How one grad overcame extraordinary health challenges to achieve her dream career
Speech-language pathologist Alyshah Walji combines her passion and her compassion to make a valuable difference in people’s lives.
November 19, 2025 By Gillian Rutherford
Alyshah Walji overcame extraordinary medical challenges while pursuing her master’s in speech-language pathology and is already using her hard-won skills and compassion on the job. (Photo: Christy Dean)
“Come sit down!” the five-year-old called to his mother, looking up from the playhouse, tiny figures clutched in his hands. Her face lit up with joy and she hurried to join him at play.
It was an unbelievable moment — because the child had never before spoken those words.
It was also “magical” and deeply rewarding for Alyshah Walji — then a student speech-language pathologist — who had worked with the family for weeks to help the child communicate verbally.
Walji will cross the convocation stage today to accept her master’s in science in speech-language pathology from the University of Alberta — a personal triumph, because along with the academic rigours of getting a degree, she faced daunting health challenges of her own.
Walji, 31, grew up with low vision. Then, after her first semester at the U of A, she was diagnosed with cancer, leading to months of treatment.
She had to take time off school to focus on getting well. But she never took her eyes off her goal of graduating and launching a career to help others communicate better.
“I became even more determined to pursue this career because receiving rehabilitation services was a crucial part of my recovery,” Walji says. “I just really aspire to be a clinician who can add value to people’s lives.”
Walji is now a month into her first job as a registered speech-language pathologist at an Alberta Health Services clinic for children.
“Nobody would have blamed her at all if she had said, ‘This is too hard, maybe this isn’t for me,’” says Esther Kim, interim dean of the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. “She was undergoing treatment, she was here in Edmonton alone without family. But she was very committed to doing whatever it takes to become an SLP.”
“Alyshah’s persistence and resilience are extraordinary.”
Optimism and determination
They say facing adversity builds empathy, and if that’s true, then Walji was meant to thrive in the rehabilitation medicine field.
Growing up, in spite of her low vision, she was an optimistic and determined child who loved learning. She realizes how access to rehabilitative services at a young age could have positively impacted her life.
“It would have been really helpful to have had access to a social work team and an occupational therapist at my schools to help me receive necessary accommodations,” she remembers. “Instead, I had to repeatedly advocate for myself.”
During her more recent cancer journey, Walji received support from professionals in physical therapy, occupational therapy and psychosocial therapy.
“Having experienced the patient side of the table since I was young has helped me understand the importance of rehabilitation medicine in a patient’s life really well. There is a long journey in a patient’s road to recovery after completing direct treatment,” she says.
(Photo: Supplied)
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“I became determined to pursue this career because receiving rehabilitation services was a crucial part of my recovery. I just really aspire to be a clinician who can add value to people’s lives.
Alyshah Walji
Purpose and belonging
Walji moved to Toronto from Africa to earn her honors bachelor of arts in psycholinguistics and human geography, before moving to Edmonton for grad school in 2021. Her master’s degree took three and a half years to complete rather than the usual two years because of the health challenges she faced.
She has a brother in Calgary and another in Toronto, while her parents are still in Tanzania.
“I grew up in a very loving family and they’ve always been so supportive of me,” she says.
She also had strong support from her new friends within the program and the faculty leadership.
“I built some very dear friendships in my original cohort. They became family, and I think they really helped me get through it even though I was alone,” Walji says.
Alyshah Walji stands on the steps of Corbett Hall, home of the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. Walji says her favourite parts of her graduate program were the friendships she made and her practical placements, where she had opportunities to help adults and children overcome communication challenges. (Photo: Christy Dean)
The faculty, including Kim, associate chairs Andrea Ruelling and Stuart Cleary (now retired) and academic co-ordinator of clinical education Rhonda Kajner, tapped into accessibility and accommodations support available through the U of A’s Academic Success Centre.
Each time Walji had to take a break from her studies, she was determined to get back on track as soon as possible.
“I just really wanted to have a sense of purpose and belonging again,” she says. “I think pursuing my dream career really helped me overcome my health challenges.”
Her favourite parts of her graduate program were the friendships she made and the practical placements, where she got to put her theoretical learning into practice. At the Corbett Hall Speech-Language Clinic and two AHS clinics, she had opportunities to work with both adults and children to assist them in overcoming a wide variety of communication challenges.
The best possible outcomes
Rehabilitation medicine also includes the disciplines of physiotherapy and occupational therapy, but Walji chose speech-language pathology because it is focused on helping people communicate day-to-day needs.
Now that she’s on the job, she has a particular interest in providing culturally inclusive care for families.
“Children learn through play — that’s their job for the first couple of years of their lives,” she explains. Having worked with families of diverse cultural backgrounds, Walji understands that not all cultures think of parents as playmates, so she tries to coach parents to model language to their children during other daily routines such as meal time or bath time.
Kim — who describes speech-language pathologists in general as “problem solvers” — sees a need for diversity of experience in the profession. She believes Walji’s unique educational journey will help her excel.
“What makes Alyshah really stand out is her perseverance,” Kim says. “She can relate in a different way to individuals who are facing challenges. I’m really proud of her ability to get through and what she’ll represent in the profession.”
“As a clinician, I strive to respect and respond to my clients’ and their families’ individual needs in the effort to provide them with the best possible outcomes from therapy,” says Walji.
