About
We are excited to host our next storytelling series; Laugh, Cry, Cringe with Catalina (Cata) Alvarez Elias about Culture shock: A Latin American Searching for Community in Canada. Although Cata come with a wealth of knowledge from studying medicine, pediatrics, and pediatric nephrology, she will focus her storytelling about her identity as a Latin American and the culture shock that she experienced upon arriving to Canada. The aim is to empower and to embrace newcomers as they navigate their journey of settling in a new country.
This session is open to all U of T students, staff, faculty and librarians.
Only "utoronto" emails (.utoronto.ca, mail.utoronto.ca) will be able to join this online session. We recommend that you create a U of T Zoom account.
If you require an accommodation to join this virtual session, please contact UTM's Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Office.
Laugh, Cry, Cringe
Laugh, Cry Cringe seeks to create braver spaces to engage in conversations that explore personal stories, current events, cultural narratives, while unmasking misconceptions about various groups/communities/people. In this new storytelling format, our intention is to act as an outlet for folks to release tensions, build community, practice wellness, and become inspired to take positive action in their daily lives. With an amazing line-up of storytellers, we invite folks to let go and laugh, cry or cringe while listening to these stories.
Through this initiative our hope is to bridge current gaps between our diverse communities through dialogues of understanding and respect, and to create more inclusive and sustainable learning environments for students at UTM and across all campuses as well as the broader community.
Speaker
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Dr. Catalina Elias
Dr. Catalina studied medicine, pediatrics, and pediatric nephrology in Mexico City. She did a master’s and recently concluded a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She also worked as a staff Nephrologist in the Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gomez. Dr. Catalina completed two years of fellowship in the Transplant and Regenerative Medicine Centre at the Hospital for Sick Children and continued as a nephrology clinical-research fellow.
She is a Clinical Epidemiology Ph.D. student at the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacogenetics and individualization of therapy. She is an assistant professor in the Pediatric Nephrology fellowship program in Fundanier, Hospital Roosevelt, Guatemala, Central America, and Co-Chair of Research at the Latin-American Pediatric Nephrology Association (ALANEPE).
Dr. Alvarez-Elias aims to improve healthcare, academics, and research for the disadvantaged population in Canada and low-resourced countries. She is focusing on contributing to building local capacities and dynamic tools for targeting equitable precision medicine.