From left: Mary Addo, Shilo Chislett and Jezreel Sol-Edeigba

19 January 2026

By Betty Zou

Over the past three years, the Emerging and Pandemics Infections Consortium’s Inspire Summer Studentship program has supported 19 Black and Indigenous undergraduate students in exploring infectious disease-related research.

The program, first launched in 2023, provides $10,000 to each student to undertake a summer research project with an EPIC faculty member.

“Our goal with the Inspire program was to provide students who may not see themselves in science with hands-on research experience early in their educational journeys,” says Scott Gray-Owen, a professor of molecular genetics at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine and EPIC’s academic director.  

“We hope that these experiences will encourage them to explore research-related careers and help set them up for success in their future paths.”

As the application deadline for the 2026 Inspire Summer Studentships approaches, we caught up with three Inspire program alumni to see where they are now and how the experience impacted them.

“I probably would not be in research at all.”

Mary Addo always knew she was interested in research, but with only virtual lab courses offered during her first year of undergraduate studies at U of T, she found it challenging to imagine what working in a real lab would be like.

During her third-year microbiology course, a guest lecture from Rob Kozak, a clinical microbiologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and an assistant professor of laboratory medicine and pathobiology at Temerty Medicine, sparked an interest in virology and led her to complete an Inspire Summer Studentship in his lab.

There she worked on two projects related to COVID-19 and got her first real taste of lab work.

“I was lucky to be in an amazing lab with great lab members,” says Addo. “Rob gave me the opportunity to work with all the postdocs in our lab, which gave me a chance to see what I liked.”

After her summer studentship ended, she continued working on her project as part of a fourth-year undergraduate research thesis and decided to pursue a master’s in applied immunology in the Kozak lab, where she switched gears to studying cancer-killing viruses.

Addo credits the supportive environment in Kozak’s lab with helping develop her confidence and resilience and become a more independent researcher.

“I think research can be daunting and a little scary but it’s okay if you don’t know everything. You just have to trust in yourself that you’ll grown and learn,” she says.

After graduating with her master’s in fall 2025, Addo is now exploring opportunities in scientific writing and publishing as well as research positions. She says the Inspire program changed everything for her.

“I always think about what would have happened if I did not receive the studentship and I think I probably would not be in research at all,” says Addo.

“I’m forever grateful for this program because it made my undergrad and grad experience an amazing one.”

“This is where I want to be.”

During a difficult transition to university, Shilo Chislett asked herself what she really wanted to do and one of the first things that came to mind was research.

When a professor in her third-year immunology class told everyone about EPIC’s Inspire Summer Studentship program, she was immediately intrigued and decided to apply. She was awarded a studentship to complete a summer research project with Trevor Moraes, a professor of biochemistry at Temerty Medicine.

Her research in the Moraes lab focused on studying the interaction between a bacterial surface protein and a mammalian host protein, and how this bacterial surface protein helps the microbe evade the host’s immune system.

Chislett says she was grateful for the mentorship she received from PhD student Huong Nguyen to help ease her transition to lab work.

“Having taken lab courses, I knew the basics but actually being thrown into a more independent project was a whole new thing,” she says.

She decided to stay in the Moraes lab to complete a fourth-year research thesis and graduated with a bachelor of science in molecular genetics and microbiology and immunology in spring 2025.

“That first research experience gave me insight into what it’s like to work in a lab and to work in a very collaborative environment,” says Chislett. “It really solidified for me that I want to work in a lab.”

While Chislett has her sights set on a PhD, she says that her experience in the Inspire program helped her realize that she can take her time and do it at her own pace. In September, she started a masters in chemical engineering at U of T.

“I wanted to incorporate some engineering perspectives into my education, but I’m still heavily interested in microbiology,” she says.

Before her masters officially began, she already started a research project with Rachel Gregor, an assistant professor of chemical engineering and applied chemistry, to look at how some marine bacteria can degrade chitin shed from crustaceans as debris in the ocean.

Whether it’s engineering bacteria to make infectious diseases more treatable or to adjust carbon cycles in the ocean, Chislett is unwavering in her belief that science and research are what she wants to do.

“I just love the process. This is where I want to be.”

“I’m capable of pursuing medicine and research.”

For Jezreel Sol-Edeigba, the opportunity to work with clinician-scientist Shaun Morris for a summer seemed like a dream come true.

Sol-Edeigba is currently a fourth-year undergraduate student at U of T Mississauga where he is majoring in biology for health sciences and doing minors in biomedical communications and education studies. He is also an aspiring pediatrician and passionate about global health.

Morris is a professor of paediatrics at Temerty Medicine and the co-director of the Centre for Global Child Health at The Hospital for Sick Children.

“I really wanted to learn more about global health research and paediatrics,” says Sol-Edeigba. “And to have an opportunity to work at a hospital like SickKids, it’s just been amazing.”

In the Morris lab, Sol-Edeigba worked on a systematic review to identify diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) in pregnant people and infants. A pregnant person infected with CMV can pass it on to their developing baby, with one in five babies born with a CMV infection having a birth defect or developing long-term health problems.

Sol-Edeigba notes that the sophisticated techniques used to diagnose CMV in Canada are not always available in low-resource settings where the burden of CMV is highest. By reviewing the accuracy and usefulness of different blood and amniotic fluid biomarkers, he hopes that the work will help to improve early diagnosis and management of cCMV in low- and middle-income countries.

“I was raised in Nigeria for a part of my life so I got a taste of what it’s like to live in an area where the health care system isn’t so strong,” he says.

“This project connected to me on a personal level because it would be able to help not only countries like Canada, but also low- to middle-income countries like Nigeria.”

Aside from the research — which he is continuing to work on — Sol-Edeigba says being part of the Inspire program allowed him to gain many new experiences and skillsets. He participated in clinical rounds, attended conferences and had a chance to present his work.

Above all, the program gave him the confidence to chase his dream of becoming a paediatrician — maybe one who also does research.

“I used to think that I wasn’t capable of this, but this program gave me the ability to see that I’m capable of pursuing medicine and research,” says Sol-Edeigba.