What were key influences on your career? “I went to the University of Toronto for both my undergraduate and graduate degrees, and I actually started at U of T in international relations. I wanted to work in the foreign service, and I was taking classes like French, Russian, philosophy, and political science. I also took an introductory psychology course called Psych 101. Within the course, there was a two-week section on neuroscience. It just blew my mind. I was just so fascinated by neurons, and this was the first I'd ever heard of them. So, I completely changed my degree. I went into the psychology program, and I did a double major in psychology and physiology. I volunteered over the summers with a professor named Dr. John Yeomans, and I worked with him all throughout my undergraduate career in the summers doing neuroscience research. I absolutely loved it. I got a couple of publications out of that. I always tell people when they're starting, especially in the first year, to not have a set goal in mind. Just take the courses you like and see what you really want to follow. Being open-minded is exactly why I am where I am now. I was exposed to a two-week lecture series on neuroscience, and I let it completely change the course of my career. You never know how things are going to turn out.”
What brought you to this area of research? “I've had family members that have suffered from addiction. I lost a cousin to an opioid overdose. I also lost a good friend to schizophrenia, who ironically died of an opioid overdose. It is personal to me. At the same time, when I was working with John Yeomans – he was a schizophrenia researcher at the time – I was fascinated by digging into the underlying mechanisms that are causing these disorders. It's a combination of both scientific curiosity and personal impacts in my life as well. You need be passionate about research because it's not the easiest career path.”
“I was exposed to a two-week lecture series on neuroscience, and I let it completely change the course of my career.”
What is your favourite thing about research? “I can go into the lab and see something that nobody on the planet has ever seen before. There's something fundamentally new and remarkable to be seen every single day. There's the old saying, ‘if you find do a job that you love, you'll never work a day in your life’. With research, there's a lot of work involved, but there’s also that constant intellectual stimulation, a constant satisfaction of curiosity, that's always going on. You also get to work with really great people as well. You get to mentor a lot and watch students and trainees evolve in their careers. It's a very collaborative process and you're never by yourself. I think it really is the most stimulating career you can have in terms of satisfying curiosity.” 42
