2020-2021 Team
The Neuroscience Association for Undergraduate Students (NAUS) represents neuroscience students at the University of Toronto.
Stay tuned for the various social and academic events that we organize throughout the year!
Lauren Levy
Co-President
Hi, neurites! My name is Lauren and I’m one of your co-presidents this year—it’ll be my third year with NAUS. I’m in my fourth year completing a Neuroscience Specialist, a Biology Major, and a Physiology Minor. In addition to NAUS, I’m also Co-Lead of NeurotechUofT’s Neuroscience & EEG team. I’m particularly interested in pathology and novel approaches to therapy, typically involving EEG or molecular and cellular neurophysiology. When I’m not in the library or lab (remotely), I like training and paddling with UC Dragon Boat Club, biking downtown, communicating science, and building Spotify playlists. I am running a journal club with NeurotechUofT this year, focusing on EEG-based BCI, neural time series analysis, and motor intention—feel free to drop by our Hackternoon Zoom. If you see me, online or f2f, don’t hesitate to introduce yourself! We’ve got a lot of exciting, socially-distanced events planned for you this year.
Marwa Sadat
Co-President
Hey there! My name’s Marwa, and I’m honored to be one of your Co-Presidents of NAUS this year! I’m completing my 4th year at UofT this year, double-majoring in Neuroscience & Physiology, with a minor in Psychology. I’m particularly interested in neurodegenerative diseases, and brain changes involved in mental illness. I’m also very passionate about mental health, and how we can address student concerns, as I currently work with Healthy Minds to support students on campus. In my free time, I love to go on long bike rides and discover new hiking trails in my area (at least before the snow started!), and I love trying new recipes (especially anything involving pasta or cheese *hearteyes*). Although we are running online this year, I’m so excited to get to work with this great team to bring you some great events that will hopefully keep you engaged with the Neuroscience community at UofT! Feel free to reach out to me on Facebook - I would love to meet you, and let us know if you have any event suggestions, need help getting resources or connections, or just want to chat!
Can’t wait to see you at all our events this year!!
Yoobin Cho
VP Communications
My name is Yoobin and I have been NAUS’ VP of Communications for the past two years. I’m currently in my third year completing a Neuroscience Specialist, Psychology Major, and Physiology Minor. I have always been fascinated by the mysteries of neurodegenerative diseases, but I love exploring anything neurobiology related! In my life outside of school, I dance with UofT’s competitive choreography team (Flux UofT), run a youtube channel, make digital art, and run a lot (working towards a marathon). Feel free to reach out to me via facebook, instagram (@yooobin) or the NAUS discord if you have any questions about anything, or if you just want to chat!
Zaibaa Pathan
VP Academic
Hello! My name is Zaibaa, and I will be VP academic for this year. I am currently in my fourth year and I am completing a specialist in Neuroscience and minors in Political Science and Physiology. At the moment, my research interests include the relationship between metabolic abnormalities and mood disorders and computational neuroscience. My hobbies include painting, running and sleeping. I love meeting new people, and I hope I get to meet some of you soon! Please feel free to reach out to me through Facebook or Instagram if you want someone to share neuro memes with!
Bakiza Al Khalili
Secretary
Hi Friends!! My name is Bakiza Al Khalili and I am this year's secretary. This will be my second year helping to execute amazing events for you as part of the NAUS executive team. I'm currently majoring in Neuroscience and Cell and Molecular Biology with a Minor in Physiology! Outside of NAUS, I am busy in other amazing clubs as the Co-President of the Cell and System Biology Student Union and the Promotions Executive at Healthy Minds. Outside of UofT, I love to spend time with my family and my adorable baby niece. While I'm in my fourth year, I am still figuring out what my research interests are, but I would be interested to learn more about astrocytes and their role in human neurological diseases. I may also be interested in neurodevelopment and how neurological diseases can arise due to errors during brain development. I'm very excited to meet all of you during our events and I cannot wait to help organize them for you!
Melvyn Tafri
VP Finance
Hey there! My name’s Melvyn Tafri and I’m the VP Finance for NAUS this year! I’m in my 4th year with a major in Neuroscience and a double minor in Physiology and Immunology. As far as neuroscience research goes, I’m very interested in neuroplasticity and behavioral studies, though I’m not doing any formal research. Outside of school I’m very into music and TV shows-- feel free to reach out to me on social media at any time, I’m always happy to talk about either of those two things. Of course, if you would just like to chat, you’re more than welcome to do so as well! I’m looking forward to what this upcoming year will bring!
Janaksha Linga
VP Social
Hola! (thank you Dora & SPA100) I’m Janaksha and this is my second year with NAUS as a VP Social. Of course, the pandemic has interfered with all my plans for this year, but that’s ok because zoom socials have proven to be super fun too :) I’m a third year doing a double major in neuro and immunology. The best part of my week last year was getting coffee with friends and volunteering with the kiddos at Sickkids. I can’t wait to start doing that again. Currently, I’m an inclusion and diversity programming assistant at the faculty of med which has gone from being a job to something I’m really passionate about. I co-founded @sidebysideagency (check us out on ig) during the pandemic to provide K-12 students with free tutoring and mentorship services - reach out to me if you’d like to volunteer (@janaksha)! To conclude, please laugh at my jokes, I love Christmas like its a personality trait, and i love painting - oh and I’m *trying* to put on some muscle: please send tips for my noodle arms :( Lastly, join me on the neuro discord for study sessions!
Ivan Ntale
3rd Year Rep
Greetings! I’m Ivan and I’m the third-year representative at NAUS pursuing a double major in Neuroscience and Physiology with a minor in Bioethics. This is actually my second year with NAUS and being a part of this amazing organization is just my way of giving back to the U of T neuroscience community I’m proud to be a part of. A little bit about myself and what I’m into: I’ve recently gotten very interested in the interplay between environmental and genetic influences on behavior, and the connections between neurodegenerative diseases. When I’m not studying, I enjoy watching TV and overanalyzing Jordan Peele movies, and I occasionally play the ukulele. If you see me virtually or irl in any of the neuro courses, don’t hesitate to say hi!
Jerry Wong
2rd Year Rep
Hey everyone! My name is Jerry and this will be my first year with NAUS as one of the second-year representatives. I’m majoring in neuroscience and double minoring in psychology and physiology. I’m quite interested in computational neuroscience, but as of now, I’m still exploring the field of neuroscience and trying to find specific areas that may intrigue me. In my spare time, I play some basketball and also binge watch Netflix during the pandemic. I really look forward to meeting everyone and please don’t hesitate to reach out to me!
Beatrix Yu
Graphic Designer
Hey there! My name is Beatrix and it’s my first year with this incredible bunch as the Graphic Designer. I’m in my 4th year double majoring in Neuroscience and Immunology, with a minor in Psychology. Currently, I am interested in the link between immune dysregulation and the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders. With deep interests in visual art, I also hope to bring science into vibrant images that evoke curiosity and inspire the general public to engage more with scientific knowledge (check out my portfolio at beatrixyu.com!). Outside of NAUS, I am the Head of Graphic Design at HealthXvisuals. In my free time, I can be found painting, illustrating or going on long walks with my camera. Although we’ll be meeting remotely this year, I still can’t wait to see new faces and talk to all of you! Feel free to reach out to me through Facebook or Instagram and say hi if you ever see me virtually during online classes :)
Hala Bucheeri
VP Social
Hi! My name is Hala and I am the co-VP of Social Affairs at NAUS. I am in my fourth year completing a major in Neuroscience and a specialist in Psychology. My interests are scattered, from clinical psychology to soccer, travelling, and nature. I’m currently working on a research project that investigates the association between alexithymia and dissociative states in individuals with past traumas. An interesting fact about myself is that I’ve spent six weeks in Indonesia spreading awareness about mental health. During my time there I lived with an Indonesian family and experienced an earthquake!
Nurein Umeya
4th Year Rep
Hi there! My name is Nurein Umeya and I am a 4th year Neuroscience and Physiology double major and Mathematics minor at U of T. I am interested in mathematics, computation and artificial intelligence and specifically aim to try and translate neuroscience to improving artificial intelligence. I am also a math tutor and enjoy learning physics in my free time. I love football (what you may call soccer) guitar and callisthenics and you [usually] would often find me in a weight room. Related to neuroscience I am very interested in the hippocampus, especially its role in memory formation and retrieval and I enjoy learning about things such as place cells and engrams. Fun facts about me are that I can muscle up (clean, of course), have a personal record of 700 keep-ups (football juggling), have lifeguard certification, can do a backflip, and have a YouTube channel for math (find me at Tens0r, it’s a new channel, more content coming soon!).
Audrey Lee
2rd Year Rep
Hey!! I’m Audrey and I am one of the second-year representatives. I am specializing in neuroscience and majoring in psychology (although I’m thinking of dropping psych to a minor and then picking up an immunology or physiology minor as well instead). I don’t think I’ve really learned enough yet to have a specific interest, but I’m hoping to find something that will integrate my interests in both neuro and psych in relation to mental health! I play tennis and lacrosse, and I’m trying to get into yoga as a way to still get exercise while trapped inside because of the pandemic. Also, as the holidays get closer I’m getting more and more excited to bake something, so if you have any good recipes, feel free to send them my way (I’ll return the favour by baking you some macarons if I ever get back on campus)! Please feel free to contact me on Facebook or Instagram, I guarantee I’m awake at any hour of the night so you can send me a message anytime.
Angela (Ziyi) Liu
2rd Year Rep
Hey! My name is Angela, and I’m a second-year representative for the 20-21 academic year. I’m a double major in neuro and PCJ (Peace, Conflict and Justice), and a minor in political science. My research interests lie somewhere within the fields of neurodivergent youths and youths criminal justice. I enjoy anime and k-pop and sleeping in my spare time haha. I’m also looking for a tennis buddy to join me and Audrey once COVID is over lol. Again, this has been a tough year — I will try my best to foster an online platform that is accessible, inclusive and comfortable for new neuro students to share their opinions and concerns about the intro courses and the administration with the HMB Department or with NAUS. Hopefully I get to meet all my neuro buddies once y’all come back to campus!!~