Helen Dimaras is the Director of Global Eye Health Research at The Hospital for Sick Children. She’s also the Notable Awards Regional Winner in the Healthcare category. We chatted with her about her Greek heritage, cultivating diligence, and the irresistible appeal of the cheese aisle.

SDTC: What are your favourite haunts in Toronto?
HD: I love Momofuku, Bar Raval, La Carnita and Jimmy’s Coffee. Coincidentally, I also spend lots of time running on the streets of Toronto to work off pork buns, tapas, tacos and lattes.

What aisle do you spend the most time in at the grocery store?
I can’t resist the cheese aisle.

Which virtue do you try to cultivate within yourself?
Diligence – because I need to actively prevent myself from slipping into my natural lazy tendencies.

The receipts in your wallet would indicate what?
That perhaps I’m a hoarder. There are way too many receipts in my wallet that I don’t need to keep. They’ve been recycled now, in case you’re wondering.

What did you want to be when you were 8 years old?
A teacher. I guess being a professor/scientist now isn’t that far off what 8-year-old me planned!

If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be?
Greece. I was born in Canada and my heritage is Greek; Greece is my second home.

What makes you happy?
Laughing non-stop with friends and family; traveling to new places; kitchen dance parties; crossing things off my to-do list; the ocean.

What makes you cringe?
When my students use ‘text speak’ in their assignments. I’m not LOLing, and neither should they.

What quality do you loathe most in others?
Entitlement.

What, in your opinion, is overrated?
Retail philanthropy. The ‘buy a product, save the world’ mentality prevents us from examining our role in perpetuating global inequity, and doesn’t address the fact that global development challenges are complex and tough to solve.

What is the one thing you wish you could change about yourself? Why?
I wouldn’t change anything major about myself, as I like who I am at my core (even the parts others might not like. I’m stubborn, what can I say?). However, I do believe I’m a work in progress; I like to build skills and meet personal goals, so small changes and improvements are a natural part of my life. For example, I’m currently not fluent in Kiswahili, and I hope to change that by continuing to study the language.

What frustrates you the most?
Injustice.