How a public health crisis in the Philippines led Sam Soriano to U of T

U of T alum Sam Soriano is aiming to become a clinician-scientist to help improve global health.

Born and raised in the Philippines, U of T alum Sam Soriano (BSc Hons 2025) remembers the health crisis in his home country precipitated by a vaccine designed to fight dengue fever.

Despite conflicting reports about the vaccine’s efficacy and safety from medical experts, the pharmaceutical company that developed it, government officials, and the World Health Organization, a national vaccination program was launched in 2016. Ultimately the immunization program was blamed by many for the deaths of several vaccinated children and the program was suspended.

“It made me sad and scared to think that the deaths were caused by miscommunication, the misrepresentation of data, and the politicization of vaccines and healthcare,” says Soriano.

The experience started Soriano on a path that eventually led to the University of Toronto. A member of New College, Soriano graduated this fall with a double major in immunology and health and disease, in pursuit of his dream of becoming a clinician-scientist.

We spoke to Soriano about his path to U of T and what's next.

How does it feel to be finishing your program?

It’s surreal. Coming to U of T took a really big leap of faith. I was all set to go into an accelerated medical program back home. But when I looked into U of T, I felt as if coming here was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up – the scholarships and the opportunity to gain interdisciplinary training in the scientific and social dimensions of medicine. Then when I started, I felt like I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into and was afraid that I wouldn't measure up.

Plus, it was challenging because I had to juggle studying, extracurriculars and work. But with lots of support from my mother and younger brother, and with invaluable guidance from professors Jasty Singh and Leanne de Souza-Kenney, it was definitely a stars-aligning kind of experience and now it feels like it was meant to be.

How did growing up in the Philippines influence your path to U of T?

Historically, the Philippines has had its share of difficulties – civil wars and unrest, social inequality, the vaccine disaster.

With the latter, I saw how many Filipinos – including myself – were traumatized and became vaccine-hesitant, and easily fell for conspiracies and misinformation. Because of that, I've come to see how important it is for medicine and science to be more of a social movement rather than an individualistic effort.

That's why, throughout my undergrad, I've worked with organizations trying to share health information and dispel misinformation in an evidence-based and culturally relevant manner. I was able to mix real world experiences in public health, and studying not just the scientific and molecular biology aspects of health and disease, but also the social aspects.

Along these lines, what other work were you able to do during your undergrad?

During my fourth year, I had the privilege of working with Pueblo Science as part of my Human Biology course called Health and Community led by Professor Franco Taverna. I'm grateful to him because he allowed me to pursue my ideas about what’s missing in healthcare and community.

For example, one project I worked on was to create a vaccine and health literacy curriculum for Indigenous youth. We piloted the program to an elementary school in an Indigenous community in Thunder Bay. We prepared lesson plans and taught them how microbes spread. And seeing how receptive the kids were to what we did was very heartwarming.

In addition to working with the students, the lesson I took from it was how important it is to collaborate, not just with so-called experts, but with community members themselves.

Have you done any work that draws specifically on your Filipino background?

I got to work with Our Kids Health, an initiative to share evidence-based health information that’s led by Dr. Ripudaman Minhas from St. Michael's Hospital and the Department of Pediatrics at U of T.

Our Kids Health provides health information for different cultural communities, one of which is Filipino. So, I've been working with them to create culturally relevant information materials, to translate this for the Filipino community, make the information more accessible for them, and create other educational programs. It’s all about decolonizing and decentralizing how health information is shared with different diaspora communities.

After graduation, what’s next?

Right now, I’m grateful that I get to continue being a research assistant for Dr. Samuel Saibil who’s at Princess Margaret (Cancer Centre) and in U of T’s Department of Immunology. The lab specializes in immuno-metabolism and cell therapeutics, so I've had the opportunity to collaborate with other lab members to test new cancer cell therapies and conduct related clinical/translational research. And I’m still working to translate medical information and help rebuild trust in medical science.

What advice would you give a student starting their undergrad?

Remember that comparison is the thief of joy. As an international student coming from the Philippines to U of T with its reputation, I felt overwhelmed and felt like I was surrounded by so many smart, amazing people doing things I couldn’t even begin to fathom. Plus, I had a long commute and was working, so I didn’t think there’d be any way I’d be able to keep up.

But eventually, after a lot of introspection, persistence and eagerness to learn and grow, I ended up finding and doing what I love. And at the end of my fourth year, I learned I was one of the top-ranked students in both the immunology major, and health and disease major programs. So, the best thing you can do is to be forgiving toward yourself, find yourself throughout this process, explore by doing new things and meeting new people – and know that the only true measure you should be worried about is how much you’re growing.

Originally published by the Faculty of Arts & Science