Meet James Sayre and Kevin Navarro Hernandez, the 2023/2024 Medical Genomics Representatives!

James Sayre and Kevin Navarro Hernandez are the new M.H.Sc. in Medical Genomics student representatives in the department's Grad Student Association (GSA) for the 2023/2024 academic year! These two individuals are dedicated to making a difference in their program and are eager to bring positive change to their cohort. In a recent interview, they expressed their shared passion for personalized medicine, which they hope to promote throughout their term as student reps.

Hoping to build on the foundation of predecessors Milcah Sutanto and Sornnujah Kathirgamanathan, James and Kevin want to unify Medical Genomics with the Molecular Genetics department: “There's a lot of things that [the department] gets, and I think that would also benefit the MedGen program a lot, and the professional [masters] programs in general.” James continued, “The main one we’re looking to do is redo the headshot event. It was well received last time, and we want to get that one going again.” Overall, they aim to build on the foundation of their predecessors and create more opportunities for their cohort to get involved.

Kevin enjoys being a voice for his cohort. He enjoys collaboration, organizing events, and being a support for his colleagues: “I’m very much an extroverted person. I like getting people together, I like teamwork, and sometimes it comes hard, but I love to believe in the goodness in everyone.” To stay connected with their cohort, James and Kevin utilize an online group chat: “We have a WhatsApp group right now, and we're pretty good at communicating with the coordinates.” Kevin continued, “We always tell them what's going on with events and volunteer [opportunities] - we send them the links - and everyone's pretty easy going so we communicate with the cohort as a whole.” Their plans for the upcoming academic year include redoing the professional headshot event spearheaded by Milcah and Sornnujah last year and promoting more start-of-year events to ensure the MedGen program is fully included in exciting departmental opportunities and events.

Having worked for the Canadian federal government, James hopes to harness his bureaucratic experience to advocate for his fellow classmates and to ensure the M.H.Sc. in Medical Genomics professional master’s program is fully integrated within the Department of Molecular Genetics.

We are excited to see the positive impact that James and Kevin will bring to the Medical Genomics program and are grateful for their commitment to making the Medical Genomics program a vibrant and inclusive community!