Nyasha Gondora, third year PhD candidate at the Waterloo School of Pharmacy, was the winner of the 2017 Three Minute Thesis Faculty of Science heat. In this article, Gondora highlights her experiences for other students considering to take on the 2018 Three Minute Thesis challenge.
On January 7 2008, the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy ran its first class. The School had 90 students, six faculty members, and only a handful of staff.
What were you doing on January 7, 2008? You may not remember, but 90 of your colleagues certainly do. They were starting class at Canada’s newest pharmacy school. The building wasn’t even finished yet.
Professor Michael Beazely kicked off the lecture to the crowd of over 150 people. Beazely discussed the chemical structure of marijuana, differentiating between THC and CBD, two of the active constituents in the cannabis plant.
On November 10, Professor Marianna Foldvari received an award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievements in Nanoscience from Nano Ontario, an organization that represents Ontario’s nanotechnology community. She then travelled to San Diego to be appointed a Fellow of the prestigious American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences (AAPS). These honours recognize Foldvari’s accomplishments in pharmaceutical sciences and nanomedicine research.
At the end of October, student representatives for the Canadian Association of Pharmacy Students and Interns (CAPSI) ran competitions for Waterloo Pharmacy students. These competitions are an annual tradition held every fall term. All ten pharmacy schools across Canada host similar events, run by local CAPSI chapters.
Doctor of Pharmacy student Munaza Saleem (photo credit James MacDonald) was selected from an applicant pool of young women across Canada to step into the role of Minister of National Defense for a day.
As part of the University of Waterloo’s Reunion Weekend Sept 29-30, the School of Pharmacy hosted Friday night trivia and Saturday Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
For the third year in a row, Waterloo Pharmacy joined a Solidarity Experiences Abroad (SEA) excursion and sent pharmacy students on a healthcare mission in Peru. Sonya Dhanjal, Loran Ellero-Dionne, and Saptha Navaratnam travelled to South America this summer to support four healthcare clinics in different parts of Lima.
In August, Waterloo Pharmacy’s Colleen Maxwell was appointed a University of Waterloo Research Chair. The position recognizes exceptional achievement in a particular field of knowledge. Professor Maxwell’s primary field is pharmcoepidemiology – the study of medication use and effects in human populations – and she is nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in aging-related research.