Departmental Teaching Assistant Excellence Award

Megan Sullivan is a fourth year PhD student in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, working under the supervision of Dr. Amy Ramsey. Her research focuses on characterizing mouse models of GRIN-1 related neurodevelopmental disorder and evaluating potential treatments in these models, particularly those that target the endocannabinoid system.  Megan received the Departmental Teaching Assistant Excellence Award for her work as a teaching assistant for Drugs & the Brain (PCL200), a position she has held since September 2020.  She is passionate about mentorship and values the opportunities PCL200 has allowed in teaching  pharmacology to students from a wide range of academic backgrounds.

Kassandra Zachos is a PhD candidate in her fifth year of graduate school. She completed her undergraduate degree in Life Sciences at U of T, majoring specifically in Human Genetics and Nutritional Sciences. Now, in the Pharmacology Department, under the supervision of Dr. Ana Andreazza, she is focused on the involvement of the mitochondria in the relationship between mood disorders and metabolic syndrome. Her work strives to uncover mitochondrial blood-based biomarkers, to improve the understanding of the mechanisms underlying these chronic diseases. Her work also incorporates nutritional implications in these multi-factorial diseases. 

Alec Langlois is a fourth year PhD student in the Tyndale Lab. His work focuses on genetic variation, particularly structural variation, in CYP2A6, the gene coding for the primary nicotine-metabolizing enzyme, and its associations with nicotine metabolism. Alec received the Departmental Teaching Assistant Excellence Award for his work as a laboratory demonstrator in PCL367 and PCL368, the third-year undergraduate lab courses in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology taught by Dr. Anita Hamadanizadeh.

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Yalin Sun is a fifth year PhD candidate in Dr. Susan R. George’s Lab. She has been the teaching assistant coordinator for Introduction to Toxicology (PCL362) since 2020, working under Dr. Peter G. Wells, in addition to other lab courses. She is highly passionate about teaching, mentoring, and training undergraduate students, and hopes to continue these endeavors after her PhD. Outside of the lab and classroom, Yalin enjoys creating new dishes and baked goods in her spare time.

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