Meet Our New Clinicians: Celebrating the MHSc Class of 2025

By: Jessica Boafo

The Department of Speech-Language Pathology proudly celebrates the MHSc Class of 2025 and all they have achieved throughout their academic journey.

As they step into their roles as new clinicians, ready to apply their expertise in communication sciences to health care and beyond, three graduates reflect on their experiences in the program, sharing the moments that shaped their path and their aspirations for the future:

Kiruththika Pushpalingam

As an Eelam Tamil-Canadian woman, I have witnessed how stigma and language barriers can silence families. I think of my aunt who visited countless doctors, prayed at temples and even hid my cousin from the public to protect him from judgment. As an immigrant with little to no guidance, she faced immense challenges trying to find support for her son. With the help of a compassionate Speech-Language Pathologist, my cousin now communicates with confidence, a transformation that changed all our lives. His journey and my aunt’s resilience inspired me to pursue this field in order to destigmatize communication disorders, advocate for accessible care and build culturally grounded practices that truly reflect the families we serve.

One of the most memorable experiences from my program was my clinical placement at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, where I worked on the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Team. Working with children and teens recovering from brain injuries profoundly changed how I understand communication. I came to see that communication is not just about speech, it encompasses memory, connection and identity.

This experience deepened my appreciation for cognitive-communication and its vital role in daily functioning. I witnessed how seemingly simple tasks, like sending a text message, can become challenging after a brain injury and how the support of a Speech-Language Pathologist can make a meaningful difference. By helping patients rebuild their communication skills, it not only enhances their ability to interact but also supports their overall well-being. This placement continues to shape how I view this work and the kind of clinician I aspire to become.

I would tell my first-year self to embrace the process and believe in yourself. There were moments throughout the program when self-doubt felt overwhelming when I questioned my abilities and whether I truly belonged. However, learning to trust the journey, stay grounded in my values and approach every challenge with a growth mindset changed everything.

Every challenge resulted in learning something new, not just about the field, but about myself and the kind of Speech-Language Pathologist I want to become.

My future career plans are to continue working with community-based and non-profit organizations to make speech and language services more accessible. I want to focus on care that is culturally and linguistically relevant which truly reflects the families and communities it serves.

Through this work, I hope to explore how Speech-Language Pathologists can play a stronger role in community spaces, bridging clinical practice with everyday life. For me, it is about creating meaningful, inclusive approaches to communication that honour people’s diverse languages, stories and experiences.

Sunny Kim

My practical pathway began when a career counsellor introduced me to the field, knowing my interests in psychology, linguistics, education, and health. But my inspiration came from my experiences working and volunteering to support language learning with children from various racialized immigrant backgrounds. Beyond enjoying their vibrant personalities, I found it deeply rewarding to be creative in planning activities, to watch them make progress and feel proud of themselves and to do so for an often overlooked but well-deserving community.

In one lecture from Professor Tijana Simic’s aphasia course, she was describing the principles of neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to change) and asked our class for another word to describe that process. No one raised their hand, and the room fell silent until Dr. Simic simply said, “Rehabilitation, right?” In that moment, things clicked for me, not just the concept of neuroplasticity or the course content, but the broader idea of rehabilitation as a service to the human potential for resilience and change.

If I could give my first-year self some advice, I’d say: “There are things coming that are so good, you don’t even know to ask for them yet.” As a practical tip, I’d say: Keep a zip-up hoodie in your locker for when the AC is on blast and start collecting the SLP resources shared by instructors (like templates, assessment tools, and key papers) in one central folder to access easily once you begin practice.

I entered this program with the intention of dedicating my career in some capacity to equity, diversity, and inclusion. I hope to keep learning and growing across different contexts, whether that’s practicing in rural or remote communities, working with racialized immigrant families, supporting Indigenous children, or contributing internationally.

Christine Ann Lee

I discovered my passion for speech-language pathology in my third year of undergrad while working as a hospital volunteer coordinator. The role required a great deal of problem-solving and often involved managing communication breakdowns between volunteers and patients or visitors (e.g. when volunteers weren’t sure how to approach conversations with patients who had cognitive-communication difficulties, or who were D/deaf or hard of hearing). I began educating myself and my volunteers on basic communication strategies (e.g., using keywords, repetition, offering choices) and saw how these approaches, paired with patience and empathy, could make a meaningful difference. Witnessing patients’ gratitude and the impact of breaking down communication barriers inspired me to explore speech-language pathology as a career.

I went on to volunteer at the Aphasia Institute, where I helped facilitate conversation groups for people with aphasia. I met incredible individuals, both members living with aphasia and the volunteers who supported them, and learned how impactful it is to help others communicate with confidence.

The more I learned about the field of speech-language pathology, the more it resonated with my values and the kind of career I envisioned for myself. I also was drawn to the variety of settings in which S-LPs can work, schools, hospitals, and private clinics, and to the breadth of the profession, from supporting speech to facilitating safe swallowing. I’ve always known I wanted to do work grounded in service and what better way to serve others than by helping them communicate, connect, and eat and drink safely?

Our audiology professor, Jo DeLuzio, held an SLP-themed costume contest every Halloween. It featured some of the most creative, hilarious, and pun-filled costumes imaginable. My friends and I went as the “Circle of Willis,” a nod to our beloved anatomy professor Luc De Nil. The three of us wore name tags that said “Willis,” stood in a circle holding hands, and included anatomically correct labels of the arteries in the Circle of Willis.

I’d love to talk to my first-year self, right before she embarked on her first clinical placement and say: “focus on being prepared, rather than being perfect.” You don’t need to know everything or “be perfect” to do well on your clinical placements. What clinical educators notice most is when you come prepared to sessions and consistently work to improve based on their feedback. I’d also tell my first-year self to reach out to classmates or upper years for support during clinical placement blocks, and check-in on fellow classmates/friends regularly during these times. Clinical placements can feel isolating, so keeping those connections are especially important during these times.

I’m excited to explore different areas of SLP practice, including community rehabilitation, inpatient and outpatient rehab, and school board settings. I fell in love with both the adult rehabilitation and school-age populations during my placements, but I’m an open book for any opportunities that come my way!