Roncari Prize

Kayvan Aflaki is a Master of Science student with an interest in the intersection of perinatal epidemiology, pharmaceutical utilization, analytical clustering methods and machine learning in clinical and population health risk prediction. His graduate research is a retrospective review of maternal mortality in Ontario being completed in partnership with the Ontario Coroner. Under the mentorship of Dr. Joel Ray, a clinician-scientist at St. Michael's Hospital, Kayvan has published his graduate research in several peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology and CMAJ. His research has been cited by the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. Beyond his robust academic portfolio, he has served as the 2021-22 IMS Students’ Association Co-President, an organizer of the Ori Rotstein Lecture in Translational Research, and a Show Host on RawTalk Podcast. In 2017, Kayvan represented 15,000 Canadian undergraduate students at the United Nations’ Youth Assembly. He is also co-founder of the Healthcare Innovation Challenge.

Serena Peck is a Master of Science student supervised by Dr. Dinesh Thavendiranathan, Director of the Ted Rogers Program in Cardiotoxicity Prevention at University Health Network. Serena’s graduate research is composed of three projects evaluating factors associated with end of treatment cardiac function and cardiorespiratory fitness and the effect of exercise in women with breast cancer. Her research is supported by the Queen Elizabeth II/Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. Serena was the runner-up for the International Cardio-Oncology Society’s 2021 Young Investigator Award at the 2021 Global Cardio-Oncology Summit. Beyond her academic work, Serena is the IMS Students’ Association Co-President, Journalist for IMS Magazine, and leadership member on UofT Talks among many other University of Toronto extracurriculars. Outside of the IMS, Serena is a consultant for the Canadian Youth Committee to the World Health Assembly and Co-Founder of an organization promoting cycling advocacy in northwest Toronto.