In this episode, Rima chats with Shreya Gandhi, a PhD student at the Princess Margaret Cancer Research Tower in Dr. Gelareh Zadeh’s laboratory. Her research characterizes how hypoxia alters immune cell proportions in glioblastomas, which is crucial to developing more targeted therapies. Shreya was a Masters student that transitioned to PhD, in order to accelerate her graduate studies and pursue medicine after. As the daughter of a brain tumour survivor, it has long been her dream to work as a Clinician-Scientist in Neuro-Oncology, and do for others what many Neurosurgeons have done for her mom.
In this episode, hear Shreya’s story of how her anxiety surrounding her mother’s diagnosis and her passion for advocacy set her down a path of founding the youth brain tumour awareness walk Project X. Her discipline and passion towards helping others when she hears their stories also motivated her to recently create a policy paper advocating for pediatric brian tumor survivors to automatically qualify for the additional resources in school that are needed. With each step in her journey to fighting brain cancer, Shreya reaches new heights. She is now the current Chair of the Canadian Cancer Society Research Information Outreach Team Toronto Division, a co-founding member of the SuperKids program with the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, Brain Tumour Awareness Walk Co-Coordinator, and serves as a Public Policy Committee Member with the Society of Neuro-Oncology. So tune in to get to know Shreya and hear the details of her incredible scientific and personal journey thus far!
UHN Trainee Podcast: Seeds of Science is proudly supported by the UHN Office of Research Trainees. For more information on the podcast and interviewees, visit our webpage: https://uhntrainees.ca/trainee/seeds-of-science-podcast/