Paniz Salehi
Paniz (they/she) is a young community leader, involved with multiple projects in the community. Currently, as the Chair and Founder of SciMed in Action, they oversee and lead initiatives around science and medicine, aspiring to remove barriers around education and making resources and opportunities in science and medicine more accessible for youth! They also lead Equity, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives related to mental health around U of T's campus, and independently. She is mostly interested in serving the 2SLGBTQ+ community, and has led multiple related projects. In their academic life, they lead and are involved with research projects on marginalized communities and impact of sense of belonging; that's where their passion lies! Within Sprout Ideas, Paniz and her team are working on a series of events related to science and mental health, to increase awareness, community engagement, and centring needs of historically disadvantaged groups at its centre. If you would like to follow their journey or get involved with any of the projects, please connect with them on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/panizsalehi/
SciMed in Action Medical Case Competition and Networking Summit
The SciMed in Action medical case competition aims to increase access to scientific and medical education by empowering youth from multi-barrier populations to engage with medical literature and develop their own ideas. This event is then followed by a networking event where participants can mingle and connect with professionals in the field who come from marginalized backgrounds to enhance community engagement and inspire the next generation of leaders with diverse experiences and backgrounds. Targeting marginalized youth, this initiative offers accessible resources and mentorship, ensuring that all participants, regardless of background, can engage in rigorous intellectual exercises.
scimedinaction.orgAbout this Project
Communities Served
My project will involve and/or impact the following communities:
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
When it comes to community impact projects, the UN has created 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These are the Sustainable Development Goals associated with my project.
How the project works
Their team will host a 1-2 day medical case competition, followed by a networking session. Participants engage in intensive research, develop solutions to real-world medical problems, and present their findings in a 15-minute mock-thesis format to expert judges, with the entire event culminating in the final presentations on the last day.
Project Impact
Science and Medicine opportunities, specially those that are for before graduate school are very hard to access for Youth. This becomes even harder to access when historically, there has been systematic barriers for those from non dominant/underrepresented identities and communities. They hope to tailor this to students coming from these communities (e.g. low SES, LGBTQ+, Women, BIPOC, etc.). They hope to reach at least 50+ future leaders of the field and inspire them, provide them with the tools to get involved in the field and engage in scientific discussions.
Project Mission
The vision of SciMed in Action is to cultivate a more inclusive academic and professional landscape in science and medicine by equipping underrepresented youth with the skills and confidence needed to challenge the status quo. By focusing on breaking the traditional molds of who can succeed in these fields, the competition aims to empower a new generation of scholars and practitioners who are equipped to drive change within the system.
Project Team
They are a team of 10 people, coming from the non-profit SciMed in Action Paniz founded with the help of RisingYouth, and they have been creating events like this since 2020!
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