Presidents
Shahroze Zafar
Shahroze is a 4th year student, double majoring in Human Biology and Psychology. He has been a part of BioSA for 3 years, starting as the Secretary, then the Vice President of Graduate Affairs and now one of the Co-presidents of the Association. Throughout his undergrad, he has been an advocate for biology students at UTSC and has been a part of many initiatives to get their voices heard. He currently works at St. Michael's Hospital exploring systemic inequalities within Canadian institutions.
Yusef Khan
Yusef Khan is a 4th year student at UTSC and currently studying Molecular Biology, Immunology & Disease and Psychology. This also marks his 4th year on the team as he initially joined BioSA as one of their First Year Representatives. He enjoys creative writing, Dragonboat, cooking and can probably beat you in Mario Kart.
Email: president@thebiosa.org
Vice-President of Internal Affairs
Natalie Garabedian
Natalie is currently in her second year, doing a specialist degree in Psychology and a minor in Biology. Her role in BioSA involves making sure our team and members of UTSC have mental health resources and the support they need to attain their goals!
Email: vpinternal@thebiosa.org
Vice-President of Finance and Operations
Emma Hua Tran
Emma is an energetic and hyper active person. She has an eternal love for pets, during the pandemic she stays at home with 5 dogs, 3 cats and many chameleons on her rooftop (so basically a zoo). She can't wait to resume class in person and meet more peeps!
Email: vpfinanceops@thebiosa.org
Vice-Presidents of Academics
Arishba Mumtaz
Arishba Mumtaz is a 4th year student completing a specialist in molecular biology and biotechnology with co-op. She is one of the VP academics on the BioSA team this year and is excited to bring everyone events from which they can take away meaningful experiences. She hopes that the events she helps plan will aid students in navigating their undergrad and prepare students better for graduate school.
Shen Hu
Shen is a student at UTSC majoring in Biology and Psychology. She has been a part of BioSA for two years now with no intention of leaving 🤩. She has a very special skill set that includes estimating exactly how much rice she needs to put on her plate to go along with whatever food she microwaved.
Email: vpacademics@thebiosa.org
Vice-President of Public Relations
Mickaela Bautista
Mickaela is our Vice President of Public Relations. She is in her second year doing a double major in Human Biology and Psychology. She hopes to provide UTSC students with an accessible way to connect with other biology students, professors and resources through BioSA’s social media pages.
Email: publicrelations@thebiosa.org
Vice-President of Social
Julia Ming Lo
Julia is a 3rd year student at UTSC completing her Neuroscience Specialist Co-op degree. This year, she is BioSA's VP Social, ensuring cohesion and bonding within the team. She is interested in research surrounding brain and behaviour. Julia is grateful to be part of a fun team this year and hopes that she can continue to help bring UTSC students informative and fun events. In her spare time, Julia likes to play music through singing and piano, and can often be found trying not to sleep on long commutes.
Email: vpsocial@thebiosa.org
Vice-President of Graduate Affairs
Mahnoor Khan
Mahnoor (better known as MK) is in 4th year, studying Human Biology, Neuroscience, and Psychology. Through her role in BioSA, she hopes to provide undergraduate students with resources and information about their options after graduation.
Email: graduateaffairs@thebiosa.org
Vice-President of Volunteer and Charity
Namrah Asghar
The VP of Volunteer and Charity finds volunteer and experiential opportunities for the student body and advertises them through monthly social-media posts. Additionally, they run the annual De-stressors- social events designed to reduce stress prior to exam season. The VP of V&C also hosts charity and fundraising events. Most importantly, they aid the other BioSA team members in creating an engaging and fun experience for the UTSC community!
Academics Director
Dhra Chourey
Dhra Chourey is the Academics Director for BioSA. She is in her third year pursuing a double major in Population Health Studies and Human Biology. She is very excited for what BioSA has planned for the students this winter semester!
Email: academics@thebiosa.org
Medical Sciences Director
Frans Budiman
Frans is a second year taking a Specialist program in molecular biology and biotechnology. He is excited to be able to organize events to help students pursue their career in medical science. If you have any event/seminar that you think will be interesting, please let him know and he will be more than happy to arrange it!
Email: medicalsciences@thebiosa.org
Departmental Events Director
Aliza Khaitin
Aliza is honoured to be your Departmental Events Director for the second year in a row! Her program is the Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Specialist with Co-op, and she's completed two work terms so far. She enjoys writing, baking, spending time with her cat (he's orange and his name is Motek, which is the Yiddish word for "little friend"). Her role on BioSA is acting as a liaison between the Department of Biological Sciences student body and faculty, so feel free to email her if you have any feedback for the faculty, questions about programming, or event/initiative ideas!
Publicity and Marketing Directors
Sharanya Sritharan
Sharanya is one of the Publicity and Marketing Directors. She is a 3rd year student majoring in Human Biology and Psychology. Sharanya helps create social media posts that help engage the UTSC community with BioSA.
Olivia Hawco
Olivia is a second year student at UTSC specializing in human biology. Some of her interests are figure skating, playing soccer, reading, and binge watching Netflix. She loves exploring her creative side and is excited to work with the rest of the BioSA team for an amazing academic year!
Wania Qamar
Wania Qamar is the Publicity and Marketing Director for BioSA for the 2021-2022 academic year. She is a second-year student double majoring in Human Biology and Biochemistry Co-op with a minor in Psychology. She enjoys painting and draws so she is really excited to show her creative skills through this position! She is really excited to be a part of BioSA this year and hopes to showcase the new events through her creative artistic skills, and to help other students!
Senior Year Representatives
Zain Awan
Zain Awan is a third-year student at the University of Toronto Scarborough currently pursuing a double major in Human Biology and Health Studies with Coop. This is his first year on the team although he partook in a few of past events in BioSA in the first two years of his undergraduate career which initially spiked his interest in the organization. He loves Biology and reading up on different physics theories as well as hiking and running Track and Field.
Faizah Islam
Email: senioryearrep@thebiosa.org
Second Year Representatives
Aditi Bansal
Aditi is specializing in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology with a Minor in Biomedical Ethics. She is an avid reader, dancer and F1 fanatic. As the Second Year Representative for BioSA, she wants to connect students to resources and help and plan events that motivate and encourage the student body. Having already curated Suicide Prevention trainings for UTSC students, she hopes to bring more such opportunities for learning and having fun in the future.
Jessie Tien
Jessie is a second year student doing a double major in Neuroscience, Psychology, and minor in Art History. She wishes to work with BioSA and the community at UTSC to foster a positive space that offers a multitude of opportunities to enrich the university experience and help students grow as individuals. This includes adapting to the barriers of online learning and the unique challenges it brings to make events and services more accessible and conscientious of student needs. Any desire to connect is welcomed to her email: jess.tian@mail.utoronto.ca
Email: 2ndyearrep@thebiosa.org
First Year Representatives
Zaynab Azeem
Zaynab is a first-year planning to pursue Neuroscience. She is always open to have a conversation and going on quick bubbe tea runs, so feel free to hit her up with any questions, or if you want to chat and try out exotic bbt flavors! She also enjoys reading, going on long-walks and discussing music. She is looking forward to making new friends and exploring the campus!
Kobiga Seralathan
Kobiga enjoys reading novels (especially Harry Potter), drawing and baking in her spare time. She loves to help make a difference in her community while challenging herself to break personal boundaries with new endeavors. She isn’t sure what she’d like to do in the future, but enjoys the intersection of science with other disciplines like technology, business and philosophy.
Email: firstyearreps@thebiosa.org
Secretary
Aditi Sahu
Aditi Sahu is a fourth year undergraduate student double majoring in Human Biology and Mental Health Studies. She loves to spend her time volunteering with non profit organizations focused towards helping vulnerable and marginalized people in the community. In her free time, she enjoys watching netflix along with a glass of chocolate milkshake. She can't wait to connect with people in person soon.
Email: secretary@thebiosa.org
Webmasters
Kishora Ravichandran
Kishora is a second year student majoring in Biochemistry Co-op and Molecular Biology, Immunology and Disease. As one of the webmasters of BioSA, she works with the team to help keep BioSA’s website updated. In her free time, she loves to watch horror shows and movies (especially psychological thrillers) and also loves riding her bike when the weather is nice.
Kush Panchal
Kush is a third year student double majoring in Human Biology and Neuroscience. He joined the BioSA team in the 2021-2022 school year as a webmaster. Working alongside the other webmasters, he is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the BioSA website. Some of his hobbies include gaming, sports, and playing the guitar.
Email: webmaster@thebiosa.org