Our Team

Board of Directors

**RUDRANSH KUMAR**
*Director*
Rudransh joined Youreka in 2018, helping launch the Youreka Edmonton chapter and serving as its first VP Academic. He earned a BASc in Engineering Physics from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and is now a graduate student there researching machine learning methods for medical applications. He has helped teach students as a TA or co-instructor across 11 course offerings spanning four courses in engineering physics & computer engineering at UBC.

Andrew joined Youreka in 2018, helping launch the Edmonton chapter and later served as Youreka Canada's first President, spearheading national expansion from 2019-2022. He is currently a private healthcare investor at TowerBrook Capital Partners and previously worked as an investment banker at Moelis & Company. Andrew holds an Honours Business Administration degree from the Ivey School of Business at Western University.

MEHUL GUPTA CoMehul is a Doctor of Medicine (MD) student at the University of Calgary. Outside of Youreka, he has research interests in medical genetics, bioinformatics, as well as the interface between public policy and medical practice. He is also a passionate advocate for mental health, working to create resources aimed at supporting those in need. — **MEHUL GUPTA**
*Director/Co-founder*
Mehul is a Doctor of Medicine (MD) student at the University of Calgary. Outside of Youreka, he has research interests in medical genetics, bioinformatics, as well as the interface between public policy and medical practice. He is also a passionate advocate for mental health, working to create resources aimed at supporting those in need.

Members and Consultants

Dr. Douglas Clark, MA, PhD
Dr. Aru Narendran, MD, PhD
Dr. Ian Winchester, BPh, BSc, PhD

**SUNAND KANNAPPAN**
*Director/Co-founder*
Sunand co-founded Youreka, starting with the Calgary chapter in 2017. He earned a BHSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Calgary, and worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company. He is currently a final year medical student at the University of Calgary, and is actively involved in the health technology and innovation ecosystem in Canada.

**JENNA HOLLOWAY**
*Member*
Jenna is a student at the University of Calgary pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering. Her research focuses on addressing bottlenecks in human pluripotent stem cell expansion for regenerative medicine. She is most passionate about making science and learning accessible, and giving back to her community. Outside of academics and Youreka, she enjoys reading and working on her green-thumb.

National Executives

**DIERY-LEANDO SAINT-VIL**
*President*
Diery-Leando is a second Master Student in Surgical and Interventional Sciences at McGill University. Diery-Leando started as an undergraduate lead and continues to contribute to the Youreka leadership ever since. His research interests encompass bio-informatics, oncology and urology.

**MARIE BADDONGON**
*Senior Vice President of National Operations*
Marie is a fourth-year Criminology and Applied Social Science Research student at the University of Alberta. Marie started as an undergraduate lead in Edmonton to VP of Events and now works on the national team to help expand Youreka’s mission. In her free time, she enjoys hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter.

**YASMEEN JALIL**
*Senior Vice President of Regional Development*
Yasmeen is a fourth-year Kinesiology student, minoring in Chemistry, at the University of British Columbia. Starting as a high-school investigator in Edmonton, she then founded Youreka Vancouver and now works on the national team to continue creating accessible science opportunities for youth. Her research interests lie in the epigenetic regulation of skeletal muscle, particularly with adaptations to exercise training.

**KARYNA LIM**
*Senior Vice President of Strategy*
Karyna is an undergraduate Computer Science student at the University of Toronto. Karyna started her Youreka journey with Youreka Windsor as a student investigator and has continued her support to provide professional networking opportunities to youth ever since. She is interested in Software Development projects at the intersection of education and technology. Her free time is spent jogging and finding fun eats around Toronto.

National Advisors: Reese Ladak, Sona Regonda

National Operations Team

**CALEB SMALL**
*Vice President of Experience*
Caleb is a fourth-year biomedical sciences student at the University of Calgary. He started out with Youreka as an Undergraduate Research Lead, and then worked as an Experience Analyst before taking over as the VP Experience. Aside from ensuring that the Youreka student experience is the best it can be, Caleb loves skiing, baseball, and slapping the bass.

**MEELAD ELIAS**
*Vice President of Programs*
Meelad is a Biomedical Sciences student at the University of Windsor and has been involved with Youreka for 5 years. His previous experience includes serving as a student investigator, undergraduate research lead, and a Youreka Windsor executive team member. Additionally, Meelad works in an immunology lab where we focused on NK cells and immunoevasion.

**ELINA AJAMIAN** *Vice President of Marketing*
Elina is a second-year Honours Physiology student at the University of Alberta. She began with Youreka as a student investigator and has since worked on the national team to expand youth access to research across Canada. Her current research focus revolves around hormonal regulation with a specific interest in women’s health.

National Analysts

Experience: Aiden Carr, Arshjot Kaur, Caleb Small, Shawn Coso, Jashmira Bhinder,
Mikhail Popovskiy, Li Ye He
Programs: Alex He, Meelad Elias, Lisa Wang, Liren Abeyratne, Claire McCallum, Mariam Ali
Marketing: Sahil Regonda, Elina Ajamian, Punya Gowri Umesh
Strategy: Diery-Leando Saint-Vil, Mantoj Grewal, Tom Ding, Yasmeen Jalil, David Li, Fahad Amir

Regional Branches

university-of-calgary-taylor-institute-for-teaching-and-learning-4-1050x750.jpg — Youreka Calgary

UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
**Regional President:** Stephanie Huynh
**SVP External:** Arya Moh
**Junior VP External:** Medona Beqiri and Jayda Bharmal
**SVP Internal :** Keya Patel
**Junior VP Internal:** Luis Martinez Hoyos
**Co-VP Academics:** Hana Saleh and Raffay Ilyas
**Junior VP Academics:** Manar Bairq
**VP Marketing:** Shirin Rajesh
**Advisor:** Khushi Vora

Youreka Edmonton

UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
**Regional President:** Mikhail Popovskiy
**Senior VP:** Cristina Iordache
**Co-VP Events:** Rundong Jiang and Phoebe Wang
**VP Finance:** Amir Rahmati **VP Outreach:** Nicolas Allegretto
**Coordinator of Academics:** Pratham Patel
**Co-VP Academics:** Joshua Chooi, Grace Kunnell, Jason Lee, Razan Basher

Youreka Kingston

QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY
**Regional President:** Hari Pillai
**Senior VP:** Orlin Chowdhury
**Co-SVP Academics:** Zachary Bordan, Eric Ou, Matthew Wong, and Taylor Zhang
**Co-VP Marketing:** Antonia Heroiu and Janika Lin **Co-VP Operations:** Kiera Hui, Malika Peera, and Cynthia Wang
**Co-VP Outreach:** Nnenna Akpulonu, Shreyas Konda, and Navid Shabani Barzegar
**Co-VP Finance:** Tiffany Yu and Evan Knox
**First Year Intern:** Leslie Gao and Lillian Li

Youreka Montreal

MCGILL UNIVERSITY
**Regional President:** Alexanne Ross **VP Internal Operations**: Antoine Larocque
**Co-VP Marketing:** Jade Zhu and Rudransh Agrawal **Co-VP Academics:** Spencer Hou and Thomas Robinson
**Co-VP Coding:** Saif Shaikh and Gefei Zhang
**VP External:** Vipul Modi
**VP Events:** Veronica Doan

Youreka Vancouver

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
**Regional President:** Jessie Luo
**VP Finance:** Amber Lu **SVP Academics:** Sruthi Magesh
**Junior VP Academics:** Nathan Zhao
**VP Internal Operations:** Abhishek Ramaesh
**VP External Operations:** Abaigeal Kelso
**VP Marketing:** Jesse Luyan

Youreka Windsor

UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR
**Regional President:** Meelad Elias
**Co-VP Academics:** Aiden Carr and Ellowyn Oneschuk
**Co-VP Internal:** Elijah Murtagh and Peter Zhou
Co-External Operations: Priya Chana, John Abey, and Nour Elharake
**VP Marketing:** Wendy Zhang
**Co-VP Events:** Rawan Alqazaz and Tricya Alonzo
**VP Finance:** Ashton Carr

Youreka Toronto

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
**Regional President:** Stephanie Chan **Co-VP Internal:** Jaycee Law and Don Tsang
**VP External Operations:** Sara Habibi
**VP Events:** Ibrahim Khan **VP Finance:** Nicole Sy
**Co-VP Academic:** Liren Abeyratne and Anushka Patel
**VP Marketing:** Peetisha Mangal