By Renee Baker
As part of the first graduating class of TIS, Luis Riberio (Class of 2009) has a lot to show for the past six years. He chose a science major on almost a complete whim, finished his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto in 2013, and is currently studying medicine at the Imperial College London. “At the University of Toronto you do your first year as a general Life Sciences student and then you get to specialize in second year,” Luis laughs. “I chose Toxicology because it sounded the coolest.”
Most people would balk at the sound of this five-syllable word, partly because it sounds deathly difficult (pun intended) and partly because it isn’t a field thrown around the news or science classes a lot. “Toxicology is basically the opposite side of the coin to pharmacology. We study the adverse effects of chemicals on the body,” Luis explains. “Where pharmacology is concerned with finding chemicals that can help people with various illnesses, toxicology is concerned with finding out whether or not certain chemicals are harmful to the body and how and what dose they are harmful in.”
For his final project, Luis conducted a thesis on whether or not an anti-epileptic drug caused birth defects. Partnered with a company that consulted women on the drugs that were safe to ingest during pregnancy, Luis was given the task to research a specific drug. His biggest job was going through the company’s client registry and calling women to check on the success of their pregnancies. This was surprisingly difficult. “Generally, people don’t like to talk about their newborn children to complete strangers,” Luis says dryly. “But it was also difficult when you finally reach someone but it turns out they had a miscarriage. Those were the toughest calls to make for obvious reasons.”
Luis is in his second year at Imperial College London. Starting from second year, the students spend their time doing rotations at hospitals so they can learn a bit about every specialization. Last year, Luis went through rotations in general surgery, respiratory medicine, and gastroenterology. “This year, my first rotation was psychiatry. It’s really hard to pick a favorite. If I had to choose it would probably be gastroenterology – not for the subject, but just because the consultants there were amazing. Personally, I’m quite looking forward to neurology!”