TLS 2019 Bios

Keynote:

Adam Finkelstein

Adam Finkelstein is currently Associate Director, Learning Environments (Physical and Digital) at Teaching and Learning Services at McGill University. He develops university-wide initiatives to improve teaching and learning environments. In his tenure at McGill, he has managed a team of instructional designers and multimedia programmers. He has developed many different types of award-winning technology-enhanced teaching and learning projects for McGill including multimedia CD-ROMs, learning objects, simulations, and other on-line environments – including multiple previous implementations of McGill’s learning management systems. His area of research interest includes the interrelationship of teaching and learning in physical (classroom, teaching and simulation labs) and digital (online learning) environments. He has also been very much involved in the implementation of technology in education and instructional/learning design for on-line and face-to-face learning. Over the last few years he has been focused on designing innovative physical and virtual learning spaces. He is currently the Chair of two groups responsible for the selection, design and renovation of classrooms and teaching labs at McGill, including numerous new Active Learning Classrooms and Labs. He is also Team Lead for the design and delivery of McGill’s first four Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). He is currently Co-Lead of the Learning Spaces Design Constituent Group for EDUCAUSE and is a member of core team for the development of the Learning Spaces Rating System (LSRS).

Chika Stacy Oriuwa

Chika Stacy Oriuwa is a third-year medical student at the University of Toronto (U of T) completing her MD/MSc with a concentration in Systems Leadership and Innovation. As a professional spoken word artist, she has worked under the Hamilton Youth Poets, and earned her place as a national slam poetry finalist twice. She has a keen interest in healthcare reform pertaining to the intersections of race and gender within medicine.

Her resolve has compelled her to remain proactive in the mentorship of youth in minority communities. For these reasons she enjoyed her roles as co-president of the U of T Black Medical Students Association, co-founder of the Black Inter-professional Students Association (BIPSA), and co-director of a non-profit youth leadership organization. She is currently an ambassador for the Black Students Application Program at U of T’s Faculty of Medicine, and sits on the External Implementation Steering Committee to the Minister of Children and Youth Services assisting with the Ontario Black Youth Action Plan. Chika uses her background in performance poetry and public speaking to mobilize reform in medical education as to how it prepares its medical trainees who will encounter discrimination within their profession. She has had the privilege of delivering international keynotes on the topic of women’s health, immigrant health, and global health (with a focus on Nigerian healthcare fundraising). Chika has had the honour of representing U of T’s Faculty of Medicine through several syndication networks including televised interviews (CBC, CP24), newspapers (Toronto Star) and article authorships (FLARE). Ultimately, her commitment to health equity and community empowerment propels her to engage marginalized youth and disadvantaged cohorts.

Aditya Rau

Aditya Rau’s international upbringing across the Middle East, Europe and North America fostered his desire to design and implement innovative solutions to global development challenges.

Aditya is an Analyst at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. The Center is Mastercard’s philanthropic hub, dedicated to advancing sustainable and equitable economic growth around the world.

Most recently, Aditya was an International Youth Fellow with the Aga Khan Foundation in Tanzania, where his work focused on strategy and communications for an early childhood development program. Prior to this, Aditya helped advise top Canadian and global organizations at Navigator, Canada’s leading high stakes public strategy and communications firm.

Aditya is a Managing Fellow at The Reach Project, a research initiative at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. At The Reach Project, his research has taken him to South Africa, where he completed fieldwork examining the country’s success in scaling its birth registration rate; and to Mexico, where he studied food insecurity and digital upskilling in violent communities.

Aditya earned an Honours B.A. in Political Science from the University of Toronto (Trinity, ’16) where he studied as a Whiteside Scholar.