The Last Word with Vish
By Vish
The Last Word with VishMar 19, 2020
Lindsay Hamilton: Send 5 emails to 5 different people you really admire
Lindsay Hamilton joined TSN in September 2016 and is an anchor for SportsCentre. Hamilton started working in broadcasting at a young age, becoming the first host of the Family Channel in 2008. For more than five years she interviewed entertainment icons, athletes, and musicians across North America, including Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and One Direction. While pursuing a double major in communications and film at McMaster University, she created, produced, and hosted various MacTV segments – a digital television outlet covering both sports and local entertainment. During her time at McMaster, Hamilton also created, produced, and hosted a sports radio program at CFMU. In 2012, Hamilton hosted events during the 100th Grey Cup Anniversary Week, and by 2014 she joined Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment as a host for Toronto Marlies, IIHF World Juniors, and Toronto Maple Leafs games and team events. The year following, Hamilton hosted the 2015 Pan Am Games torch relay across Ontario and the artistic gymnastics during the Games in Toronto. Hamilton joined CBC Radio as a sports reporter in March of 2016. During the Rio 2016 Olympics she was part of the CBC News Network team delivering national sports updates each morning of the Games. You can follow Lindsay on Twitter @Linz_Hamilton, and on Instagram @hamiltonlindsay.
Dr. Juliet Daniel: These 4 years are going to be the best years of your life
Dr. Juliet M Daniel is a Canadian biology professor at McMaster University, where her research focuses on cancer biology. In 1987, Dr. Daniel completed a Bachelor's degree in life sciences at Queen's University, and then a PhD in microbiology at the University of British Columbia in 1993. Daniel completed post-doctoral research fellowships for three years at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and then followed her supervisor's move to Vanderbilt University, in Memphis, Tennessee, where she stayed for another three years. Following her post-doctoral fellowship, she joined McMaster University's Department of Biology in November 1999, where she is now a full professor. Dr. Daniel's lab studies triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), specifically to identify genetic risk factors that may explain the prevalence and high mortality associated with TNBC in women of African ancestry. In 2017, her lab demonstrated that Kaiso plays a role in the proliferation and survival of TNBC cells. Daniel mentors students through the African Caribbean Association at McMaster University, as well as youth belonging to the African Caribbean community of Hamilton. She co-founded the Canadian Multicultural LEAD Organization for Mentoring & Training. In recognition of her research, Daniel has received several awards including the Ontario Premier’s Research Excellence Award, the John C. Holland Professional Achievement Award, the African Canadian Achievement Award of Excellence in Science, the Barbados National Honor Gold Crown of Merit and a Hamilton YWCA Women of Distinction Award. She has also been featured in “Millennium Minds: 100 Black Canadians”. You can follow Dr. Juliet Daniel on Twitter @bajanjules27
Dr. Dawn Bodish: Life is too short to be doing work you don't want to do
Dr. Dawn M. E. Bowdish is a Canadian immunologist and currently a professor in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. She is a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Aging & Immunity. She is known for several discoveries including the immunomodulatory properties of the antimicrobial peptide LL-37, how MARCO signaling complex recognizes Mycobacterium tuberculosis, age-associated inflammation and its effects on clearing pneumococcal pneumonia and how the aging gut microbiome drives age-associated inflammation. Dr. Bowdish was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1976. In 1999, she graduated from the University of Guelph with an Honours Bachelor of Science in microbiology. Bowdish was a graduate student and obtained her PhD from the University of British Columbia between 2000 – 2005. There, under the supervision of Robert E. W. Hancock, she discovered the immunomodulatory role of the host defense peptide LL-37. As a Canadian Institute of Health Research Post-Doctoral Fellow, Bowdish worked at the University of Oxford from 2005-2008 under the supervision of Siamon Gordon in the Department of Pathology. Dr. Dawn Bowdish’s lab is focusing on why the elderly are particularly susceptible to pneumonia and striving to extend lives by developing new therapies that bolster the body’s own natural defense mechanisms. You can follow Dr. Bowdish on Twitter @MsMacrophage
Hartley Jafine: Say the word 'Yes' more
Hartley holds a BA in Theatre Studies from Acadia University and an MA in Applied Drama from Goldsmiths, University of London (UK). He has facilitated theatre workshops and productions both nationally and internationally - Ontario, Nova Scotia, the United States, England, Bulgaria, and Kosovo. He joined the Arts & Science Program in 2012-13, teaches ARTSSCI 3CL3 / Theatre, Self, and Social Development and co-teaches (with Dr. J. Wilson) ARTSSCI 4MN2 / Movement and Integration. Hartley also teaches in the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program, where he facilitates theatre and arts-based courses. Currently working on his PhD, he focuses his teaching and research on Applied Drama, research-based theatre, and the use of drama in professional health science education. When not on the McMaster campus, Hartley works as a freelance applied drama practitioner, a communication coach at the University of Toronto’s postgraduate Medical Education program, and an arts educator at Baycrest Health Sciences. For over a decade, he has been integrating drama, improv, and play specifically within health professions education. One of his projects is a pilot of a medical improv curriculum with residents in the Department of Family and Community Medicine in Toronto as a vehicle for curriculum delivery of the CanMEDs-FM framework. He has been honored to receive four McMaster Students Union Teaching Awards for his work in the Faculty of Health Sciences (2012, 2015, 2018) and the Arts & Science Program (2017). He is also a clown nose enthusiast. You can follow Hartley on Twitter @hartleyjafine
Dr. Elizabeth Hassan: Figure out a way to be useful
Dr. Elizabeth joined McMaster following a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Neuroscience at the Sachs Lab at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. She started her career at Queen’s University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and after a Master of Engineering Science in Mechanical Engineering from Western University, she joined MEA Forensic Engineers and Scientists. She then went on to earn a Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation at OCADU and a Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University. She's currently an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University. You can follow her on twitter @Liz_Hassan
Dr. Allison Sekuler: University is the perfect time to explore
Dr. Allison Sekuler joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto in 1990. In 2001, Professor Sekuler moved to McMaster as Professor and Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience. She currently serves as Associate Vice-President (Research) for McMaster University, and she is an adjunct member of York University’s Centre for Vision Research.
Professor Sekuler has been recognized as an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow, and as an Ontario Distinguished Researcher. In 2004, Professor Sekuler’s research garnered her the distinction of a "Leader of Tomorrow", by the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE), recognizing her advances in research showing how the human brain processes visual information and how that processing changes as a function of aging. And in 2005, she received the Hamilton Spectator Publisher's Award for Educators, in appreciation of her devotion and efforts toward increasing public science outreach. She recently received a Women's Executive Network 2019 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award in the Manulife Science and Technology category.
Currently, she's a Senior Scientist and Managing Director at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences. You can follow Dr. Sekuler on Twitter @asek47
Meghan McPeak: Your path is your path
A former MVP point guard at Humber College in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and a graduate of the school’s Radio Broadcasting program, Meghan shattered barriers as the first female play-by-play broadcaster in the National Basketball League of Canada. On top of that, she continued shattering barriers, becoming the first and only female play-by-play broadcaster in the NBA G- League (formerly NBA Development League).
In October 2018, Meghan became the first female play-by-play broadcaster in 30 years to call an NBA game, which featured the Washington Wizards take on the Detroit Pistons in pre-season action for Monumental Sports Network. She was also announced as the play-by-play broadcaster for the Capital City Go-Go, the G-League affiliate for the Washington Wizards, as they embarked on their inaugural season. Entering the 2019 WNBA Season, the Washington Mystics & Monumental Sports & Entertainment announced that Meghan would join the broadcast as the play-by-play broadcaster, alongside Color Analyst Christy Winters-Scott. Prior to joining Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Meghan was the voice of Raptors 905, the G-League affiliate of the Toronto Raptors. She also hosted pregame, halftime, and postgame for the Toronto Raptors 2016-17 NBA season on TSN 1050 radio and was an occasional guest analyst on NBA TV Canada “The Hangout” along with Bell TV “Open Gym: Fast Break.” You can follow Meghan on Twitter @meghanmcpeak and Instagram (@meghan.mcpeak).
Dr. Ishwar Puri: Do something that could change the world
Dr. Ishwar Kanwar Puri is an Indian-American and Canadian scientist, engineer, and academic. He is dean of the Faculty of Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is also the founding academic director of McMaster's Computing Infrastructure Research Centre. Dr. Puri's vision for McMaster Engineering has been to invest in excellence by recruiting and retaining the best talent, marshaling resources to help the faculty, staff and students fulfill their capabilities, recognizing outstanding contributions and innovations, and efficient governance and administration.
Motivated by the need to “prepare students to be flexible in a rapidly changing world and to meet challenges not yet imagined”, in 2019 he announced the most significant transformation in the sixty year history of engineering education at McMaster University through The Pivot, where design thinking, an innovation mindset and entrepreneurship are embedded in all programming.
You can follow Dr. Ishwar Puri on Twitter: @ikpuri
David Yilmaz and Hisham Mohammad: Don't be afraid to fail
David 'Turk' Yilmaz is 5th year Materials Science Engineering student at McMaster University. He was born and raised in Turkey, and came to Canada in 2014 to pursue his undergraduate studies. He's completed multiple internships in Turkey (Microsoft) and Dublin while going through one of the most challenging phases of his life. Over time, he has come to understand the support he has had around him along the way and is beyond grateful to the people who've supported him through thick and thin.
Hisham 'Shami' Mohammad is in his 5th year of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering at McMaster Univiersity. An avid athlete, Hisham has represented the U23 Canadian Men's National team in wheelchair basketball, and the provincial teams for wheelchair racing and sledge hockey. Musically, Hisham was involved in McMaster's Acapella program and plays the alto sax for the McMaster Jazz band. After undergrad, he hopes to pursue further studies in graduate school and design innovative adaptive technology to allow individuals with disabilities reach their full potential and lead an active lifestyle.
Patricia Kousoulas: Take a pause
Patricia Kousoulas graduated from the Faculty of Science (Life Sciences - Valedictorian) in 2017 . She currently works in Undergraduate Recruitment at McMaster Engineering, and was the President of the McMaster Science Society for 2 years during her time as a student at McMaster.
Miss Congeniality herself, she's well known in the McMaster community for lending out a helping hand to students who need help or advice for almost anything. Listen to her honest take on life so far and what advice would she give to newcomers as well as graduating students.
You can follow Patricia on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Dr. Joe Kim: Failures and making mistakes are so important
Dr. Joe Kim is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior at McMaster University. After receiving his PhD in Experimental Psychology (McMaster University), Dr. Joe Kim completed a post-doctoral fellowship at University of California San Francisco. As a Teaching Professor, Dr. Kim is actively involved in all aspects of the scholarship of teaching and learning. He co-ordinates the innovative McMaster Introductory Psychology program (MacIntroPsych) which combines traditional lectures with interactive on-line resources and small group tutorials. The program has been prominently featured in Maclean's, Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. In 2010, Dr. Kim received the Innovator of the Year Award (McMaster VPR) and also lead his development team to receive the 2010 President's Award for Excellence in Course and Resource Design. With an active interest in curriculum and education, Dr. Kim consults on several policy groups including the Council of Ontario Universities Online Workgroup and the Innovation and Productivity Roundtable for the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Follow him on Twitter @ProfJoeKim
Joel Hilchey: Don't be afraid to follow a path less traveled
Joel graduated from McMaster University, in Ontario, Canada in 2006 with a degree in Engineering Physics, minoring in business. In 2017, he earned his CSP™ (Certified Speaking Professional) designation – the speaking profession’s international measure of speaking experience and skill. The CSP™ designation indicates a proven track record of continuing speaking experience and expertise, as well as a commitment to ongoing education, outstanding client service, and ethical behaviour. Currently at McMaster, Joel runs the final year engineering course "Sustainability and Ethics in Engineering". After totally redesigning and delivering the course with great acclaim, he was also selected to help develop an innovative new course called "The McMaster Sustainable Future Project", which was based on experiential education and project-based learning.
Joel Hilchey wants to change how people think about success, because too many people spend their time doing stuff they don’t really care about. You can find out more about Joel at www.joelhilchey.com
Hilary Hanaka: It's so easy to just stay comfortable
Hilary Hanaka is a recent McMaster graduate (Honours Geography Major) who's repped Mac in the maroon during the entirety of her time at McMaster as a member of Varsity Basketball team.
One of the nicest people I've ever met, she's down to earth to her core and truly is a role model for young kids who want to take the game they love to the next level. An all-Canadian, an Academic All-Canadian and an all-star in her community - listen to Hilary's candid take on life so far on this week's podcast.
Mitchell Kos and Dillon Mulcahy Pt.1: Feedback Loop
Mitchell Kos and Dillon Mulcahy Pt.2: Dreams are just goals with deadlines
Evan Ubene: Don't assume you know everything
Evan Ubene is in his sixth and final year of the chemical engineering and management co-op program at McMaster. He has also been a member of the McMaster varsity cross country and track teams for the entirety of his six years at Mac, but a string of back injuries forced him to stay of competition for the majority of his university track career. What was he supposed to do then?
He still trained every day and believed in himself, made a comeback in his final year and helped McMaster win silver at the 2019 USports Cross Country Championships. Listen to this podcast to find out how he did it!
You can also listen to Evan's own 'not-a-podcast' interviews on Spotify and Apple Music.
Katie Monkhouse and Martin Rupes: It's all about the process
Katie and Martin are final year Mechatronics Engineering and Management students at McMaster University - and they've had their fair share of experiences through university during the last 6 years.
Besides school, Martin is also an elite cyclist and current provincial champion. Having raced for a team based out of Hong Kong, Martin has travelled to Asia on numerous occasions to compete. These opportunities have led to exciting experiences but balancing these pursuits often introduces its own mental and physcial challenges.
Katie has been part of various clubs within McMaster - namely the McMaster Solar Car Project, McMaster Mechatronics Society and the McMaster Novice Rowing team. Having played volleyball competitively all through high school, she had to make the tough decision to take a step back from the sport and focus on school during her time at university.
Theresa Burns: Enjoy your time
Theresa Burns is the Head Coach of McMaster's Women's Varsity Basketball team - she's achieved so much in her career and I'm amazed at how humble and disciplined she is, and I've only met her twice. This just comes to say about the kind of culture she and her team have been building throughout the team and I'm a big fan of it.
We talk about her life before Mac, what's changed since she graduated from UofT in '86 and her phenomenal season with the team last year.
Quick Note: Sincerest of apologies, but due to technical difficulties the volume was a bit low during the first few minutes of our conversation. About a minute in it's nice and clear!
James Sinclair and Karl Zimmermann: Don't do anything you don't love
Karl completed his Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical and Biological Engineering from McMaster in 2018, whereas James is in his final year of the McMaster Commerce program. We talk about their experiences with rowing at university/provincial/national level, the stress that comes along with it and how on earth did they manage to keep their eyes open during morning lectures.
Dillon Mulcahy: You're not alone
I can’t begin to say how much I loved my conversation with Dillon. We talked about the current stigma around mental health, his own experiences with it and what we can all do to help those in need.
Dillon Mulcahy is a final-year Mechatronics Engineering student from McMaster graduating in April 2020. He's a former varsity athlete (rugby), has had two separate co-op terms in the US and Switzerland - but the journey to get to where he is now hasn't been easy.
Dr. Martin Von Mohrenschildt: One who laughs last is the one who laughs best
Dr. Martin Von Mohrenschildt, fondly known as MvM by students is a professor in the Department of Computing and Software at McMaster University.
I’ve never come across someone so passionate about teaching in my last 6 years @ Mac - his lectures are a place to be even when you don’t know what’s going on in class.