevent acute pain flare-ups in cancer patients.
The Sunnybrook co-op experience has given her top-notch credentials and ignited her passion to pursue a career in medicine. “Being part of the RRRP has set our students apart from a lot of other applicants to medical school and interacting with patients is something I really look forward to each day,” says Thavarajah, who also earned the Marion J. Todd Memorial Award, given to a female student for high academic achievement and exceptional experience with health-related research.
Link here to view profiles of the five other students who won a 2012 Co-op Student of the Year Award. https://uwaterloo.ca/co-operative-education/co-op-students-year-award/2012-co-op-students-year
