Thomas van der Sloot, a fourth-year Neuroscience student at UBC, has earned national recognition as the 2025 University Co-op Student of the Year – marking the second consecutive year a UBC student has claimed this prestigious honour from Co-operative Education & Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL) Canada.
Across his co op terms, Thomas has delivered exceptional impact in research and health care roles. As Strategic Research Lead with Alberta’s Satori Health Network, he forged academic partnerships and designed remote patient monitoring initiatives to improve healthcare access in rural communities. Currently, in a dual role as Lab Manager and Researcher at the UBC Cembrowski Lab, he manages $500,000 in annual operations in budget, grants and inventory system coordination, while leading independent Alzheimer's research using advanced techniques.
Thomas’ unique leadership abilities extend beyond the workplace. Recognizing a critical gap in life sciences education, he founded BioInnovate UBC and the non-profit Vancouver Biotechnology Innovation Foundation, which have connected hundreds of students with industry mentors and created sustainable infrastructure for future work-integrated learning opportunities. Thomas also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Brain Blast, UBC's neuroscience newsletter that reaches more than 450 students and faculty each month.
With these outstanding achievements on and off campus, Thomas exemplifies the best of what it means to integrate academic excellence with operational leadership and community service.