Trainee Cluster Leads

Alex is a second-year MSN student at UBC Okanagan. She is also currently practicing as a Registered Nurse at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver in cardiology and cardiac surgery.  Alex’s research passions include applying technology to improve patient self-care and improving women’s health equity with population-based data. Alex’s thesis research is focusing on improving heart failure patient self-care through gamified education. She is also a recipient of the CIHR Women’s Health Clinical Mentorship Grant.

Shie is a PhD student in the Brain Behaviour Lab, under the supervision of Dr. Lara Boyd. Shie's passion for stroke research began while working as an occupational therapist in an inpatient neurological rehabilitation unit in Tel-Aviv. Her doctoral work aims to investigate stroke in women, and specifically, the effect of sex hormones and past pregnancies on stroke risk and recovery in women. Although women account for 60% of stroke-related deaths, they are often under-represented in stroke research.

Jennifer Williams is a PhD candidate in the Kinesiology department at McMaster University. She belongs to the Vascular Dynamics Lab, supervised by Dr. Maureen MacDonald, and focuses her research on women's cardiovascular health. Her primary research examines the short- and long-term impact of hormonal contraceptives on vascular function and structure, along with underlying regulatory mechanisms.

Romina is a PhD student in Neuroscience at the University of Toronto, under the supervision of Dr. Liisa Galea in the Laboratory of Behavioural Neuroendocrinology. Broadly, Romina wishes to investigate reproductive periods and the neurobiological underpinnings that increase stress vulnerability and depression in females, and subsequently their offspring. Her research focus is on postpartum depression (PPD) and whether immune modulations improve antidepressant efficacy in a rodent model of PPD and increase stress resilience in offspring.

Bonnie Lee is our Events & Communications assistant, Trainee Cluster Lead, and Trainee Member. She is a Neuroscience PhD Candidate at the University of British Columbia studying with Dr. Liisa Galea in the Laboratory of Behavioural Neuroendocrinology.