Co-op students elevate pediatric care at Holland Bloorview

For more than a decade, Waterloo co-op students have brought curiosity, compassion and leading-edge skills to Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Canada's largest children's rehabilitation hospital.

Each term, students from Pharmacy, Computer Science and beyond are embedded in teams delivering world-class care and transformational research for children and youth with disabilities and medical complexity — and their contributions leave a lasting impact. 

“Waterloo students make a significant contribution by providing collaborative, patient-centred medication therapy management,” says Nathan Ho, director of pharmacy services. “They also bring forward new ideas that lead to impactful quality and safety improvement projects. The impact continues long after their work terms end.”

For the past 13 years, Holland Bloorview has hired one Waterloo Pharmacy co-op student every year — and many come full circle. Since 2017, four former co-op students have returned to the hospital as clinical pharmacists, shaping care for future patients and mentoring new Waterloo students entering the field.  

Ho explains that because pediatric rehabilitation is not commonly taught in university curricula, he and his team design individualized learning experiences that grow with each student’s confidence and skill level.  

“With support from our clinical pharmacists, students work directly with patients, families, doctors, nurses and many other health disciplines to identify, prevent and address medication therapy problems to optimize each patient’s treatment regimen,” Ho shares. 

Driving projects with real clinical impact 

Beyond their clinical responsibilities, co-op students also take on projects that strengthen systems across the hospital. Janeese Nguyen, a student in the Pharmacy program, focused her 2025 work term on tackling “alert fatigue” — a common health-care challenge where clinicians become desensitized to frequent and low-priority medication warnings. 

Nguyen conducted a detailed evaluation of medication safety alerts across clinical systems, identifying ways to make them more relevant for Holland Bloorview's unique pediatric population. Her work helped reduce unnecessary disruptions while strengthening clinical decision-making and patient safety.

“These types of projects make a lasting difference,” Ho says. “Students are able to synthesize evidence-based medical literature, optimize system workflows and make business cases for automation and technology investments.” 

From mentees to mentors 

The influence of these co-op experiences extends far beyond each work term. Former students describe their experiences as transformational moments that set the course for their careers. 

Carly Diamond (PharmD ’16), now a clinical pharmacist at Holland Bloorview and current preceptor, says returning to teach students completing the same co-op role she did is particularly meaningful. “Mentoring students has allowed me to come full circle, and I strive to provide the same empowering, supportive and respectful learning environment that was so instrumental in my own development,” Diamond shares. “Their growth reminds me of why I love this profession.”

Carly Diamond (left); Justina Yeung (right)

After graduating from Waterloo, Justina Yeung (PharmD ’25) also returned to Holland Bloorview as a pharmacist intern while preparing for her pharmacist licensing exams. She says her previous experience as a co-op student positioned her to take on expanded responsibilities.  

Expanding impact beyond pharmacy 

In addition to supporting pharmacy services, Waterloo students contribute to other areas of the hospital, including in research operations. Siimar Leen Kaur, a Computer Science co-op student, is helping build secure cloud-based systems and automation pipelines that strengthen the hospital's digital research infrastructure. 

“Knowing that the infrastructure I design and automate will ultimately support pediatric rehabilitation research gives my work meaning far beyond writing clean, efficient code,” she says. “Being part of a mission-driven environment has reinforced the kind of engineer I aspire to become.” 

A partnership preparing the next generation 

Holland Bloorview is part of a network of more than 8,000 employers connected to the University that help students develop work-ready skills and secure meaningful employment after graduating. 

Whether supporting families through personalized medication education or engineering systems that streamline research operations, Waterloo students consistently leave a lasting impact at the hospital. 

“All of our co-op students have gone on to serve some of Ontario’s most vulnerable patient populations,” Ho says. “Their time here trains not only skilled clinicians and technologists, but future health care leaders.” 

Together, Waterloo and Holland Bloorview are developing the next generation of clinicians and innovators committed to advancing pediatric care.

Banner image: Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital