Astell Award

Jenna Goeres

Jenna is a fourth year undergraduate biochemistry student. Her passion for women’s health and sexual assault advocacy led her to volunteer for the Surrey Mobile Assault Response Team (SMART) within the Surrey Women’s Centre. In this role she joins a group of women in providing physical and emotional support to the unhoused community via a 24/7 van service by handing out harm reduction, food, clothing and hygiene kits. This service specifically targets survivors of assault who are in need of medical treatment and access to police and social services. Jenna’s desire to create a sense of community among students led her to become the co-president of the Biochemistry Student Association (BSA) which hosts low to no cost social and academic events. Careers night is a flagship BSA event where a diverse panel of people are invited to present what they do for work after graduating with a biochemistry degree. Through this club Jenna learned of the BMB EDI committee, which she joined in 2022 and serves as an undergraduate representative to help incorporate EDI focused programs for UBC students. Jenna is dedicated to creating safe spaces, promoting equitable treatment, and uplifting systemically silenced voices in the STEM community.

Will Stewart

Will is a second-year graduate student in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) department. He is a proponent for research excellence and an advocate for Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) principles. Will promotes EDI principles through his involvement with initiatives within the Michael Smith Labs (MSL), BMB department, and Kirkness Scholar’s program. Will is heavily involved with promoting EDI principles in the MSL as a founding member of the MSL EDI board game committee. This committee is tasked with designing a board game to introduces EDI topics in an approachable and easily digestible manner for use in onboarding and outreach programs. Additionally, Will is a Graduate student representative on the MSL EDI committee where he advocates for EDI at the MSL. Through these initiatives, Will got involved with the MSL EDI workshop program where he is involved with organizing and facilitating the MSL EDI workshop series which include topics such as: EDI Basics, and Building Queer and Trans Inclusive Spaces. Will has been involved with peer mentorship throughout his undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph and continued this work during his Master’s Degree at UBC. Through the BMB peer mentor program, Will has provided both technical and career advice to younger peers. Will also participated in the 2023 Kirkness scholar program with the Brumer Lab. The lab supported and mentored two indigenous students that earned scholarships to come to UBC and participate in a weeklong project to inspire interest in STEM. Will hopes to continue to expand support and awareness of EDI principles within all communities that he is involved with.

Morgan Towriss

Morgan is a proud Ts’msyen woman, scientist, and EDI advocate. As an indigenous woman in science, Morgan overcame many barriers to being an academic and is now a passionate advocate for increasing inclusivity and diversity in STEM. She loves working with younger indigenous students through tutoring and mentorship to help them navigate the barriers of academia while combining indigeneity and traditional cultural beliefs with scientific beliefs and research. Morgan is also a passionate advocate for mental health and disability inclusivity due to her own struggles with bipolar disorder. Through her work with the BMB EDI committee, she has promoted increased inclusivity and resources for people with mental or physical disabilities at UBC. Morgan hopes to continue working to increase active inclusion of diverse groups both within academia and general society.

Saiqah Ghafoor

Saiqah is a fourth year undergraduate student in our Biochemistry program and has done ground breaking work for our community. Together with several other students she created during the pandemic the Biochemistry Student Association or BSA in which she is currently the co-President. Under her leadership, the BSA organized several events including the EDI in Biochemistry event last March. Together with other students, Saiqah joined our EDI departmental committee where she made sure that undergraduate students and their point of views were well represented. Notably, she help organized a focus group to help prepare our action plan. Saiqah is also active with the UBC Muslim Association that helps destigmatize islam. Outside UBC, Saiqah also volunteers in her community to promote women rights and participate to sporting events with handicapped athletes. We thank Saiqah for her engagement and efforts and congratulate her for the 2021 Astell Award.

Laura Meleady

Laura was an undergraduate in BMB and is now continuing as an MSc in the department. Laura works to promote Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion through volunteering with local youth empowerment organizations such as Big Sisters and Girl Guides of Canada where she dedicates her time to mentoring youth, planning community service partnerships, and facilitating STEM workshops. Over the past 5 years Laura has dedicated hundreds of hours to visiting patients in local hospitals where she is trained specifically to work with patients suffering from mental illness and dementia. This work has taught Laura about disparities facing people with disabilities both visible and invisible that she hopes to continue advocating for both inside and outside of academia.