Our 2025 Executive Team
NATHALIE LONGAKIT
CO-PRESIDENT
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Continue in academia.
Random Trait: I like horse riding, reading, and playing tennis
“Horses can grow mustaches”
GLAFIRA ERMAKOVA
CO-PRESIDENT
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Continue research in academia or Biotech company.
Random Trait: One of my kidneys is upside down
“You can taste onion by rubbing it on your feet”
HANNAH BOURGET
SENIOR RESEARCH DAY CHAIR
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Continue researching in academia, and teach at a University.
Random Trait: I can solve a Rubik’s cube in under a minute.
“Competitive art used to be in the Olympics.”
MICHAEL KE
JUNIOR RESEARCH DAY CHAIR
Post-Graduate Aspiration: continue research in academia in the neurodevelopment space, do a Post-doc outside of Canada
Random Trait: One day I want to have my own workshop and garage for my projects
“If you are cutting a lot of garlic and the smell is stuck on your fingers, rub your hands on something stainless steel; the chromium in the steel oxidizes the compounds that give garlic its characteristic smell!“
CRYSTAL YU
EVENTS (RESEARCH DAY)
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Continue research and pursue a Masters in Genetic Counselling.
Random Trait: Americano aficionado
“The bingturong, aka the bearcat, smells like popcorn.”
SARA CRISTIANO
SENIOR SEPTEMBER WELCOME CHAIR
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Work in genetic diagnostics as a clinical laboratory geneticist, as well as continuing to pursue cancer research
Random Trait: I can do a back flip 🙂
ESTELLE ZHANG
JUNIOR SEPTEMBER WELCOME CHAIR
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Continue in academic/industry
Random Trait: The birthmark on my mouth is a tilted heart-shape
“The world’s oldest dog lived to 29.5 years old.“
CAT ZHANG
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS – SOCIAL MEDIA
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Work on cancer medication development (industry/academia)
Random Trait: I like playing guitar, collecting perfume and making cocktails
“the first item sold by McDonald’s was a hot dog instead of a burger.”
RACHEL JIANG
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS – GRAPHICS
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Continue in academia, maybe teaching
Random Trait: I lived in Argentina for 3 months without knowing enough Spanish to form a cohesive sentence
“Snails poop on their head.”
JASMIN LEE
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS – EMAILS
Continue in research
Random Trait: My secondary goal in life is to become a GoodReads influencer
“Cows have bffs!”
MARIE JOHNS
EVENTS CO-CHAIR
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Travelling abroad for a postdoc in a neurogenetics lab while pondering a career in academia vs. industry.
Random Trait: I have incredible recall for song lyrics, even for songs I haven’t heard in years!
“Young goats pick up accents from each other. This means they join humans, bats, and whales as mammals known to adjust their vocal sound to fit into a new social group.”
STEVEN CHUANG
EVENTS CO-CHAIR
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Continue research in academia.
Random Trait: I can play recorder with my nose!
“There are more deer than humans living on Mayne Island.”
ALI SALEHI
EVENTS CO-CHAIR
Post-Graduate Aspiration: To make some cool discoveries.
Random Trait: I can hold my breath for more than five minutes.
“Myxococcus xanthus is a social bacterium that forms coordinated ‘wolf-pack’ swarms to hunt other bacteria.”
RAMLOGAN SOWAMBER
SENIOR FINANCE CHAIR
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Work as a Scientist, developing novel therapeutic strategies.
Random Trait: I like to run marathons
“Mount Logan is the tallest mountain in Canada.”
RYAN CAMPBELL
JUNIOR FINANCE CHAIR
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Continue as a researcher in academia or industry.
Random Trait: I like soccer, gaming, and baking sourdough bread
“There is around 1 vending machine for every 23 people in Japan, the highest ratio in the world.”
SHELBY THORNTON
YEAR 2 GENETIC COUNSELLING REPS
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Continue research and a career in Hereditary Cancer Genetic Counselling space.
Random Trait: Backpacking, Kayaking, biking and photography
“Families of orcas will only mate with orcas from other families after the matriarch has approved. They are able to distinguish families through dialect recognition!”
CLAUDIA PFEIFER
YEAR 2 GENETIC COUNSELLING REPS
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Pursue a career in the metabolics or cardiac genetic counselling space (after a backpacking trip through Europe!).
Random Trait:I love the NYT mini crossword, hiking, and movies
“The Lascaux Caves in France were accidentally discovered by a teenager on a walk with his dog. Go on more walks!”
KATE BORGERT
YEAR 1 GENETIC COUNSELLING REPS
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Practice genetic counselling clinically and continue research
Random Trait: I love hiking and swimming
“There are more than double the amount of sheep in Iceland than people”
MIYA MATZ
YEAR 1 GENETIC COUNSELLING REPS
Post-Graduate Aspiration: Practice genetic counselling perhaps in the prenatal or pediatric space.
Random Trait: I love Star Wars so much I paid to build my own lightsaber at Disneyland.ve the NYT mini crossword, hiking, and movies
Medical Genetics Graduate Student Association 