Finding a love for research at UofGH

Text that reads: "You learn so much at the hospital."

Paty Lopez’s first research-related breakthrough was discovering she loved research in the first place.

Lopez started at the University of Guelph-Humber in 2014 in the Kinesiology program. A college graduate who had once started university before life took her in another direction, Lopez had always wanted to complete her degree, and because she was coming to UofGH as a transfer student from a high-affinity diploma program, she needed only two years and a summer semester to complete her degree.

Originally, she had thought she would go into the field of physiotherapy. However in her final year at UofGH, Lopez undertook a research project at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre under the guidance of Dr. Leslie Auger, Program Head of Kinesiology at UofGH.

Needless to say, it changed the trajectory of her career.

“I didn’t really expect to be so interested in research,” Lopez said recently. “I was so glad to have that opportunity to discover something I didn’t even know I would like.”

After graduating from UofGH in 2016, Lopez immediately enrolled in a research-based master’s degree program in Exercise Sciences at the University of Toronto.

She also continued working at Princess Margaret following her time at UofGH. Her ongoing research looks at how exercise affects sleep in gynecological cancer survivors. She also helps with the work of other researchers at the Centre, performing physical assessments and prescribing exercise plans for patients. She even provides personal training to select clients for a few hours a week.

Her first UofGH Kinesiology field placement was at Toronto General Hospital’s Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation and Multi-System Program. After so many years now at Princess Margaret, Lopez constantly finds she’s picking up new things in the hospital environment.

“It’s amazing. You learn so much at the hospital,” she said. “You get so many opportunities for training and cross-education. We work with physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists and dieticians. It’s very interesting.”

Looking back, those real-world field placement opportunities still stand out as a huge highlight of Lopez’s education at UofGH. Each Kinesiology student is required to complete 240 placement hours before graduating.

She also says that the small class sizes, and the related opportunity to a personal rapport with knowledgeable and well-respected researchers such as Dr. Auger, was a big part of why her education here was so influential. That’s also why Lopez has volunteered since graduating to assist in UofGH’s Student-Alumni Mentorship Program.

“You really get to know your professors and they get to know you at UofGH,” Lopez said. “I didn’t have a problem going right to their offices to ask questions. They’re always so available to us and they know us by name. That’s really rare and helpful I find.

“I have very good memories of UofGH.”