Community

COVID-19 has impacted health-care systems worldwide. Pharmacies provide an essential service, ensuring that people can access medications and health information.

From neighbourhood pharmacies to community health teams, alumni from the School of Pharmacy have risen to the challenge, working hard through the pandemic to keep our world healthy. Here are a few of their stories.

In June 2020, Waterloo's newest graduates were forced to celebrate their convocation from afar. Then, something wonderful happened: our community of students, alumni, faculty and staff joined together virtually to mark this special occasion. At the same time, convocating students shared their achievements, celebrations and gratitude to create a digital yearbook.

When the University’s research labs shut down for quarantine, biology professor Brian Dixon pivoted some of his research away from blood testing in fish, into looking at blood testing in humans. Instead of sitting around and waiting for his labs to open again, Dixon wanted to use his time and knowledge of biology and immunology to contribute to the global need for understanding and overcoming COVID-19.

While many live events are being cancelled due to restrictions for in-person gatherings, Concept continues to showcase their achievements and successes by hosting virtual competitions. Similar to Velocity’s virtual Fund Pitch Competition (VFPC), Concept pivoted two of their major in-person events to video submissions which garnered more than one hundred applicants combined. Audiences were then invited to virtually attend each event where a panel of local startup founders scored and selected the final winners.

Seriously, do something hard.

Shut off the TV, put your phone away, forget about going for drinks tonight and for once do something real. Get out from behind that desk, you have an entire lifetime to spend on spreadsheets, meetings and emails that no one will remember anyway.

Why should you do something hard? It is because so much in modern life has conspired to make you soft but you can choose not to be.

Eric Migicovsky (BASc ’09) had no idea what to expect when he started his own company. Although he created the Pebble — one of the world’s first smartwatchs — Migicovsky had only just completed his engineering degree at Waterloo.

“I had no expectations,” Migicovsky said. “I was fresh out of school and just happy to build stuff. I have great memories of running the assembly line to build the watches in the garage behind our house.”

Tanay Singhal 
Computer Science, University of Waterloo
> Research Intern at Haptic Computing Lab

Motivated by prior research that reports elevator buttons as a huge source of contamination, a new study co-authored by Waterloo Faculty of Math student presents a touchless elevator concept to slow the spread of COVID-19.

A world-leading University of Waterloo spinoff company, that decodes blood samples for potential treatments for illnesses like cancer and COVID-19, is expanding operations with the help of a $5-million USD investment.

Bin Ma, a University of Waterloo computer science professor who co-founded Rapid Novor in 2015, says the company’s technology is the most advanced in the world when it comes to deciphering the complex workings of antibody proteins, a process called sequencing.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced industries to re-evaluate and transform their purpose. Canada and the world need a resilient and future-ready workforce to help drive our economic recovery.

During the University’s first virtual Waterloo Innovation Summit, industry leaders explored how attracting and retaining highly-skilled talent has quickly become a top priority across organizations in all sectors.