In March 2022, the McGill Initiative in Computational Medicine was transformed into a student organization composed of graduate trainees with deep bioinformatics expertise. MiCM is primarily funded by the office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, and is recognized as a student organization by McGill myInvolvement. The executive committe is in charge of designing, managing and promoting our numerous training events.
Current members
President - adrien.osakwe [at] mail.mcgill.ca (Adrien Osakwe)
As President, Adrien is responsible for coordinating the day-to-day operations of the initiative and for providing strategic guidance to fulfill the MiCM mission. They are a PhD student in the Quantitative Life Sciences program, co-supervised by Dr. Yue Li and Dr. Robert Sladek. Their research focuses on the use of genomics data and bayesian inference to discover and characterize the genetic risk factors driving Type-2 Diabetes onset. Prior to their doctoral studies, they completed a BSc in Biology at McGill.
VP Communications – meghana.munipalle [at] mail.mcgill.ca (Meghana Munipalle)
As VP Communications, Meghana designs and creates promotional materials for MiCM events, manages the group's website and the MiCM mailing list, and assists in creating recruitment materials for new workshop leads and facilitators. They are a PhD student in the Biological and Biomedical Engineering (BBME) program, supervised by Dr. Nicole Li-Jessen. Their research uses computational modeling to investigate and design regenerative biomaterials for spinal disc repair. Meghana previously completed their MSc in Biophysics at the University of Guelph and HBSc in Physics at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
VP Finance & Event Planning – thomas.zheng [at] mail.mcgill.ca (Thomas Zheng)
Thomas is in charge of the administrative tasks required for the daily functions of the organization. They are a PhD student in the Quantitative Life Sciences program and are currently completing a lab rotation program. Before their PhD studies, Thomas did a BSc in Biochemistry with a focus on yeast genetics and an MSc in molecular genetics with a focus on human transcription factors.
VP Academic Strategy - reinnier.padilla [at] mail.mcgill.ca (Reinnier Padilla)
As VP Academic Strategy, Reinnier is involved in planning workshops and assisting the VP Academic Affairs in publishing workshop materials. They are a 4th year PhD candidate in Dr. Jacek Majewski’s lab. Their research uses bioinformatics tools to understand the mechanisms of the epigenetic modification lysine 36 methylation on H3, which is involved in many cancers, in regulating transcription. Prior to their doctoral studies, they completed their MSc in molecular physiology at McMaster University.
VP Academic Affairs - cesar.valdezcordova [at] mail.mcgill.ca (César Miguel Valdez Córdova)
César Miguel is responsible for enabling interdisciplinary research interfaces and enriching MiCM's curriculum through the design of innovative workshops in Computational Medicine, from bioinformatics tool application to advanced data-driven modeling. As a PhD student of the Quantitative Life Sciences Program (QLS) at McGill, their research focuses on the development of machine learning methods that are deeply informed by natural phenomena at multiple scales: from molecules to populations. César Miguel brings a rich educational background to their role, with previous studies in Artificial Intelligence (M.Sc.), Computer Science (M.Sc.) and Nanotech engineering and chemistry (B.Sc.).
Past members
MiCM President (2022-2024) - larisa.moralessoto [at] mail.mcgill.ca (Larisa Morales Soto)
Larisa founded the MiCM student society in 2022. Through her tenure, she led the development and deployment of the society's organizational framework and secured long-term financial support for its operations. During her time at McGill, she was an MSc student in Human Genetics in the Computational and Statistical Genomics Laboratory. Her research focused on building statistical models to study gene regulation changes during tumor progression. Before joining McGill, she obtained her BSc Honours degree in Genomic Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She is now working as a research scientist at Harvard University.
MiCM VP Academic (2022-2023) – maria.femerlingromero [at] mail.mcgill.ca (Georgette Femerling)
As VP Academic, Georgette managed and published the learning materials used for our workshops, and coordinated the recognition of workshops in the co-curricular record through MyInvolvement. She is a MSc. Student in Human Genetics at the Gravel Lab in Population and Statistical genomics. Her research is focused on understanding Linkage Disequilibrium dynamics in complex demographic models. Before starting grad school, she did her BSc in Genomic Sciences and focused her research on population genetics, working with ancient human data and diversity dynamics of endangered species.
MiCM VP Internal Affairs (2022-2024) – kevin.liang2 [at] mail.mcgill.ca (Kevin Liang)
As VP Internal Affairs, Kevin was responsible for the administrative tasks required for the daily functions of the organization. He is a Ph.D. student in the Quantitative Life Sciences program and part of the Richards Lab. His research is focused on the use of genomics techniques such as polygenic risk scores, Mendelian randomization studies, and GWAS, to better assess common cancer risks. Before his Ph.D. studies, he did a BSc in Bioinformatics and an MSc in microbiology with a focus on bacterial genomics.
