Hello, Class of 2028!

 

Thank you for submitting your choice for the Career Fair breakout session! If you did not make a submission, you were assigned a panel.

 

Please see the attachment for the student lists and locations for each breakout session. If you do not see your name please let me know!

 

This is a fantastic opportunity to gain insights and advice. Please don’t hesitate to ask panelists questions on the day!

 

Cheers,

Natasha Przybyl 😊

Student Affairs, Office Assistant

Max Rady College of Medicine

290-727 McDermot Ave,

Wpg, Mb, R2E 3P5

P: (204) 789-3522

 

From: Student Affairs Medicine
Sent: October 15, 2025 4:15 PM
To: med-class2029-all@lists.umanitoba.ca
Subject: Career Fair Oct 29th, 2025 panel sign up

 

Hello Class of 2029!

 

Our career fair (Oct. 29th, Wednesday) is coming soon! We are now opening the breakout session registration. There are 6 interesting panels, and we would like you will pick one that you would like to join. Please see the event info and the registration link below. The registration will close at the end of Monday, Oct. 20th. Anyone who does not sign up will be placed into a session based on available spots, so please make every effort to sign up!

 

Med1 CAREER FAIR    Oct 29th, 2025       

 

14:00 – 15:25   Whole Group Session – Theatre A

The Never-ending story of Career Development           

By Paula Hossack & & Jim McLaren    

Career development is a life-long process and it’s much more than what you do for work.  Paula and Jim will take you to help you understand yourself, and progress along your career path now and in the future.             

    

 

15:35-16:50   Breakout Session                                                                                                           

Session Options

Reg. limit

Tentative Panelists

Parenting while practicing

 

Do you have kids, or planning to have them?  This panel will focus on mothers and fathers in medicine, and how they make their lives work. Decisions about when to have kids, childcare choices, balancing careers of two parents and dealing with the inevitable “mommy/daddy guilt” will be discussed.

 

Panelists are presented with the following starter questions. Please do ask lots of questions! Your questions don’t have to tie to this theme.

 

  1. How many kids do you have, and at what point in your training/practice did you have kids?
  2. How much did you think about when to have kids, and was the decision to have them when you did the right one for you?
  3. How did/do you manage childcare and other obligations?
  4. How do you hive off time for your family and what are some “parenting hacks” that work for you?
  5. Do you feel that your career has been slowed due to parenthood, or that your job has negatively impacted your family life?
  6. Do you have “mommy/daddy guilt” and how do you deal with it?

Spaces: 20

 

Location:
Apotex 116

Dr. Sara Dunsmore

Dr. Jodi Jones

Dr. Hassan Abdallah

When things don’t go as planned

 

You are planning and preparing for your dream career, and you’ll probably get just that.  But what if things don’t go as planned? This panel will include people who had to veer from their intended path due to medical issues, going unmatched, family or personal crises etc. and how they got through it.

 

  1. What was the event(s) that didn’t go as planned? When in your training did it happen?
  2. How did you deal with the event?
  3. Did you get help from your med school/residency program/Docs MB/ faculty etc.?
  4. Did you need to take time off work? How did that work for you financially?
  5. If you could go back in time, what if anything would you have changed about the experience?
  6. Do you like where you are now? How do you think the event affected your present practice/life/happiness?
  7. What would you advise students who experience an unplanned or unwanted event?

 

Spaces: 20

 

Location:

Apotex 061

Dr. Mahdieh Yousefi

Dr. Yasaman Yazdizadeh

Dr. Polina Anag

Working far from home

 

You probably feel like you live at the med school (and if you’re in the Med Apts you pretty much do!) But when you’re in practice, your work may be very far away from your home.  This panel will consist of professionals who work far from their home base- those who do locums, fly-in to remote locations, or live in a community far away from their family and friends.  How do you integrate into a community you don’t consider “home?” What are some of the benefits of locum work? How can you make a happy life in a new place?

 

Panelists are presented with the following starter questions. Please do ask lots of questions! Your questions don’t have to tie to this theme.

 

  1. How did you come to work away from home, or have a home far away from your family or where you grew up? Was this a conscious decision or something that just happened to you?
  2. How do you manage your time and travel?
  3. How do you engage with the community in which you work?
  4. Where do you find support when you live somewhere you didn’t grow up/where your family is?
  5. What are the benefits of how you work? What would you like to be different?

Spaces: 25

 

Location: Apotex 071

Dr. Whitley Sheehan

Dr. Nicholas Blake

Dr. Selena Papetti

Variety is the spice of life

 

Some physicians work full time in a single clinic or hospital, while others choose to work part-time, or pull together several part-time gigs into their work week.  What are the challenges of this type of career?  What are the rewards? How do these physicians organize their lives? How do they stop work bleeding into “days off”?

 

Panelists are presented with the following starter questions. Please do ask lots of questions! Your questions don’t have to tie to this theme.

 

  1. Why did you choose this kind of work?
  2. What does your work week look? How do you manage the different aspects/your schedule
  3. What are the challenges of this type of career? 
  4. How do you keep work “bleeding” into days off?
  5. How do finances work when you have more than one gig?

Spaces: 25

 

Location:
Theatre B

Dr. Tom Bzura

Dr. Faisal Siddiqui

Dr. Hassan Abdallah

Beyond the Bedside

 

Non-clinical work (research, administration, teaching, consultation) can be a hugely   rewarding part of a medical practice, and some physicians don’t see patients at all!  What is it like to have part or all of your career outside of direct clinical care?  How did these physicians prepare for these roles?  How do they get paid?  This panel will include a variety of physicians who have incorporated non-clinical duties into their careers.

 

Panelists are presented with the following starter questions. Please do ask lots of questions! Your questions don’t have to tie to this theme.

 

  1. What is it like to have part or all of your career outside of direct clinical care?
  2.  How did these physicians prepare for these roles?  Do you have extra training and what was it?
  3. How do you get paid for non-clinical roles? 
  4. How do you balance these roles with patient care?
  5. What are the challenges of this type of career? What are the rewards?

Spaces: 20

 

Location:
Apotex 264

Dr. Rafiq Andani

Dr. Rohan Sanjanwala

Dr. Rob Brown

Road to Residency

 

This panel is made up of current residents - those closest to your experience in medical school and who have gone through the residency match recently. Ask them about their experience, including

 

  1. Why did you choose your discipline?
  2. What has surprised you most about residency?
  3. What are some of the rewards and challenges of the disciplines you're in?
  4. What supports have you received from the faculty or your program along the way if you've needed them?
  5. What tips do you have for us to get the residencies we want?

*NOTE: this has, in the past, been a popular panel that has filled quickly.  If you don’t get this panel and want to ask questions about residency, please feel free to do so in one of the other panels.  Remember, every practicing physician was once a med student and resident too, so they can speak to their experiences even if they are a bit more remote.

Spaces: 40

 

Location:
Theatre A

Dr. Luca Rmelli

Dr. Maziar Fazel Darbandi

Dr. Murtaza Jafair

 

Please register for your breakout session via the following link. The registration will close at the end of Monday, Oct. 20th. There are limited spots in each breakout session. The student list for each session will be announced after registration. Anyone who does not sign up will be placed into a session based on available spots, so please make every effort to submit your choice/ranking!

 

Sign up link  https://www.cognitoforms.com/StudentAffairs4/_20251029Med1CareerFairBreakoutPanelRegistration

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at StudentAffairsMed@umanitoba.ca

 

Cheers,

Natasha Przybyl 😊

Student Affairs, Office Assistant

Max Rady College of Medicine

290-727 McDermot Ave,

Wpg, Mb, R2E 3P5

P: (204) 789-3522