Trainee Research Presentation Series

Kayonne Christy, Masters student, University of British Columbia

Presentation Title: Investigating racial disparities in maternal health: An intersectional, cross-national examination of Black women's experiences of prenatal care

@KSchristy1

Bio: Kayonne is a second year masters student in the department of Sociology. She completed her undergraduate training at McMaster University, where she received her B.Sc. in the Life Sciences and B.A in the Health Studies (summa cum laude). Her research interests exist in the nexus between race, gender, class and health. Broadly speaking, Kayonne is interested in the structural determinants of health, and the interplay between social and health inequities. She is particularly interested in the use of Black feminist thought to better understand (and address) contemporary racial health inequities.

Kiranjot Jhajj, Masters student, University of Northern British Columbia

Presentation Title: Investigation into the Effects of Ovarian Hormones on Differential Learning Strategy Recruitment

Bio: Kiranjot is a 1st year MSc student in the Psychology program at the University of Northern British Columbia. She completed her undergraduate studies at UNBC this year, earning a BSc Honours in Psychology. Her research interests include the influences of sex and gender in biopsychology. Under the supervision of Dr. Annie Duchesne, Kiranjot will be looking into the effects that ovarian hormones may have on the recruitment of learning strategies.

Rachel Zsido, PhD Candidate, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Germany

Presentation Title: Shifting the male default setting in human clinical models: Investigating cortical excitation-inhibition balance as a biomarker for individual SSRI responsivity in women

@RachelGZsido

Bio: Rachel is a third year PhD candidate in cognitive neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences. She completed her undergraduate training at Harvard University, where she studied the influence of ovarian hormones on psychological and neural correlates of fear conditioning and extinction in women suffering from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Her research now focuses on how ovarian hormones and the serotonergic system interact to influence brain microstructure and neurochemistry across the female lifespan, and the implications that these interactions have for depression susceptibility, resilience, and treatment.

Elise Wiley, Masters student at McMaster University

Presentation Title: Exploring gender-based differences in exercise self-efficacy in individuals with stroke.

@EliseWiley7

Bio: Elise completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Miami in Exercise Physiology. She is currently in the final stages of completing her MSc in Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University under the supervision of Dr. Ada Tang. Elise’s research interests include examining sex-and gender-based differences in physiological and psychosocial markers of cardiovascular health in individuals with stroke.