First in class: Part 3 of our School of Medicine’s inaugural class series
Meet the final five students in TorontoMet Today's three-part series on the extraordinary inaugural class for the School of Medicine. From top left, Kenisha Arora, Adeeb Kutty, Chimele Nsitem, Gurkirat Singh Nijjar and Jovana Vukcevic.
The first-ever class of ambitious, accomplished and community-minded medical school students represent a new kind of medical school and a vision of health care that is rooted in community, collaboration and a bold commitment to change.
In part three of TMU’s School of Medicine ‘Meet the inaugural class’ series, we introduce you to five more students whose diverse backgrounds, passions and experiences are defining what it means to be a TMU medical student.
View Part 1 and Part 2 in the series.
Kenisha Arora
Kenisha Arora is a Forbes-recognized leader with a strong record in global health, education and policy. She holds a Master of Science in Global Health and Economics from Johns Hopkins University and a degree in Medical Sciences from Western University.
Her academic achievements have been recognized with prestigious awards, including the $20,000 Founders Award, Life Science Scholarship, and the AstraZeneca Eureka Fellowship for Youth Changemakers.
She was recently named one of the UN's Top 30 Under 30 global leaders advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.
Passionate about equity in health and education, Arora has led at local, national and global levels. Serving on Western's Board of Governors and Senate, she oversaw a multi-million dollar budget.
Internationally, she serves as the youth representative on the UN High-Level Steering Committee for SDG4-Education, collaborating with global leaders like the UNESCO Director General and the French Prime Minister to shape global education policy.
She co-authored the Youth Declaration for Transforming Education, presented at the UN General Assembly, and helped launch a campaign reaching 77 million people.
A dedicated advocate for adolescent health, Arora joined the WHO Director General in Switzerland to launch WHO’s first campaign on youth health.
She has shared her vision at the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings and G20 Education events in India.
At 16, she became one of Canada’s youngest elected school board trustees, introducing a policy to provide free menstrual products in schools. She is the founder of The HopeSisters, a non-profit supporting vulnerable children, and has earned global recognition including a top 10 finish for the $100K Global Student Prize, the AsiaNet Canadian Health Excellence Award, and London’s Top 20 Under 20.
Most recently, she contributed to shaping adolescent health strategy during the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva. As a future physician, Arora combines her expertise in medical science and policy to transform systems.
Adeeb Kutty
Adeeb Kutty brings a deep sense of purpose to medical studies and future practice. With a strong academic record and community-driven mindset, Kutty graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology.
He was twice awarded the Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Fund – Science Award, recognizing students in the Faculty of Science who achieved among the highest grade point averages.
Kutty grew up in Rexdale, North Etobicoke, in a newcomer household. Inspired by his grandmother’s health-care challenges and the barriers she faced in accessing care, he is driven to make senior care more accessible and to advocate for the early prevention of chronic illnesses, culturally safe outreach and health policies that reflect the communities they serve, especially in the face of a growing shortage of family doctors in underserved areas.
Kutty has worked with the William Osler Health System, TMU School of Medicine's primary clinical partner, having volunteered in the emergency department at Etobicoke General Hospital since 2019.
In 2023, he took on a formal role as a physician navigator, supporting emergency staff and translating for patients in Hindi, Punjabi and Gujarati, and helping families like his own navigate a complex system.
Currently contributing to palliative care research at Sunnybrook Hospital, Kutty focuses on barriers to access for migrant populations in Canada and globally.
His dedication also extends to his work with Simbas, a community organization supporting refugees through meal distribution and youth physical health programming.
Returning to serve the community that raised him, Kutty carries a deep sense of humility, purpose and excitement to help build a more inclusive and responsive health-care system.
Chimele Nsitem
Chimele Nsitem brings exceptional academic credentials and proven leadership to TMU’s School of Medicine. She holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences Honours degree from Queen's University, specializing in global and population health and applied research methods.
She graduated with distinction, earning the Queen’s University Principal’s Award and dean’s honour list recognition.
During her degree studies, Nsitem served as co-president of the Queen's Black Premedical Association (QBPA), supporting racialized students pursuing health care careers.
She also volunteered with Black Youth in STEM, leading health science workshops and encouraging representation in STEM fields.
Her community involvement spans multiple organizations. At Shifra Maternity Residence and Shelter, she supports vulnerable mothers experiencing homelessness. At Trellis HIV and Community Care, she volunteered in the harm reduction department and primary care clinic, engaging in health promotion initiatives.
In 2024, the Town of Oakville presented her with the 5-mile Award for demonstrating five years of commitment to local summer camps and fostering healthy child development.
Nsitem's global perspective comes from volunteering with MEDLIFE in Ecuador, where she worked in low-income communities to improve access to medicine and education.
She volunteered in Indigenous communities, learning from local physicians how to adapt health-care models to address infrastructural challenges.
Nsitem’s experiences exposed her to the impact of systemic barriers and social determinants on health outcomes.
For her, becoming a physician is not only about clinical care, but also about advocacy, trust-building and fostering an environment where patients feel seen and supported.
Gurkirat Singh Nijjar
Gurkirat Singh Nijjar holds an Associate of Science in Biology from Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) and a Bachelor of Science with a major in chemistry and a minor in health from the University of British Columbia (UBC), earning dean’s list recognition over his last three academic years.
His journey from a rural village in Punjab, India, to joining the first cohort of medical students at TMU demonstrates exceptional resilience and scholarly achievement.
A two-time recipient of the UBC Faculty of Medicine Summer Student Research Award, Singh Nijjar conducted research with Dr. Maureen Ashe on social prescribing and team-based care for older adults.
He also worked with Dr. Annie Ciernia on effects of early-life stress and substance use on neurodevelopment, and with Dr. Paul De Koninck at the CERVO Brain Research Centre on neuroinflammation in brain development. His research deepens understanding of how social and biological factors influence brain health and health equity.
Singh Nijjar founded Students Overcoming Substance Use Disorder and Addictions Society (SOUDA) in 2019, a non-profit delivering culturally safe overdose response and prevention training in multiple languages.
SOUDA has trained over 30,000 individuals in addressing opioid addiction in the South Asians community. He also provided harm reduction education and policy recommendations to the B.C.’s standing committee on health.
His community impact earned him KPU’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2022) and Surrey’s Top 25 Under 25 award (2020). As an advocate for international students, he helped recover $25,000 in unpaid wages and worked with B.C.’s Ministry of Post-Secondary Education to improve protections for vulnerable learners.
Singh Nijjar currently works as a Knowledge Translation Coordinator at the University of Regina, supporting maternal and infant health through Indigenous-led research.
He aspires to become a physician-researcher committed to building inclusive health-care systems for Canada’s most vulnerable populations.
Jovana Vukcevic
Jovana Vukcevic joins the inaugural class of TMU’s School of Medicine with a strong foundation in health systems, policy and community engagement.
She holds a Master in Global Health from McMaster University, where she received the McMaster Graduate Scholarship and served as committee leader for the university’s Global Health Symposium.
She completed her Bachelor of Science in biology with a second major in socio-legal studies at the University of Toronto with high distinction, earning dean’s honour list recognition each year.
Vukcevic’s professional experience is substantial. At Ontario Health, she contributed to the province’s digital health strategy, helping shape electronic health record systems and maintain clinical data integrity.
During COVID-19, she served as performance and accountability lead, overseeing hospital funding agreements and implementing responsive funding strategies to address urgent system needs.
Her health-care sector experience includes roles with University Health Network's (UHN) Genetic Medicine Clinic and SickKids Research Operations teams, where she supported over 200 labs and 2,000 researchers.
Beyond professional achievements, Vukcevic demonstrates sustained community engagement through mentoring youth with Big Brothers Big Sisters, promoting health education through campus wellness initiatives and contributing to environmental projects including shoreline cleanups and Habitat for Humanity builds.
Her family’s immigration from war-torn Yugoslavia and subsequent navigation of Canada’s health care system provided firsthand insight into the importance of equity and access in health care.
Vukcevic aims to collaborate with government and hospital partners to continue advocating for marginalized populations and improving health care access in Peel, Ontario and beyond, particularly for new immigrants and racialized communities.
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