Leacross internship at iBEST offers real-world experience for women in STEM

The Leacross Foundation, known for helping women across Canada build financial independence, is funding the Women in STEM Summer Internship at iBEST for the second year in a row. iBEST is the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology, a partnership between Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and St. Michael’s Hospital at Unity Health Toronto.

Leacross donated $100,000 to establish the internship which, in its inaugural year, sponsored four undergraduate students — one from the Faculty of Science and three from the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science. The support gave them the opportunity to gain career-enhancing, hands-on research experience related to the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

“We focus on funding programs that enable women to use their skills in higher-paying fields where women are typically underrepresented,” says Roslyn Bern, president of the Leacross Foundation. “Too many women in STEM, at the end of their first degree, believe they’re still not good enough to work in their field of study. We help them gain résumé-worthy experience and confidence to succeed. It’s all about support that allows women to trust in their talents.”

Biomedical sciences student Hala Abou Nahya completed her internship in the Tsai Lab with Dr. Scott Tsai from TMU and Dr. Warren Lee from Unity Health Toronto and their teams. During summer 2022, after her third year in the Faculty of Science, she assisted a PhD student and worked in St. Michael’s Hospital on a new form of drug delivery for acute respiratory distress syndrome. 

“We were making lipid-coated microbubbles that can deliver drugs to a very specific site or organ in the body, and then we use ultrasounds to burst the bubbles and deliver the drugs,” says Nahya. “This is extremely relevant, especially in the age of COVID.” This experience enabled her to bridge her biomedical science knowledge with biomedical engineering.

Beyond the science, she says she was able to work on her communication and interpersonal skills and build strong connections with colleagues in the lab, some of whom she is still in contact with today.  

“I was intimidated going in, but Dr. Tsai was welcoming and he made me feel like part of the team,” says Nahya. “For me, one of the biggest highlights was working alongside other women in the lab, who I could look up to. Seeing how much she accomplished made me more motivated to go after my career goals.”

Based on advice from her colleagues in the lab, Nahya plans on gaining a year’s worth of industry work experience after graduation before pursuing a master’s degree and exploring her ultimate goal of merging her background in science with business.

Michael Kolios, iBEST co-director and associate dean, research, innovation and external partnerships with the Faculty of Science, notes, “We are happy to be able to offer, in partnership with the Leacross Foundation, four Women in STEM Summer Internship positions to a diverse group of students from science and engineering backgrounds. Along with opportunities to observe and participate in research at an institutional level, these students have access to collaborative networks, interdisciplinary research leaders, state-of-the-art technology and clinical experts. With mentors from both academic and clinical backgrounds, these students will be exposed to a breadth of experience and knowledge in the field, paired with practical applied skills training using advanced medical technology.”

Nahya offers successful candidates of the 2023 summer internship program this advice: “Be prepared to ask a lot of questions and be pushed out of your comfort zone,” she says. “Without this internship, I would have missed out on a lot. It helped me realize what my future could look like. I feel very lucky to have been given this amazing opportunity – thank you, Roslyn, Leacross, the Tsai Lab and iBEST.”