Three universities, the University of Toronto. Individual graduation ceremony spanning five days. One shared belief in the potential for transformation of artificial intelligence.
Rayan, mouaid and Mogutabaalim Three separate ceremonies each graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer science (linked to each university), and this month they crossed the stage in the convening hall.
All three brothers, who grew up in Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and the UK, were accepted into British medical schools, but were drawn to the transformational potential of AI. Jeffrey Hintona university professor.
Learned in the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Specialist Program, the TRIO has since conducted research into a variety of AI applications, ranging from cancer diagnosis to data governance, launched student groups, co-founded startups, and won the University of Toronto Student Leadership Award and more.
u of t News Recently we talked with our three brothers about their academic interests, plans for the future, and what it would be like to share their undergraduate journeys.
Rayan Alim – St. Michael's College
Bachelor of Science – Computer Science (focusing on human computer interaction), majoring in quantitative biology, minor in statistics, Rottman certificate in business fundamentals
Rayan's study examined the intersection of AI, equity and public goods.
She sees U of T's world-class scholarships as enabling work across a wide range of subjects and an interdisciplinary culture.
“You can go from the machine learning lab in the morning to the community roundtable in the evening,” she says.
“Being close to researchers, policymakers, activists, founders (all within a few blocks) will help you stop thinking about silos and consider the big picture.”
With that big picture, Rayan conducted research on climate mobility and data governance at the Toronto Climate Observatory, and as a fellow at the AI4Good Lab, he created a machine learning tool that uses satellite and census data to project socioeconomic outcomes.
She also applied her interest in ethical AI to health care to examine racial disparities in schizophrenia diagnosis as a researcher at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, using bioinformatics and calculation tools.
At Vector Institute, Rayan led the Capstone project, which aims to quantify Health Dicake bias using machine learning and improve the fairness and accuracy of clinical decision-making systems.
She also founded the Black Stem Network and the Sudan Student Union, serving three terms as the Equity Director of the Black Student Association and four terms as the Board Director of the University of Toronto Student Union.
How was it like joining T with her two brothers?
“We are of course very competitive people, so being in the same class can push us all to make us all better,” she says.
Next: U of T's Master's in Computer Science, focusing on the interaction between ethical AI and human computers.
MOUAID ALIM – New College
Bachelor of Science – Specialist in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Double Major in Computer Science and Human Biology, and Rottman Certificate in Business Foundations
With a dual major in computer science and human biology, Mouaid worked on several AI-related projects at the Ajmera Transplant Center at Toronto General Hospital, part of the University Health Network (UHN).
These include a machine learning dashboard to optimize liver transplant allocation. The AI model predicts changes in clinical status in potential liver transplant patients. We use a large-scale language model (LLM) to assess the risk of post-transplant injury and organ rejection in patients. This work has been published in a scientific journal Intestinesbelongs to British Medical Journal family.
At Vector Institute, Mouaid completed a Capstone project focusing on identifying risk factors for heart failure.
“I don't know what's in the water or the air here, but I feel like U of T is fostering a culture of collaboration and an ecosystem where people support each other on the path to greatness.”
Like his sister, he says that the three of them inspire each other.
“If one of us achieves something, it's like we achieved it by expansion,” he says. “If one of us acquires a unique skill set, the other people feel like they have it too. We are constantly teaching and learning from each other.”
Next: Mouaid was accepted into Temerty Chanculty of Medicine's MD program. He also has offers from the Masters' Program in Health Data Science at Cambridge University.
Mogtabaalim – Trinity College
Bachelor of Science – Double Expert in Computer Science (focused on Artificial Intelligence) and Rotman Certificate in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and Business Fundamentals
Mogtaba explored his combination of passion for AI and healthcare through his research project at UHN.
These include the development of a database that maps gene regulatory networks in cancer at the Clenville Institute. Perform extensive data extractions from computed tomography (CT) scans to support diagnostic and prognostic models at Princess Margaret Cancer Center.
Using insights from lab experience, Mogtaba launched LABGPT. LABGPT is a project that streamlines lab onboarding and operations using LLMS.
He also interned at Amazon Web Services, where he worked on automating data privacy and contributed to LLM development at Amazon's artificial general information lab. Of course, he is also an AI researcher at Vector Institute, focusing on multi-agent reinforcement learning.
Mogtaba, who served as both Vice President and subsequent president of the U of T Computer Science Student Union, describes his brother and brother's experience in attending the U of as “the closest to the superpower.”
He sees a direct link between their international upbringing and their shared interdisciplinary thinking.
“Growing up in diverse experiences of different cultures, beliefs, ways of life — translates into the diversity of our thinking,” he says. “This allowed us to think about how we can translate what we do across borders and use it to break down barriers.”
Next: Mogtaba offers an offer to go back to Amazon and is working with its brothers in a new business that uses AI's voice agents to improve 911 calls and emergency response times.
“We can build a startup that addresses many of these issues and save lives.”
