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Layla Sadafi is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical physiology but she’s already well on her way toward completing her second degree in the accelerated masters program.

“A lot of people offered me advice to volunteer in a lot of different spaces, to see what you gravitate towards and what you like,” she says, “so in second year, I started volunteering in some labs.” One lab was the Molecular Cardiac Physiology Lab with Damon Poburko, who encouraged her to apply for an Undergraduate Student Research Award.

“It was my first full-time research experience, it was very independent and I had time dedicated to learning and running my own experiments which was cool.”

“My supervisor is really supportive,” she says. “That's been one of the main things that’s helped motivate me. He's always there to answer my questions and offer advice.”

This spring she had the opportunity to attend an international conference to present her research. “It was right after my final exams so I was balancing a full course load, studying for my finals, creating my poster, also doing a talk. That was a bit stressful and challenging to balance, but in the end, it was really rewarding.” Though she was nervous about presenting to an audience that she didn’t know, she ended up receiving an award for her talk.

Sadafi encourages other students to take opportunities to get out of their comfort zone. She recalls taking an upper division coding class that she was sure she wouldn’t like. “That course was really eye opening, although it was really stressful in the moment. I was actually really glad I took it, because now I feel like I can apply that to my research.”

Sadafi splits her time between school, lifeguarding, the SFU Blood, Organ and Stem Cell Club and a volunteer role at St. John Ambulance where she coordinates first aid coverage at events, a heavy load that can be challenging to manage.

“I always try to have at least one day a week where I do something fun,” she says, “whether that is seeing my friends or spending time with my family or doing something alone that brings me joy, like going to the gym or having a hobby.” She got really into painting during COVID. “I’ll put on a show or music and just paint. I try to be consistent with that even if I’m busy.”

For now she’s continuing her research at the Molecular Cardiac Physiology Lab. “Having volunteering and work experience in different fields has helped me realize how much I enjoy sciences,” she says. “And it exposed me to many experiences that I would have never thought I would enjoy.”

“When you have a question that you want answered, being able to plan that on your own, rather than waiting for someone else to answer that question for you is really exciting.”