Alumni News

Notes on the milestones and achievements in the lives of our alumni. There are plenty of ways to stay in touch! www.utsconnect.ca alumni@utschools.ca @utschools @utschools / @rosemary_evans @utschools

ALUMNI NEWS

“When you see preventable death happening, my guiding star in all of this pandemic is: am I going to feel that I’m on the right side of history when this is over and if I fail to speak out, are there lives that could have been saved?” Nathan Stall ’04 spoke on CBC Radio’s White Coat, Black Art about the role of advocacy among health professionals. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Nathan has been a strong voice for action, and a regular face on the evening news. From urging 80-year-olds to get their vaccines to warning that Ontario needs stricter lockdown measures to encouraging people to get outside, he is leading the way with strength and humanity.

The trailer is out, actor Simu Liu ’07 is an Entertainment Weekly Rising Star of 2021, and the movie we’ve all been waiting for, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, with Simu as Marvel Studios’ first Asian superhero is coming out later this year. The Kim’s Convenience star told CBC: “I would never in a million years have expected my life to have unfolded the way it did.” The ChineseCanadian actor also wrote a memoir reflecting on his family’s immigrant experience, to be released later this year, and spoke out against anti-Asian racism, including penning a guest column for Variety describing his fears for the safety of his parents – “Anti-Asian racism is very real.”

When Google offered a $60,000 grant to Luke Stark ’02 for his research on how companies are rolling out artificial intelligence to detect emotions, he told CNN Business that his first thought was: “I have to turn it down.” The Western University Assistant Professor declined the grant to show his solidarity with Timnit Gebru, a Black woman fired from Google’s AI team after criticizing the company’s approach on diversity. In February, he spoke on CBC’s The Current about how technology can read emotions and how it is being used in education, health, and wellness.

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS

During the pandemic, Dr . Ben Chan ’82 created a music video salute to local businesses based on the Elton John song I’m Still Standing, on request of Member of Parliament Rob Oliphant for the Don Valley West New Year’s Levee. For the holidays, there was Let it Snow – A COVID holiday song. Ben also spoke at the UTS Tile Chapter’s Tile Talk in December.

Wendy Drukier ’86 became Canada’s Ambassador to Spain in December 2020. Most recently she was director general, economic development at Global Affairs Canada, and from 2012 to 15 she was ambassador to Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Jocelyn (Jodi) Kinear ’93 was named in 2020 as Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, stationed in Vienna, Austria.

Dr . Michelle Cohen ’98 and Dr . Tara Kiran ’95, P ’25 had a great response to their pioneering analysis on the gender pay gap in Canadian medicine, published in the Canadian Medical Association

Journal last year. “Pay inequities have gone unaddressed in the medical profession thus far, but the tremendous response our paper has received indicates that the time has finally come to focus on the problem and work to resolve it,” says Michelle. Neither Tara nor Michelle realized that they were both UTS alums until months after their paper was published, making another great UTS connection!

Ananya TandonVerma ’10 continued working with Feed the Frontlines Toronto. After delivering 30,000 meals to frontline workers at 29 hospitals and facilities, and supporting nine restaurants, her work with this organization pivoted to support Rexdale families experiencing food insecurity due to the pandemic.

Maddie Cusimano ’11 dropped in virtually to Sarah Shugarman’s S5 (Grade 11) music class to talk about her unusual path post-UTS and current dissertation research into the creativity underlying our sensory experience of sound. After obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Music, with minors in Chemistry and Psychology, from University of Toronto in 2015, she started graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences department. Her work is supported by the MIT Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, which fosters interdisciplinary collaborations that explore human intelligence. Maddie is a guest lecturer at the MIT Museum Studio, a maker space at the intersection of art and science.

Edward Tian ’18, a computer science and journalism student at Princeton, wrote a fascinating data analysis piece about COVID-19 Twitter disinformation, and presented his findings to the World Health Organization in October.

// A global COVID-19 mapping tool launched in April, thanks in part to the efforts of UTS alumni (clockwise from top left) Jessica Situ ’20, Dr . Jennifer Nguyen ’10, Sungmin Lee ’19, and

Sumin Lee ’20. This project highlights the important role public funding plays with COVID-19 research on vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. Dr. Nguyen coordinated this Universities Allied for Essential Medicines project in North America, which involved many students around the world.

Vedika Jha ’20 published her AP Research findings in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. Her project focused on assessing the social influences, self-esteem, and stress of peers who vape.

IN THE NEWS

Vic Nishi ’78 was featured on CBC Radio for skiing in the Canadian Ski Marathon in February, an event held virtually due to COVID-19. That means he skied 100 kilometres in two days – amazing!

Dr . Matthew Muller ’89, an infectious disease specialist with St. Michael’s Hospital, was featured on CTV News as researchers sought 600,000 Canadians to take part in a survey about COVID-19 vaccine side effects.

Tireless efforts are adding up to promising results for U of T researcher Dr . Jordan Feld ’91, a liver specialist at University Health Network. The Globe and Mail reported that his research found the drug interferon lambda can reduce the length of infection and spread, and may prevent hospital stays. The study was published in February’s Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

Tariq Fancy ’97, former UTS Foundation director, wrote an opinion piece for the Globe and Mail, saying, “BlackRock hired me to make sustainable investing mainstream. Now I realize it’s a deadly distraction from the climate-change threat.” His hope is that the article will “spark a large and important debate.”

// Roman Waschuk ’79,

the former Canadian ambassador to Ukraine, appeared on CTV National News last fall, speaking about the “crunch” situation in Belarus as the regime radicalized its approach and national strike loomed.

Roman was a guest speaker at this April's Southern Ontario Model United Nations Assembly, hosted by UTS, pictured with (from top right clockwise) SOMA Secretary‑General Matthew Davidson, Director‑General Laia Bent, and Chief of Staff Sophie Fiala, all S6 (Grade 12) students.

LITERARY NEWS

AWARDS

Hugh AnsonCartwright ’48 received a U of T Arbor Award for his exceptional volunteer service to the university. Since the seventies, Hugh, an antiquarian book dealer, has volunteered at Trinity’s John Graham Library and other U of T libraries, sharing his extensive experience as well as his own gifts of scarce items.

John Chew ’81 was honoured in March as this year’s recipient of the Peter Gzowski Award, given annually to recognize a Canadian’s contributions to adult literacy. John, who is a software developer and Scrabble consultant, has helped the charity Frontier College raise millions over the years through Scrabble events, including the live-streamed fundraiser where the award was presented.

Felicia Knaul ’84, P ’15 was named a 2020 Fellow of Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, one of the highest scholarly honours in Canada. A director at the University of Miami Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas and Professor at the Miller School of Medicine, she’s honoured for her policy contributions and pioneering research in women’s and children’s health, global cancer, palliative care and pain relief, and health financing.

Celine O’Neil ’15 took home the 2020 gold medal for engineering from the University of Waterloo, a very impressive achievement.

Amazing innovation from Nishita Saha ’16, a member of the UWTensil team that won the University of Waterloo Velocity Entrepreneurship Concept for their affordable, biodegradable cutlery solution for restaurants, using a novel material.

Anjalee Narenthiren ’20 was awarded the TD Community Leadership Skills Scholarship for her innovative approach to support students’ skills in technology and entrepreneurship.

Congratulations to poet Dennis Lee ’57, P ’84 on being awarded the Matt Cohen Award from the Writers’ Trust of Canada, recognizing his lifetime of distinguished work, which includes founding the House of Anansi Press, winning a Governor General’s Literary Award in 1972 for Civil Elegies and Other Poems, and publishing 15 books of poems and 28 books of children’s poetry, including the iconic Alligator Pie. He was also Toronto’s first poet laureate.

For 50 years, John Sayers ’57 collected ocean liner ephemera – likely the largest

// Voices in the Whir, a composition by Sergei Kofman

’14, won the Ann H. Atkinson Prize in Composition from the U of T New Music Festival. He is pictured in the centre with the band.

collection of its type in the world. Now it is officially preserved for posterity as The Sayers Collection at the Weston Library at the University of Oxford. His book, Secrets of the Great Ocean Liners, launched internationally in November 2020. The book has been reviewed in UK papers The Telegraph and The Times, and in the New York Times. John credits the inspiration of his UTS Grade 10 English Teacher, R .J . (Ronnie) McMaster, who made Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar come alive, as influencing him to write five books and many articles, while he worked as a chartered accountant (now retired).

What is the future of blackness? Sensitivity, a play by Lawrence Hill C .M . ’75, was part of 21 Black Futures, an anthology of performances from Obsidian Theatre Company that streamed earlier this year on CBC Gem.

Blaze Island, a Shakespearean climate crisis-inspired story set on a fictionalized version of Fogo Island by Catherine Bush ’79, made the year-end best books lists of the Globe and Mail, the Writers’ Trust, and 49th Shelf and received much critical acclaim. UTSAA Board Director Dr . Jessica Ware ’95 wrote a children’s book entitled Bugs – A Day in the Life, that follows bees, caterpillars, ants, and more through a day in their lives.

Isabella Chiu ’13 aims to bring more Asian representation to children’s literature with her children’s storybook, Let’s Get Boba!, which tells the story of Charlie, an Asian-Canadian girl who introduces her best friend to boba (bubble tea).

FUTURE UTS ALUMNI

Melanie Adler ’10, who as a volunteer coach helped the UTS 2019-20 Foundation Girls Basketball Team win gold at the SSAF Championship, and Kevin Kim ’11, welcomed their first baby, Nathaniel Ty Adler Kim, on March 18, 2021. She says UTS has been and continues to be a huge part of her and Kevin’s lives.

HEARTWOOD AWARDS

Created in 2016 to celebrate exceptional volunteer service by members of the UTS community, this year the UTS Heartwood Award for Volunteer Service has been awarded to six dedicated volunteers.

David Allan ’78 David, a former UTS Board director, served on many committees, working tirelessly to increase inclusion in the admissions process, and creating financial modelling that made our renewed building possible.

Ann Chung P ’20, ’24, ’25 As a UTS Parents’ Association (UTSPA) parent volunteer group coordinator, Ann helped the grade representatives navigate the challenges of organize virtual social events and was instrumental in welcoming new parents.

Prabhat Jha P ’16, ’20 The magnitude of what Prabhat gives to UTS is immeasurable, with his work on the Board guiding UTS through the pandemic and fostering inclusion in Admissions, and as Building the Future campaign co-chair.

Lawrence Hill C .M . ’75 From the Black Equity Committee to the Community of Support, UTSPA and Building the Future Speaker Series events and more, Lawrence brings our community closer together and makes it more welcoming for everyone.

Morgan Ring ’07 Morgan honoured previous generations of alumni through her work on the WWI Commemorative Project. She also serves as an UTSAA director and events committee chair, lends her eagle eye to The Root, and more.

John Wilkinson ’78 A loyal UTS volunteer, John served as a Building the Future Campaign Cabinet member, former UTSAA director and president, and continues to steadfastly foster good governance at our school.

TOP: The Class of 1965 virtual reunion. BOTTOM: Retired Staff Luncheon. Fall 2020 proved to be a virtual reality, bringing the UTS community together from all corners of the world. Principal Rosemary Evans, and members of the UTS Advancement team – Martha Drake, Carole Zamroutian, and Rebecca Harrison – were delighted to host and participate in many online get-togethers.

Thirty members of the Class of 1965 caught up in a virtual reunion on an October Sunday, enjoying a parody performance from Jeffrey Stutz ’65 and his son, of his composition, My Marks were Only Fair. What fun!

The Class of 1967 was in great festive spirits at a virtual holiday luncheon on December with 29 people attending from across Canada and the United States.

The camaraderie of the Class of 1970 is as strong as ever, with 42 members turning out for a virtual celebration in October where they launched their anniversary video interview project, an amazing initiative by their class. Stephen Gauer ’70, a writer/journalist, set up interviews asking everyone the same questions, recording the answers, and hosting them on Vimeo for the class.

Retired UTS staff shared wonderful stories and memories at the Retired Staff Luncheon in December with 23 attendees. All agreed that their time at UTS was among the best years of their lives and that the school is an amazing place filled with remarkable people.

EVENTS

Over 180 alumni from the Classes of 1950 to 2015 came to the Virtual Alumni Reunion’s two October Zoom sessions, held in place of the Annual Alumni Dinner, to celebrate those with a graduation year ending with a 0 or 5. Having the event virtually made it possible for six alumni to come from New Zealand, Luxembourg, the UK and France, 38 from the U.S., and 10 from outside Ontario.

For Halloween, UTS hosted its first-ever virtual Pumpkin Carving Contest, with 26 community members including staff, students, and alumni submitting spooktacular creations. Winner of The Great Pumpkin Award was M4 (Grade 10) student Erik, with Alan Landsberg ’56 taking the UTSPA Award (as well as Honourable Mention for the Great Pumpkin Award). James Brown ’96 took the People’s Choice Award and UTS English Teacher Julie Stoyka won the UTSAA Award.

LEFT: Virtual Pumpkin Contest Carving UTSPA Award winner, by Alan Landsberg ’56. RIGHT: UTS S6 (Grade 12) student Aman Aggarwal (top left) poses a question to Dr. Michael Spence ’62 (top right) and Dr. Felicia Knaul ’84, P ’15 (bottom) at the virtual Fall 2020 Building the Future Speaker Series.

Two esteemed alumni, Nobel Laureate Dr . Michael Spence ’62 and Health Economist Dr . Felicia Knaul ’84, P ’15 shared their hopeful views on the COVID-19 economic recovery in November at the virtual Fall 2020 Building the Future Speaker Series. Also in November, some of Canada’s top legal minds came out for the first virtual book launch at UTS, featuring UTS alumnus and author Jack Batten ’50 and his latest book, a biography of Ross Mackay ’50, entitled Ross Mackay: The Saga of a Brilliant Criminal Lawyer.

ALUMNI EVENTS

The virtual Remembrance Day ceremony at UTS featured student performances and Dr . Christopher Giannou C .M . ’68, former Red Cross Chief Surgeon, who has saved lives in the world’s killing fields and implored us to contemplate the future in a more humane way.

Interested in joining the Branching Out program to mentor senior UTS students? Contact Rebecca Harrison for more details: rebecca.harrison@utschools.ca.

The Virtual Alumni Reunion. ABOVE LEFT: Virtual book launch for Jack Batten ’50. ABOVE RIGHT: Dr. Christopher Giannou C.M. ’68 at the virtual Rememberence Day ceremony.

In Conversation with Lawrence Hill C.M. ’75 (he is pictured top right).

On the same day, the UTS Parents’ Association hosted In Conversation with Lawrence Hill C.M. ’75, with the esteemed author speaking about social justice, his experience as a Black Canadian and UTS student, and strengthening inclusion within the UTS community.

Several alumni lent their expertise to Branching Out career panel discussions in February and March, giving UTS students an opportunity to learn firsthand about careers in medicine, business and finance, technology and engineering, and the arts and humanities.

Break out your UTS baseball caps and ringer t‑shirts!

Dress in UTS style for summer. utschools.ca/shop

In March, the UTS Alumni Association presented Your First Career Steps: Taking the Right Path Without Knowing the Destination, an informative, inspiring discussion for students and alumni with Hana Dhanji ’05, an Executive Coach; Cynthia Wang ’13, a KPMG consultant; Angela Chen ’13, Senior Consultant at Deloitte; and Elisha Muskat ’01, VP Finance and Operations at Citizen Schools.

IN MEMORIAM

EDGAR FULTON JULL ’31 1914–2019 Edgar Jull never forgot his time as a member of the UTS diving team. He was a proficient swimmer and diver his entire life, on occasion impressing his son Kenneth’s friends (and their parents) at backyard pool parties. In fact, UTS as a whole mattered so much to Edgar that he attended well over a dozen Remembrance Day events at the school, beginning in the late 1990s when he was in his 80s and including the year he turned 100. “Though a bad back prevented him from enlisting, he had friends who fought and died in the war,” says Kenneth. “He was honoured to be included in the school’s ceremonies.”

Edgar was unlike many of his UTS classmates. He neither completed university nor had a conventional career. He left the corporate world because he found its culture to be aggressive and mean-spirited, instead dedicating his time to reading widely, raising his family, maintaining his fitness, helping his friends and neighbours, and pursuing his love of film as president of the Toronto Film Society. He taught his children kindness and compassion, and Kenneth and his sister Wendy felt spoiled to have had their father so much in their young lives which Kenneth says was “very unusual for the times.”

A descendent of Orange Lawrence, the founder of Orangeville, Edgar was proud of his heritage, his family, and his alma mater. “He always talked about UTS,” recalls Kenneth. “It shaped his love of scholarship and history as well as his incredible zest for life.”

GORDON WESLEY PERKIN O .C . ’53 1935–2020 Close friend and UTS classmate Bill Lett ’53 isn’t the only person to describe Gord Perkin as humble, generous, and self-effacing. Though heralded as a “giant in public health,” Gord was known to freely share his innovative healthcare ideas and then waive credit once they bore fruit. As one former colleague put it, he was a “rare, brilliant man with no ego.”

Gord began his medical career as a general practitioner after graduating from the University of Toronto in 1959. Then, with a desire to reach and help a greater number of people, he left family practice to conduct research in contraceptive technologies – an abiding passion of his along with women’s and children’s health. He became an advisor on population issues for the Ford Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to advancing social justice. Gord then founded the Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health (PATH) in 1977, which is now one of the largest global health non-governmental organizations. In 1999, as a result of that work, he was invited to join the Gates Foundation as executive director of global health programs. There, he helped to create Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which has vaccinated over 820 million children in the world’s poorest countries.

After his retirement in 2005, Gord remained active as a global health advocate, most recently fundraising for Terrewode Women’s Hospital, the first specialized fistula treatment hospital in

Uganda. The Terrewode organization recently established the Gordon Perkin Maternal Health Innovation Fund in honour of his lifetime commitment to maternal health.

Gord was invested as an Officer in the Order of Canada in 2010 in recognition of his dedication to improving the health of citizens in developing countries. Bill says the distinction caught Gord by surprise but Gord felt that it was “a wonderful boost to be so appreciated.” Recalling their time together at UTS, Bill adds that History Teacher Andy Lockhart was a mentor to them both and helped Gord decide on a career in medicine.

After his death on August 21, 2020 from lung cancer, Bill and Melinda Gates said they were “heartbroken” and described Gord as “instrumental in establishing our foundation as a credible partner in the field.”

Gord is survived by his wife Elizabeth and sons Scott and Stuart.

DAVID TILBROOK ’67 1947–2021 David Tilbrook was a digital innovator when the world was still analogue. As a student

Mark Mullin ’75

NOVEMBER 21, 2020 at the University of Toronto in 1973, he designed the digital catalogue for the newly built Robarts Library. In 1975, he created NewsWhole, a digital pagination program that became the first digital page layout system for the Globe and Mail, a precursor to modern page layout systems like Adobe InDesign.

He invented tools taken for granted now, like the context-sensitive cursor that changes depending on the state of the computer system, and the dimming of unavailable icons, such as incompatible apps that appear grayed out when opening a file. Significant software contributions during his career include Research in Motion (now Blackberry). But what his family and friends remember most is his rare combination of logic, cuddles, and playfulness. David passed away due to COVID-19 on January 15, 2021 at Kensington Gardens in Toronto. David was a doting husband to Louise Sommers for 52 years, father and grandfather to Joe (Aubrey, Aiden), Shana (Danae) and Devon (Aviva, Imogen, and Mitzi), brother to the late Stephen Tilbrook ’73, and uncle to Lisa (Dunn) Gordon ’79. – Lisa (Dunn) Gordon ’79

What will you do?

To designate UTS in your will or as a designation for memorial gifts, please contact Martha Drake, Executive Director, Advancement. • 416-946-0097 • mdrake@utschools.ca

LOOKING BACK

Fresh air and our connection with nature has taken on renewed importance this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with UTS students and staff enjoying classroom breaks in parks, carrying on a tradition that hails back to the early days of UTS, when students were encouraged to take fresh air and exercise to stave off tuberculosis .

High Park was a perennial favourite for track and field, which also included wheelbarrow and “pick-a-back” races . In 1938, the Twig said, “The run this Fall was held on Friday, October 21st and the High Park Club house was as ever a seething mass of riotous humanity . The weather left nothing to be desired and the slight nip in the air did much to further the efforts of the boys . ”

Now, as the pandemic helped us re-evaluate our relationship with nature and gain a greater appreciation for being outdoors, the tradition of outdoor exercise continues on, revitalized at our school .