Q&A with Massa A: Neuroscience, Writing & more 🧠

Hi! My name is Massa Mohamed Ali (she/her) and I’m a fourth year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto Mississauga. I am pursuing a specialist in neuroscience and a minor in biology.

After taking an introduction to psychology course as an elective in my first year, I realized that the basis of all human behaviour lies in the brain and its thought processes. I knew that if I wanted to help others make the best of their skills, actions, decisions, and situations in life, I needed to start with understanding how they think. So I decided to take on the challenge of understanding the most complicated object known to the world – the brain!

I realized that not only does mental health form the basis of everything that we do in life, it also directly affects our internal and external environments. Every time I considered pursuing a career unrelated to neuroscience, I was always driven back to the brain; it connects all the fields. If we think about it, our ability to even have something to label as ‘mental health’ is what makes us special as humans. We are unique in the sense that no other species is consciously aware of its mental health. So if we are the only ones who can take care of this part of ourselves - why not use this to our advantage?

Even when considering the biological mechanisms of the human body and disease, I often found myself focusing on the power of being mentally strong to cope with disease, the power of reappraising thoughts and the effect this has on our body, and the power of learning and memory in our cells, which all affect us a lot more than most people think. Maybe we can actually ‘think’ ourselves out of a disease after all. Even just seeing the ways the COVID-19 outbreak impacted people’s mental health over the past few years, and how their mental health affected their chances of becoming infected, gave me a renewed sense of appreciation and interest in the brain and its underlying processes. 

I often wonder, how do we think through over 70,000 thoughts a day, store memories, form new ones, consolidate fresh information, and respond to constant stimulation from our surrounding environment all at once? I know that if I start my questions, my curiosity will get the best of me and I won’t stop. The brain’s ability to change, adapt, and cope is truly a wonder of this world. And I know we’ll never stop learning from our very own brains. 

If you’re still looking for a hook in your field of study, I encourage you to sit back and listen to your internal dialogue. What are the questions you find yourself asking? When you observe the world around you, what catches your attention the most? What do you find yourself urging to fix, address, or know more about? I was very unsure about my field of study for a while (through highschool and up until third year). But through a whole lot of journaling and exploring in hopes of finding “my area,” I managed to find a pattern in the questions I asked and the things I noticed. Self-reflection really takes you places.

I aspire to be a psychotherapist/researcher in neuroscience who is able to use her knowledge in the field to help others navigate the world around them and become the best version of themselves. I am still exploring different areas to pursue after graduation and am always finding inspiration in others. The neuroscience field is quite diverse. Feel free to message me if you’re in the same boat!

Outside of studying, I love everything to do with visual arts - painting (oil/acrylic), drawing (pencil/charcoal), and brush lettering are my favourite. I also love to journal on a regular basis.

In the summer of 2021, I pursued an internship position where I was a “Book Writer” as part of the Antarctic Institute of Canada. It is a non-profit Canadian charity organization that recruits student writers from across Canada. I worked with 11 other Book Writers to write articles every week. The articles were then put together, edited, and published into books. We wrote 8 books in total, with me writing a chapter in each. The articles had to meet a specific word limit, be well-researched, and follow the required guidelines. For every final article I submitted, I received an honorarium. This happened back when we were still under many COVID-19 restrictions and it was all done remotely. The internship lasted 3 months, but was not limited to the summer only; they had options to write on a month by month basis later on as well.

It was structured in a way that two books were about topics related to medicine and health, two about history, two about human sciences, and two about natural sciences. Our work was later uploaded to ResearchGate, Academia and Google Scholar. 

Fun fact, I also got to design two books myself - from start to finish! Aside from Book Writer positions, they had graphic designer and audiobook narrator positions. While I really wanted to try both, the visual artist in me couldn’t resist and volunteered for their graphic design role. In a little less than two weeks, I taught myself Adobe InDesign, designed two book covers, and finished the inside layout of them (while still writing my assigned chapter as a Book Writer). I gained some insight into the behind the scenes of book-making and I was even happier when I saw my work published on paper. If there’s anything this taught me, it’s to take the initiative when you can, even if it doesn’t seem like the ‘perfect’ opportunity. Don’t be afraid to go out of your comfort zone.

A friend recommended it to me. She found it on Facebook. At the time, we were both enrolled in a professional writing and communications minor. I applied through the link on their Facebook page. I had to provide samples of my writing, my resume, and a few words on why I wanted the role. I was then interviewed on Zoom by the leaders of the project.

It was great to be connected with like-minded writers and collaborate with them to publish an actual book. Although it was all remote, it was an interesting learning experience. We all edited each other’s work and the topics we researched were fun. And the best part is seeing the chapters I wrote come to reality in physical books a few months later. 

Yes, this experience led me to start writing blogs for a start-up neuroscience company in Ottawa. They specialize in concussion-recovery solutions, but my blogs revolve around anything related to brain health. 

Students can follow Sharpen the Quill on FaceBook, visit antarcticinstituteofcanada.ca, or message me on LinkedIn.

I know writing may not be the first thing that you would think about when it comes to Canadian healthcare - it wasn’t for me either. But if it’s something you like and are passionate about, you’d be surprised how much value you could add to the field by showcasing your ideas and skill. I knew I loved to write and took the opportunity when I saw it. Not only did it introduce me to the world of science communication, it also felt amazing to get paid for doing something I enjoy. So don’t be afraid to put yourself in different places and experiment - you never know which opportunity becomes the highlight of your career!