Student combines two passions to steer career in right direction

Maya El-Lakany has a knack for solving problems and a desire to do good in the world.

The combined Health Information Science and Computer Science major at the University of Victoria perfectly suited her skills and career goals. 

When El-Lakany crosses the stage to receive her bachelor’s degree at convocation in November, she will do so as a fully employed analyst with Island Health in Victoria, embarking on a career in a fast-growing field in the health-care system. 

“I haven’t even technically graduated yet and I have a job,” she says. “I’m very glad to be done and doing the work I’ve wanted to be doing for so long.”

El-Lakany’s desire to work in health care is personal: She was born with club foot, a condition caused by shortened muscles and tendons that causes the foot to turn inward and downward, which can make walking difficult. 

Her condition was treated at BC Children’s Hospital, and El-Lakany says she feels lucky to live in a place where she received early intervention and care. 

“I would have had a very different life if it didn’t get treated,” she says.

Although interested in the health sector, traditional careers such as nursing didn’t appeal to her. El-Lakany set her sights on a pharmacy career, which requires a graduate degree. Her father is a programmer so El-Lakany decided to follow in his footsteps and focus on computer science for her undergrad.  

The COVID-19 pandemic reinvigorated El-Lakany's interest in health care, so when a classmate mentioned the health information science degree, she looked into it.

She enrolled in the dual degree program, allowing her to bridge the worlds of information technology and health care, and opening new career opportunities beyond large corporate organizations where many programmers find jobs.

“I knew I didn’t want to work for a big company when I graduated,” she says. “I wanted to do good with my work and I wanted work-life balance.”

El-Lakany says she found a home in the School of Health Information Science, which she describes as a small but tight-knit school, where the professors know your name and give the support needed to excel at your studies.

She completed three co-operative education placements that gave her hands-on experience in the field. Her co-ops included working for eight months on a team at Island Health in the Mental Health and Substance Use Services division, during which she helped develop an inventory of all mental health and substance use services on the island for clinicians. El-Lakany made a dashboard and map for clinicians to use too.

That’s what I want to do—I want to make health care workers’ lives easier." 

—Maya El-Lakany

HINF named El-Lakany a co-winner of the 2022 Co-op Student of the Year award for that work.

In another co-op, she worked with Island Health’s Virtual Care Services department, implementing video visit technology and home health monitoring in health-care settings.

Three weeks before her final co-op, Island Health posted an analyst position. El-Lakany applied and was thrilled when she landed a fulltime job before graduating. She loves working in her new team, which is based at the Royal Jubilee Hospital. 

“My supervisors are almost all women, extremely smart, professional women,” she says. “I really look up to them, and I’m excited to work with them and get feedback.”

While El-Lakany says maybe one day she’d like to be a manager or get into data analysis work, for now she is very pleased with her post-student life. 

"I think I’m headed in the right direction.”