Riley Alvarez

Personal Statement

As I soon walk across the stage in Convocation Hall, I am reminded that my diploma will inscribe more than just the name of my degree—it will also be a palimpsest for the leadership experiences I have undertaken during my time at the university. And if this diploma was indeed a palimpsest of my time as a leader, one message would be in boldface: learning how to rise to the occasion. My time involved in the Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology Student Union (LMPSU), for example, taught me how to rise to responsibility. This has been an ongoing lesson throughout my three years with the organization, from Second Year Representative, to Internal Affairs Officer, and eventually Co-President. Alongside seven brilliant student executives, I had the privilege of seeing the behind-the-scenes magic that goes into making events and opportunities possible for our peers; this includes handling expenses, coordinating with faculty, problem-solving hurdles, collaborating with other campus groups, and voicing student concerns… all while earning the trust and respect of our peers. One of my humblest accomplishments in this role includes the organization, execution, and success of our 13th annual undergraduate conference: “Byte-Sized Biology: How AI Decodes Human Health Bit-by-Bit”. Garnering nearly 400 attendees, we saw our six long months of emailing, planning, booking, budgeting, and troubleshooting manifest into a successful event amongst some of Toronto’s top names involved in AI research. More importantly, this role has given me a front-row seat to the gratitude and curiosity of our community; I have received countless “thank-you’s,” smiles, and hugs for the activities our student union has organized. It is precisely these moments that remind me how leadership may be rooted in responsible actions, but it is nourished by a deeper love for our community.

This diploma-slash-palimpsest also harbours my other campus experiences as a student leader. Years on the Journal of Life Sciences (JULS) editorial committee—from Associate Editor to Co-Editor-in-Chief—have taught me how to rise beyond expectation. Here, I have worked with teams to spearhead the dissemination of profound work conducted by the university’s burgeoning researchers. Sharing research demands a vulnerability from the author, and it is with this mindset that we have fostered an environment in JULS that cherishes the projects we undertake and treats the manuscripts we receive with care and compassion.

Finally, it is worth spotlighting how research has also transformed my leadership capacity. I have humbly participated in three research groups on campus. My first was a Research Opportunities Program with Dr. Becky Xi Chen at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education; here, I worked closely with French Immersion Grade 1 students to investigate how attention influences their reading. In the summer before third year, I then won an Undergraduate Summer Research Award at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with Dr. Asher Cutter, giving me my first wet lab experience hybridizing various worm species; here, I presented our preliminary findings at various undergraduate conferences to various students. My most recent, and most memorable encounter with research began in May 2024 investigating phage therapy regulation for the treatment of patients with multidrug-resistant infections; here, I had the unparalleled opportunity to embark on a week-long studentship in Belgium under Dr. Greg German’s generosity. I connected with pharmacists, regulators, scientists, physicians, and students to design and disseminate a global survey on phage therapy. This gave me the chance to operate at a level closer to that of a masters or doctoral student—and my gratitude remains brimming today. Spaces like conferences, symposia, coffee chats, or even direct online messages are where I have shared my adventures with other students (and where I have listened to their own!). And it is through this reciprocal exchange of sharing that I have valued mentorship as an outlet to teach one another that there are endless possibilities that come with rising to uncharted intellectual territories. By rising to all these occasions—despite the uncertainty, fear, and pressure they were accompanied with—I have moved closer to the U of T and LMP community. Most importantly, I can confidently say that a leader is not merely a spokesperson; a leader is one who uses their own interests as fuel to empower others. In the same way that my diploma bears remnants of my cherished memories, I hope I have left my own imprint on the university and its people as well.