Lola Irelewuyi is a first-year medical student at the University of Toronto. Across her research, leadership, and community work, she is passionate about addressing health disparities and creating meaningful change for underserved communities. Her research experiences have allowed her to explore several areas of health and medicine through an equity-focused lens. In the summer of 2023, she contributed to a longitudinal study on breast cancer risk factors as an Emily Stowe Scholar at the Women’s College Hospital. The following summer, she worked on a demographic data analysis project through the SickKids Summer Research (SSuRe) Program and the CHILD-BRIGHT Summer Studentship Program (SSP). She also had the honour of being selected as 1 of 11 scholars across Canada to be an Amgen Scholar at the University of Toronto, where she worked on a diabetes-related nutrition project and attended the 2025 symposium at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Currently, she is an EDI-DI Health Research Intern with the CHILD-BRIGHT Network, where she supports work focused on making research more inclusive, representative, and responsive to diverse communities. Beyond research, she is passionate about mentorship and creating spaces where young people feel supported in pursuing their goals. In 2024, she founded Pathway Pavers, a community organization that helps Black high school students navigate career planning and post-secondary applications. During her time as a student at McMaster, she also held leadership roles in creativity-focused and community-driven clubs and volunteered with various organizations aligned with this mandate. Across these experiences, her goal is to contribute to work that improves access, amplifies underrepresented voices, and helps build more equitable systems in health, education, and beyond. She is excited to join the MCARES Lab and continue learning from and contributing to a team whose work aligns closely with her goals!