Meet the Team!
Sara Fraser
Co-President
Sara is a Co-President of BioDesign and her responsibilities include overseeing the creation and development of design projects, leading the executive team, and initiating other club activities such as workshops, community outreach events, and social functions.
Sara is a U4 Bioengineering student interested in drug development and biotechnology. Outside of school, she enjoys nature walks, photography, and drawing.
Emma Wong
Co-President
As Co-President of BioDesign alongside Sara, Emma is responsible for guiding the development of our projects, leading the executive team, and administration to support projects, workshops and other initiatives.
She is currently a U4 Bioengineering student and is interested in biomedical technology. Outside of class, she likes to run, play guitar and have tea on her balcony.
Vanessa Piché
VP Communications
As VP Communications, Vanessa is responsible for organizing workshops, handling the club's social media pages, the monthly newsletter, and maintaining the website.
Vanessa is currently a U4 Bioengineering student involved in BioDesign and POWE (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering), and is interested in clinical research and medical devices. Outside of school, she works as a figure skating coach and enjoys reading and crocheting.
Sammi Lai
VP Outreach
Sammi is this year's VP Outreach, responsible for organizing BioDesign's social and outreach events to high schools and CEGEPs.
She is a U2 Physiology student who loves gaming, making playlists, and meeting new people!
Ocean Burland
Co-VP External
As Co-VP External, Ocean is responsible for planning external events, like BioCase, as well as interacting with groups outside of BioDesign and McGill. She also helps look into sponsorship opportunities for the projects and the entire team!
She is a U1 Bioengineering student and is also a part of the PNU Committee. When she's not studying hard in Schulich Library, she likes to cook or read to decompress.
Adam Farhat
Co-VP External
As Co-VP External alongside Ocean, Adam works in collaboration with design teams, professors, and companies to promote BioDesign research and organize events celebrating bioengineering in Canada.
In school, Adam is a Physical Therapy major, so he gets to work with varsity teams, and volunteer with a professional basketball team, as well as at a gym for people with cancer. Outside of school, he plays intramural, coaches basketball at the high school level and at a club for kids with disabilities, and watches the same TV shows over and over.
Tuna Gedik
VP Finance
As VP Finance, Tuna oversees all things money related at BioDesign, including finding funding, accounting, and managing the budget for 5 projects. He works closely with finance coordinators, the executive team and other organizations within McGill to ensure BioDesign is financially healthy!
He is a U4 Bioengineering student. He previously worked on Biodesign’s Solar-A water filtration backpack project for two years, going to Honduras to test it. He is now working on creating a surgical bioadhesive for the Kelserra project. If not intensely staring at numbers on excel sheets, you can find him playing soccer, tennis, or skiing. He loves reading about history, debating politics and watching theatre.
Gabriel Linaje-Ferrel
VP Internal
As VP Internal, Gabriel manages the recruitment and internal affairs of BioDesign. His responsibilities include planning club events, finding new project ideas, and facilitating communication between executives and project members.
As a U3 bioengineering student, he’d love to contribute to tissue engineering research and drug development. Outside university, he keeps up with soccer news and movie reviews, and spends his summers playing baseball.
Xiaoxiao Tai
VP Design
As VP Design, Xiaoxiao is responsible for the visual identity of BioDesign, designing the project logos and overseeing the creation of club merchandise.
Outside of being a U2 Computer Science and Biology student, she enjoys drawing, photography, true crime podcasts, and wandering around the city.