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“We’re Breaking Down Barriers” PDSB and TMU Healthcare Series highlights representation and possibility

May 22, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

150 students from Peel District School Board gathered last week for the final chapter of the Future of Healthcare Speaker Series — a day-long event hosted by PDSB and Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Medicine to inspire future healthcare leaders through mentorship and representation.

Peel District School Board and Toronto Metropolitan University have come together to develop their Future of Healthcare program with three phases: a speaker series, a course offering, and an experimental component.

The Speaker Series launched in October 2024 and ended on May 15.

The course offering and experimental component will be finalized when TMU’s new school of medicine in Brampton opens.

Rashmi Swarup, Director of Education at PDSB, stated that Peel is trying to expand learning beyond the classroom.

“What we want to do is have our students know that they can dream the world,” said Swarup.

Swarup shared that one of the main things they are trying to accomplish through this Speaker Series is the idea of representation.

They focused on including speakers from multiple professions and backgrounds.

Swarup said she had a student’s mother contact her; her daughter had dreamed of being a nurse for seven years. Before the Speaker Series, she didn’t know where to begin.

“She said, ‘I’m a single mom. I’ve had challenges. I didn’t know how to do it. But this has opened the world. I carry my daughter’s dreams to work every day.’ This one event has now made them full of hope and promise,” said Swarup.

“TMU and Peel District School Board have worked very hard to ensure the quality and that the impact of the Speaker Series has on students and to make sure that it is not just two organizations coming and delivering, but really seeing what the students need and to make sure that the students walk away feeling inspired and motivated that they can do anything,” remarked Swarup.

Mirjan Krstovic, Resource Teacher at PDSB, shared similar sentiments. 

“We want to inspire students who traditionally have not been, perhaps, reflected in the healthcare profession. Representation matters,” said Krstovic.

Krstovic shared that part of the Speaker Series’ hopes is that students take away the diversity of careers in healthcare.

“We really hope the students walk away feeling inspired and that they can consider various pathways in healthcare that maybe they didn’t think of in the past. Not just being a doctor or a nurse, there’s a lot more in healthcare,” said Krstovic, noting their overall goal is for the students to feel empowered.

Lisa Barnoff, Interim Vice-Dean: Community, Culture and Belonging, TMU School of Medicine, added they have been working with PDSB for over a year to bring this to fruition. 

“To see that what we hoped to achieve has come to life, and to hear the stories of the students who have participated, and their parents, to the impact that it’s had on them to connect with healthcare professionals who look like them, who come from this community, and how inspired they’ve been by it. That’s the point. That’s what we’re trying to do,” shared Barnoff.

Barnoff said she has noticed how focused and committed the students are to the series at every event.

“I’m so inspired by the energy of the young people. This is one of the most delightful parts of my job, coming to these events.”

The Speaker Series featured multiple presenters from different backgrounds.

The presentations featured titles such as “A Day in the Life: Nursing and Youth Coach in Action” and “Brains and Hearts: Careers that Care”.

Dr. Teresa Chan is the Founding Dean of the Toronto Metropolitan University School of Medicine, TMU’s Vice-President, and Medical Affairs, presented the workshop, “Think like an ER Doctor: Navigating Emergency Medicine.”

Dr. Chan taught the course alongside two practicing emergency physicians who are also teaching in the medical school.

In the workshop, they taught students how to perform chest compressions.

“It’s really important for us to keep people sharp and for them to have some practice,” said Dr. Chan.

“It gives me a real warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart to know that the future of healthcare is in the room,” Dr. Chan shared. “It’s really important to see the future of health care reflected in today’s groups. I’m hoping some of them will go into healthcare, and I’m hoping they’ll be awesome.”

Levar Bailey was another presenter that day is and a TMU Nursing Student.

Bailey has presented in two other panel discussions for the Future of Healthcare series. He shared the day meant a lot to him as he can remember when he was on the other side of the presentation.

“As a youth, we used to have presenters come in and speak to us and it was very influential and impactful to see people in these positions, in these professions, and it helped me to visualize myself in those same spaces and I have the opportunity now to pour into children and to youth the same way I was poured into and to give them a good sense of what’s possible for them,” said Bailey.

“We’re breaking down barriers to help the medical field be more representative of the population that we’re serving and that’s a very big aspect that I think is missing in the medical industry right now. It gives them a good sense of what’s possible in their lives in connection to change in the world.”

Bailey said that through his presentation, he hopes to teach the students about values and to stay true to who they are.

Two Grade 10 students from Humberview Secondary School, Arya Azizi and Tripat Kaur, said the healthcare series helped them to think about their future, as they are both considering careers in healthcare.

Azizi said she had been confused before about her future, and even though it’s far away, through the speakers sharing their journeys and their stories, she felt it helped her.

“We can research about what these jobs are like, what their journeys are like, but [here] we can hear from someone that has gone through that same exact thing and what to do and what they’ve done,” said Azizi.

Kaur shared seeing the representation among the speakers had an impact on her.

“A lot of the speakers are people of colour; it’s easy to see myself in their same roles and that really inspires me. It gives me some sort of backbone to know that I can become what they are and I have a chance of also getting to that point. Considering that they had their obstacles and barriers, I know what I’m going to face because of their feedback,” said Kaur.

Arianna Malcom, a Grade 12 student at Applewood Heights Secondary School, has been through the entire speaker series. Malcolm shared that this series was very inspirational as she hopes to achieve a healthcare career, specifically as a pediatrician or a pediatric surgeon.

Through the series, she could speak to current pediatricians and students in their undergrad and med school, following the same path.

She shared that she enjoyed hearing about everyone’s journeys, and where they thought they would end up versus where they did.

“My main takeaway would be to not limit myself and that I can do anything once I put my mind to it,” reflected Malcolm.

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