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Trainee Members

Meet the Trainee Members of our Cluster

Zara Afshar, Undergraduate Student, University of British Columbia

Hello! My name is Zahra Shahriyari Afshar. I am a UBC Vancouver Undergraduate student specializing in Clinical, Forensic, and Health Psychology with a minor in Biology. I recently have embarked on my journey towards medical school in hopes of becoming an Orthopedic surgeon in the future. I am...
Melina Albanese, PhD Student, University of Toronto

Melina is an Epidemiology Ph.D. student and research assistant at the University of Toronto. Prior to starting her PhD, Melina completed her B.Sc. in Biology (2018) and M.Sc. in Population and Public Health (2021) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Melina has several years' research...
Ravia Arora, Master's student, University of Waterloo

Ravia is a second-year Master of Public Health student at the University of Waterloo. She has professional and research experience in health equity, digital health interventions, mental health, user-experience and design. She is also a Project Coordinator in research and development, on the...
Sophie Arseneault, Undergraduate Student, McGill University

Sophie Arseneault is a long-standing advocate for health equity. Serving as a Board Director for Fòs Feminista's International Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice, she supports youth-led approaches to regressive policies impeding on the health and well-being of...
Foruzan Bahrami, Master's student, Université Laval

Has earned a B.Sc in Midwifery and a master's degree in epidemiology with an endometriosis focus
Myfanwy Bakker, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychology

I am a second year PhD student in clinical psychology at UBC Okanagan, supervised by Dr. Susan Holtzman. Broadly, my research interests include: the role of self-compassion and mindfulness in mental health, emotion regulation, depression, and the impact of trauma and stress on formal and...
Ashley Balsom, PhD Student, University of Regina

Ashley A. Balsom is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University of Regina. She is also currently a SSHRC doctoral fellow. Ms. Balsom is currently working under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Gordon in the Women’s Mental Health Research Unit. She is interested in exploring...
Chinmayi Balusu, Master's student, Columbia University

Chinmayi is a student pursuing neuroepidemiology and medical humanities at Columbia University in New York City. She is a researcher at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Stanford Medicine with interests in cognitive neuroscience, brain injury, and stroke. Chinmayi serves as the...
Kristianni Bance, PhD Student, De La Salle University

Kristianni is a PhD clinical psychology student at De La Salle University, Philippines. She is currently the resident clinical psychologist and researcher at MetroPsychiatry, Inc. in Manila and Cebu. Her research interests are exploring the Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) experience...
Lexia Bao, Undergraduate Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Cellular & Physiological Sciences

Lexia Bao is a fourth year undergraduate student at UBC. She’s currently a member of the Viau Lab researching stress-induced sex differences and will begin her co-op term at the lab in September.

...
Eunice  Bawafaa, PhD Candidate, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Nursing

Eunice is a Founding Member of the Coalition of African, Caribbean, and Black Nurses in British Columbia. As a health care professional (RN) who has worked in a materially under-resourced country in the Global south for several years, Eunice brings a passion for women’s health research....
Jamie Benham, Assistant Professor, University of CalgaryFaculty of Medicine

Dr. Benham is an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences. Her research focuses on the interplay between endocrine disease, physical activity and cardiometabolic health. 

Dr. Benham completed degrees in Human...
Victoria  Bernaud , PhD Student, Arizona State UniversityDepartment of Psychology

She is currently a 5th-year graduate student working towards her PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University under the mentorship of Dr. Heather Bimonte-Nelson. She is interested in the role of ovarian hormone changes across the lifespan in...
Puja Biswas, PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia

Puja Biswas's research interests focus on understanding sex-difference in energy metabolism regulated by insulin-signaling pathway. Using Drosophila (fruit fly), Puja Biswas is doing her PhD study at Rideout Lab to better understand how males and females maintain their stored fat. Puja Biswas...
Naseeb  Bolduc, Master's student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Population and Public Health

Naseeb is an MSc student at the UBC School of Population and Public Health. She previously completed an honours degree in philosophy at UBC, and is interested in questions related to values, justice, and health found at the intersection of public health and philosophy. Her thesis examines...
Jessica  Booth , Undergraduate Student, University of British ColumbiaBehavioural Neuroscience

Jessica Booth is an Undergraduate Science student at the University of British Columbia studying Behavioural Neuroscience. She plans on testing and developing medication and medical procedures oriented to the betterment of women's health. Currently, she is investigating impulsivity in bipolar,...
Alana Brown, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto

Alana Brown is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dr. Gillian Einstein. Alana strives to use her training in statistics, functional and structural neuroimaging, and neuroendocrinology to understand the effects of ovarian hormones on cognition, sleep...
Anna Brugulat-Serrat, Postdoctoral Fellow, Barcelona Beta Brain Research Center

Anna Brugulat-Serrat is a Ph.D in Biomedicine (mention of Cum Laude) and a Clinical Neuropsychologist. In 2019 she was selected as an Atlantic Fellow for Equity Brain of Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) based in the Memory and Aging Center (University of California, San Francisco). Currently...
Maria Pia Campagna, PhD Candidate, Monash University

Pia Campagna is a final year PhD Candidate in the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Neuroimmunology Genomics and Prognostics group at the Central Clinical School, Monash University. Her doctoral work aims to improve personalised disease management and long-term outcomes for people with MS using...
Danica Chang, Medical Student, University of Alberta

Danica Chang is a Medical Student at the University of Alberta, conducting clinical research under the supervision of Dr. Sofia Ahmed and Dr. Sandi Dumanski at the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on contraception, sexual function, and reproductive health in young women with chronic...
Kayonne Christy, Master's student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Sociology

Kayonne is currently a first year sociology masters student at UBC, working under the supervision of Dr. Gerry Veenstra. 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. Her research interests...
Kalysha Closson, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Population and Public Health

Exploring gender, relationship power equity and youth-engagement among young men and women growing up within HIV hyper-endemic settings in South Africa
Ravena Cordeiro de Macedo, Undergraduate Student, University of British Columbia
Livia Cosentino, Postdoctoral Fellow, Istituto Superiore di Sanità

My long-term research goal involves the development of a comprehensive understanding of key brain mechanisms and how their alterations contribute to mental disorders. My academic training and research experience to date have provided me with an excellent background in behavioral neuroscience in...
Hallie Dau, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Population and Public Health
Faculty of Medicine

Hallie Dau, MPH is a PhD student at the at the School of Population and Public Health at UBC. Her research focuses on the impact of cervical cancer on women and families in low- and middle-income countries. She is supervised by Dr. Gina Ogilvie. Hallie previously completed her MPH at the George...
Miguel de la Flor García, PhD Student, Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa

Miguel de la Flor García was graduated in Veterinary Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid. During his degree, he collaborated with the Departments of Genetics and Physiology and did internships at the “National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research” (INIA) and the “Margarita...
Ismália  De Sousa, PhD Candidate, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Nursing

Ismália De Sousa is a doctoral candidate in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia, under the supervision of Dr. Sally Thorne, Dr. Sandra Lauck and Dr. Thalia Field. She is also a Research Assistant in the Vancouver Stroke Program at Vancouver General Hospital / UBC. ...
Holly  Dempster, Medical Student, Memorial University

Holly Anne Dempster, BSc (Hon), MSc, is a medical student at Memorial University of Newfoundland (graduating class of 2021). She completed her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science from University of Ottawa in 2016 and contributed to the publication, “COX2 is Induced in the...
Alysha Deslippe, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Human Nutrition

Alysha is a first year PhD student in Human Nutrition at UBC under the supervision of Dr. Tamara Cohen. Her research focuses on understanding the role biological sex and gender norms have on teens' dietary habits to create more inclusive food literacy program for youth. By creating more...
Deea Dev, Undergraduate Student, University of British Columbia

I am a fourth year Behavioural Neuroscience (BSc) student at UBC. I currently work as a research assistant under the supervision of Dr. Daniela Palombo at the Memory & Imagination Lab. We are exploring the lived experiences of women who have gone through IVF treatments and seeking to...
Aneet Dhaliwal, Instructor, British Columbia Institute of TechnologySchool of Nursing

Aneet graduated with a MSc in Nursing from the University of British Columbia in December of 2021. She is now an instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. ...
Becky Donelon, Advanced Care Paramedic, Government of Alberta

Becky has worked and developed educational governance frameworks and regulatory legislation at provincial and national levels and currently holds a Manager role in licensing and compliance with Alberta Health. Obtaining her first paramedic credentials in 1980 as an EMT-A followed by Advanced...
Marissa Doroshuk, Master's student, University of Calgary

I began my education in this field with my Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation degree (First Class Honors). Since then, I have developed my skills and knowledge by getting certified as an Exercise Physiologist (CSEP-CEP), specializing in applied women's physiology, and yoga...
Madeline Doucette , PhD Student, University of Victoria

I am in the second year of my doctoral degree at the University of Victoria majoring in clinical neuropsychology. I completed my Master's of Science in Clinical Neuropsychology also at the University of Victoria in the summer of 2021. My interests are primarily in the effects of exercise...
Erin Fitzpatrick, Master's student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychology

Originally from Nova Scotia, Erin graduated with an Honours degree in Psychology from Dalhousie University in 2020. She is now an MA student in the Clinical Psychology program at UBC. With a special interest in body image, her research largely focuses on discovering novel methods for improving...
Elan Fortin-Eglitis, Undergraduate Student, Simon Fraser University
Josephine Mary Violet Francis Xavier, PhD Student, York University

Josephine as a researcher, is interested in broad areas like virtual reality in nursing education and practice, women's mental health, perinatal mental health, father's involvement in immigrant childbearing families, healthy behaviours of school-age children, neonatal pain relief, neonatal...
Catie Futhey, Medical Student, University of British ColumbiaMedicine

Catie is a medical student at the University of British Columbia. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience from the University of McGill. ...
Romina Garcia de Leon, Master's student, University of British ColumbiaNeuroscience

Romina is a MSc student in Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia, 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...
Erin Gionet, Master's student, University of Calgary

I am a second-year MSc student in Community Health Sciences (health services research) at the Cumming School of Medicine, UCalgary. My research focuses on mental health outcomes for caregivers of youth with neurodevelopmental and substance use disorders though the lens of social/structural...
Laura Gravelsins , PhD Student, University of Toronto

My primary research investigates the influence of ovarian hormone deprivation on brain health. I study memory, and its relationships to sleep disruption, oxidative stress, and brain structure, in middle-aged women with prophylactic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (surgical removal of both...
Kelly Gregory, PhD Student, University of Toronto

Kelly is a PhD student in the Social and Behavioural Health Sciences program, at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Her research focuses on women’s experiences of the healthcare system, as both providers and receivers of care. As an Ontario Women’s Health Scholar (...
Veronica  Guadagni, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of CalgaryMedicine

I am a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Human Cerebrovascular Physiology in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary, under Dr. Marc Poulin.

Since 2017, I have been working on findings from the Brain in Motion I (BIM) study looking at the effects of a six-month...
Nabilah Gulamhusein, Master's student, University of CalgaryFaculty of Medicine

Nabilah is an MSc student at the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. She recently graduated with a BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on the route of post-menopausal estrogen administration and cardiovascular risk. Nabilah hopes...
Amané Halicki-Asakawa, Graduate Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychology

Amané is a first-year M.A. student in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of British Columbia-Okanagan, supervised by Dr. Maya Libben. Her undergraduate thesis, completed at McGill University, examined the effects of voluntary emotion regulation on the postauricular reflex, a...
Carina Heller, Postdoctoral Fellow, Friedrich Schiller University Jena

Carina was trained in psychology and holds a PhD from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany, in which she focused on white and gray matter brain alterations in patients with the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, a syndrome associated with a 30% risk to develop schizophrenia in adult life. In...
Catriona  Hippman, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British ColumbiaMedicine

Dr. Hippman is a postdoctoral research fellow with the BC Women's Reproductive Mental Health Program, the UBC Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and the University of Calgary Faculty of Nursing. Her fellowship is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Michael Smith...
Heather Hollman, PhD Student, University of Victoria

I am a PhD student in the UVic Behavioural Medicine Lab. My dissertation is on the promotion of tailored physical activity among postpartum individuals with lumbopelvic pain.
Jodie  Hughes , PhD Student, University of Roehampton

Jodie is a first year PhD student at the University of Roehampton. She is currently studying disparities in the care of Endometriosis patients by comparing sample groups, under the supervision of Dr Astrid Hauge-Evans and Dr Patrick Brady. She graduated in 2019 with a Master of Science....
Maya Iturra, PhD Student, Antioch University New England

For the past 20 years I have dedicated my life both in academia and as an activist to deepening my understanding and responsibility to embracing social justice with an intersectionality framework. As a PhD student I hope to continue to address issues of inequity and lack of diversity in the many...
Faith Jabs, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychology

Faith Jabs is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at the University of British Columbia. She is also a research study coordinator in the UBC Sexual Health Laboratory and currently works on a randomized control trial for testing the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based group therapy...
Kiranjot  Jhajj, Master's student, UNBCDepartment of Psychology

I’m Kiranjot from Prince George, BC and I just finished my BSc Honours in Psychology at the University of Northern British Columbia. Currently, I am an MSc student in the Psychology program at UNBC. My research interests include female behavioural neuroendocrinology, specifically looking at the...
Amy Johnston, PhD Candidate, University of Ottawa

Amy Johnston is a PhD candidate in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, and a doctoral trainee at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. She holds a Master of Science with a specialization in Health Services Research and a Master of Biomedical Technology, both...
Ellen Jopling, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychology

Ellen Jopling is a doctoral student in the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Lab at the University of British Columbia. Her program of research examines the impact of stress on wellbeing across the lifespan through the integration of affective, cognitive, and...
Megan Kadzirange, Undergraduate Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychology

My name is Megan Kadzirange and I am an international Undergraduate student from Zimbabwe, studying Psychology at the University of British Columbia. My interests include global and public health, particularly women's health in rural, low-income and/or Indigenous communities. Additionally, I am...
Cindy  Kalenga, PhD Student, University of CalgaryMedicine

Cindy Kalenga is PhD student within the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary with a focus on women’s cardiovascular health. Her research project investigates the role of the route of administration of exogenous estrogen - in the form of contraceptives and hormone therapy - and...
Jalisa Karim, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Jalisa graduated from the University of Waterloo with a BMath in Biostatistics and BA in Sexuality, Marriage, and Family Studies. She is now a PhD student at UBC in Women+ and Children’s Health Sciences, where her research focuses on endometriosis and infertility....
Bibiana Kemerer, Master's student, University of British Columbia

Bibiana is a current masters student in UBC's Reproductive and Developmental Sciences program. She works under the supervision of Dr. Lori Brotto for UBC's Sexual Health Lab.

She is currently studying how mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy can help couples improve their sexual...
Brianna  Kennelly , PhD Student, McMaster University

I am a PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Deborah Sloboda. My research is in the field of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. Specifically, my research investigates how exposure to maternal obesity impacts future immune responses to infection.
Sakshi Kharbanda, Master's student, University of Calgary

I am Sakshi Kharbanda, an incoming graduate student in Medical Sciences. I am passionate about reproductive and sexual health in marginalized communities.
Maya  Koblanski, Undergraduate Student, University of British ColumbiaBehavioural Neuroscience

Maya Koblanski is a passionate and motivated undergraduate in her third year of Behavioural Neuroscience at UBC. She has worked in the Viau Lab for the past year and a half researching sex differences in stress coping responses, recently under an NSERC USRA, and is now starting her directed...
Marta Kolbuszewska, Master's student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychology

Marta is a graduate student in the clinical psychology program at UBC. Her research interests centre around understanding processes contributing to sexual well-being in individuals and couples. She is particularly interested in using longitudinal data analytic techniques to better understand...
Sydney Ku, PhD Student, Temple University

Sydney graduated from Colby College in the spring of 2021 with a B.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Neuroscience. While at Colby, Sydney worked in the Glenn Lab, a behavioral neuroscience rat lab, as a research assistant and later conducted a senior thesis examining psychomotor stimulant...
Jacynthe L'Heureux, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Population and Public Health

Jacynthe L’Heureux is a doctoral student in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia under the supervision of Dr. Wei Zhang focusing on health economics. Her work includes publications on caregiving, labour force participation and the measurement of work...
Jesse Lacasse, Postdoctoral Fellow, Brock University

Jesse is a postdoctoral fellow at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario and and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Ontario. His research focuses on the neurobiological effects of hormonal contraceptives on the female brain.
Madison Lackie, Graduate Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Madison Lackie, a Master’s of Science student in the UBC Reproductive and Developmental Sciences program, working primarily out of the Women’s Health Research Institute at BC Women’s Hospital. Her research interests focus on postpartum depression and the use of technology to support healthcare....
Rebecca Lawn, Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public HealthSchool of Population and Public Health

I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Prior to this, I gained a first-class BSc (hons) in Psychology from Newcastle University and a PhD from the University of Bristol, where I worked between the School of Psychological Science and the...
Bonnie Lee, Events & Communications Assistant / PhD Student, University of British Columbia

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.

Her research is focused on...
Alex Lukey, Graduate Student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Nursing

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...
Christie  MacLeod, PhD Student, McMaster UniversityDepartment of Psychology

Christie MacLeod is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at McMaster University. Her clinical and research work takes place at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton in the Women's Health Concerns Clinic and Mood Disorders Clinic. Her research aims to explore potential neural mechanisms for the...
Rand Mahmoud, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaNeuroscience

My research interests broadly lie in understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of stress resilience and vulnerability, particularly as they relate to neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression. Unfortunately, despite the fact that women are more likely than men to develop depression and...
Kassa Maksudi, PhD Candidate, University of Cape Town

My work focuses on violence against women and children in disadvantaged and marginalized communities, particularly refugee and migrant communities in South Africa. Specifically, I study how violence and other traumatic experiences impact individuals' behavioral outcomes in addition...
Kerry Marshall, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Nursing

Kerry (she/her) is a Registered Nurse with certified practice in reproductive health (contraceptive management and sexually transmitted infections). She completed her Masters of Nursing from the University of Saskatchewan in 2019, exploring fertility intentions and family planning experiences...
Rory Marshall, PhD Student, University of British Columbia

Rory A. Marshall is a paramedic working with British Columbia Emergency Health Services and a PhD Student at the School of Health and Exercise Sciences in the Faculty of Health and Social Development at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. Rory earned his Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology...
Magdalena Martínez-García , Postdoctoral Fellow, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio MarañónNeuroscience

Magdalena is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Neuroimaging Group of the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón of Madrid, Spain. Her research focus is to unveil the structural and functional plasticity of the human parental brain. Through longitudinal neuroimaging studies, she...
Emily McKay, Master's student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Nursing

Emily McKay is a Registered Nurse pursuing a Master of Science in Nursing at the University of British Columbia. Emily currently works at the Women's Health Clinic at BC Women's Hospital. She is also a Graduate Academic Assistant for Dr. Ojukwu, and works on several research studies centered...
Sonia Milani, Master's student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychology

Sonia (she/her/hers) is a MA student in the Clinical Psychology program. She has been conducting research in the field of sexuality using psychophysiology and eye-tracking methods since 2016. Her master’s thesis will explore modifiable factors that promote individuals’ and couples’ sexual well-...
Kaylee Misener, PhD Candidate, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychology

Kaylee Misener is a Ph.D. candidate in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO) supervised by Dr. Maya Libben. She has been conducting research in the areas of eating disorders and body image for 8 years. Her undergraduate honours thesis, completed at...
Maria Fernanda Mujica-Coopman, Postdoctoral Fellow, Instituto de Nutrición y Tecnología de los Alimentos

My interest in human nutrition research started during my undergraduate studies. I completed my MSc in Human Nutrition at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA), University of Chile, in 2015. The main focus of my master thesis was the comparison of iron and zinc...
Elle Murata, PhD Student, University of California, Santa Barbara

Elle's research explores the impact of sex steroid hormones on brain structure and function, leveraging neuroimaging to interrogate how menopause shapes neural circuitry underlying working memory. She is also interested in how reproductive disorders, such as endometriosis and PCOS, influence the...
Shawna Narayan, Master's student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychiatry
Faculty of Medicine

Shawna Narayan is a graduate student researcher with the CREDA Study in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia. Her research explores the experiences ethnic minorities have with anxiety and depressive resources to help support the creation of culturally responsive e-...
Elizabeth Nethery, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Population and Public Health

My name is Elizabeth Nethery and I am a current PhD candidate in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. I am located in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I completed my undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics (Computer Science) in 1998 (UBC), a Masters in...
Elaha Niazi, Undergraduate Student, University of Calgary

Elaha Niazi is an undergraduate student studying Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. Her passion for improving women’s health led her to join the Ahmed-Dumanski lab, where she is currently investigating the effect of in-vitro fertilization on cardiovascular outcomes, as well as...
Candace  Oghide , Master's student, McMaster UniversitySchool of Nursing

Candace Oghide is a 2nd year Masters student in Nursing from McMaster University. She has a clinical background in community women's health, HIV inpatient, and sexual assault/domestic violence. Candace is passionate about health equity and working with marginalized women. Candace's research...
Helen Okoye, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Nursing

I am a Lecturer at Department of Nursing Sciences, University of Nigeria. I am currently in a PhD program at University of British Columbia School of Nursing. My dissertation is focusing on adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
Natasha Orr, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Endometriosis is a gynaecologic condition that affects 10% of women, and 50% of those women have deep dyspareunia (pelvic pain with deep penetration during sexual activity). This pain negatively affects sexual function and relationships. Factors that play a role in deep dyspareunia may be...
Xinru Pang, Master's student, University of British Columbia

Xinru is currently a Master of Food Science student at the University of British Columbia. She also holds an undergraduate degree in life sciences and psychology.
Meejin Park, Master's student, McMaster University

Meejin is currently an MSc student at McMaster University, working on her thesis titled "Elucidating the intersectional effects of race/ethnicity and immigration status on obstetric trauma" under the supervision of Dr. Giulia Muraca. She received her HBSc at the University of Toronto, St George...
Kiran  Parmar, Master's student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Population and Public Health

I am a research assistant working with Dr. Paul Yong’s Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis research team. I completed my undergraduate studies at UBC majoring in Microbiology and Immunology and recently began my MSc journey also at UBC with School of Population and Public Health. 

Sexual,...
Badal (Brandon) Pattar, Master's student, University of CalgaryMedicine

Badal is a first-year MSc student in Medical Science at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine, under the supervision of Dr. Sofia Ahmed. His research focuses focuses on highlighting the importance of incorporation of sex- and gender- based considerations in hypertension and...
Kamala Payyapilly Thiruvenkatanathan, PhD Candidate, Pennsylvania State University

Kamala is a third year Ph.D. candidate in Informatics (Human-Computer Interaction) at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research is situated at the intersection of women’s health and technology with a specific focus on pregnancy after loss. Attending to the rising interest in designing...
Leah Sarah Peer, Founder / Medical Student, Peer Medical Foundation

Leah Sarah Peer is a Medical Student, Global Health Fellow and a Graduate with a Specialization in Biology & a Minor in Human Rights. She is the Founder & Executive Director of the Peer Medical Foundation (PMF), an aspiring youth-led international not-for-profit organization advancing...
Tania Pereira, PhD Student, York University

I am currently researching the effects of oral contraceptives on autonomic function, specifically investigating physiological responses to reflex activations in healthy women (chemoreflex, mechanoreflex and metaboreflex). I am also investigating the effects of the menstrual cycle and sex...
Danielle Perro, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Oxford

Hi! I'm Danielle. I recently completed my PhD at the University of Oxford, where I studied and phenotyped widespread pain in women living with chronic pelvic pain, and conditions such as endometriosis. As a Postdoctoral Researcher, I use epidemiology to study period pain in adolescence and...
Naomi Phagau, Graduate Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Naomi is an MSc student in the Reproductive and Developmental Sciences program based in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She previously completed an Honours BSc in Neuroscience and Psychology at McMaster University and is interested in reproductive health, mental health, and racial...
Tristan Philippe, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Cellular & Physiological Sciences

As a data scientist I value advancements that provide more data to dissect and discover. However, as a biologist I know that it is essential to have a deep understanding of the underlying biology to gain deep insights about the value of this data. With a decade of experience on the bench and...
Dawn  Poh , Medical Student, Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia

I am currently a 4th-year medical student in Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia, but born and bred in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. I have a keen interest in obstetrics and gynaecology and have plans to sub-specialize in gynae-oncology. I will be planning my specialty training...
Laura Pritschet, PhD Student, University of California, Santa Barbara

Laura Pritschet is a graduate student working with Dr. Emily Jacobs in Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She leverages techniques from network neuroscience and neuroendocrinology to explore how sex steroid hormones impact human brain function across...
Neelam  Punjani, PhD Candidate, University of AlbertaSchool of Nursing

Neelam Punjani is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta. She has received her BScN and MScN at Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery from Karachi, Pakistan. Shortly after, she began working actively within the community advocating for young people'...
Bavneet Purewal, British Columbia Institute of TechnologySchool of Nursing

Nursing student, BCIT nursing...
Tanvi Puri, PhD Candidate, University of British ColumbiaNeuroscience

Hi! I’m Tanvi Puri, a Ph.D. candidate in the Galea Lab. I’m interested in figuring out how pregnancy, and the hormonal changes that take place during pregnancy, can affect cognition, stress resilience, and neurogenesis across different ages. My projects also investigate the changes in molecular...
Wansu Qiu, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaNeuroscience

My thesis investigates the effects of maternal postpartum antidepressant exposure, and how this pharmacological treatment affects both the mother and offspring in a rat model of postpartum depression. And whether there are dietary interventions (such as folate/folic acid) can be an effective...
Thish  Rajapakshe, Undergraduate Student, University of British Columbia

Thish is a senior undergraduate student studying Molecular Biochemistry and Philosophy at UBC Okanagan. She is passionate about health equity, policy, and leveraging quality improvement science for the enhancement of women’s health. Her research areas of interest include the study of...
Shilpa  Rao , PhD Candidate, Lerner Research InstituteNeuroscience

Currently pursuing a PhD in Molecular Medicine in Dr. Antoine Louveau's lab, dept of Neurosciences at Lerner Research Institute. Our lab specializes in Parkinson’s Disease in minority populations, specifically in the Latin American population. My thesis investigates the association between...
Jennifer Richard, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British Columbia

My research focuses on the effects of diet and metabolic status on learning and memory and sex differences in these effects. I finished my BSc and MSc in Pharmacology at the University of Gothenburg (Gothenburg, Sweden) and completed my PhD at the Institution for Neuroscience and Physiology and...
Victoria Riehl-Tonn, Master's student, University of CalgaryMedicine

Victoria is a MSc student in Medical Science at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine. Under the supervision of Dr. Sofia Ahmed, her research focuses on the association between sex related differences and dialysis adequacy in both peritoneal dialysis and the home...
Shie Rinat, PhD Student, University of British Columbia

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...
Hani  Rukh E Qamar , Undergraduate Student, McGill University

Hani Rukh E Qamar is the Founder of Canadian Advisory of Women Immigrants (CAWI) and a BSc. Psychology and Neuroscience student at McGill University. She is a research collaborator at University of Regina on the impacts of COVID-19. She is the President of UAEM McGill and she is involved in...
Jinan Saboune, PhD Student, McGill University

Jinan Saboune is a Ph.D. student in the Cardiovascular Health and Autonomic Regulation Laboratory (CHARlab) at McGill University. Her research looks at the neurovascular changes that occur during a very critical phase in a woman's life: peri-menopause. As women age and transition into menopause...
Eshmehar Kaur Sahni, Undergraduate Student, University of Delhi

I am a psychology undergraduate from University of Delhi. I have recently completed a research project on COVID-19 and mental health of doctors. I wish to pursue I/O Psychology.
Julia Santana Parrilla, Research Coordinator, BC Centre for Disease Control

Julia Santana Parrilla (she/her) received her MSc from UBC's School of Population & Public Health in 2020. Her Thesis project “Anxiety and depression during pregnancy: primary antenatal care provider perspectives” provided qualitative descriptions of how anxiety and depression are addressed...
Gayatri Saraf, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychiatry

I am a Clinical Fellow in mood disorders in the Department of Psychiatry at University of British Columbia. My research interests include novel imaging methods to visualise brain inflammation and microstructural changes in bipolar disorder. In addition, I am also interested in newer therapies in...
Sadaf  Sediqi, Undergraduate Student, University of British Columbia

Sadaf is an undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia working as a research assistant at the Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis Lab supervised by Dr. Paul Yong. Her research interests explore the symptoms of endometriosis-associated pain affecting women’s health. Current...
Anahita Seraji, Undergraduate Student, University of British Columbia

I am a third-year Biology major at the University of British Columbia and an aspiring cardiothoracic surgeon. I have a broad range of interests, including health care, gender equity, filmmaking, and music. Currently, I am a certified First Responder, hoping to pursue paramedicine. I also...
Anam Shahil-Feroz, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto

Anam Shahil-Feroz is a PhD Candidate at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto. She has received her BSc Nursing and MSc Health Policy and Management from Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. Shortly after, she began working actively within the...
Paul Sheppard, Postdoctoral Fellow, Western UniversityNeuroscience

My current research interests focus around astrocytes and cognition. These non-neuronal cells, best known for their roles in metabolism, structural support, and glutamate recycling, have been historically understudied. Recently, evidence has suggested they are involved in myriad behaviours and...
Maria Shock, Medical Student, McMaster University

Maria is a medical student at McMaster University. She completed her BSc in Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia in 2021. She was a research assistant in the Soma Lab where she was particularly interested in investigating the roles of estrogens in social behaviour....
Alyssa Smith, PhD Candidate, University of Waterloo

I completed my undergraduate work in Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour at McMaster University. Before that, I worked briefly as an analyst at a bank, and completed a degree in English literature.

Today, I am a part of the Vision and Attention Lab at the University of Waterloo...
Rozina Somani, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto

I have over 25 years of experience in Nursing. Throughout my career, I have advocated tirelessly for nurses’ rights and protections, focusing especially on nurses facing workplace violence. Currently, I am doing PhD in Nursing from the University of Toronto (UofT) with a Collaborative...
Tori Stranges, PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia

Diverse health professional dedicated to enhancing the lives of those in the queer community. My research interests include broadly, intimate partner violence related traumatic brain injury in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. I completed my undergrad and masters in concussion based practice at Brock...
Shayda Swann, Graduate Student, University of British ColumbiaMedicine
Faculty of Medicine

Shayda is a graduate student at the University of British Columbia in the combined Doctor of Medicine/Doctor of Philosophy (MD/PhD) program. She has a keen interest in HIV, women’s health, and endocrinology and will be exploring the impacts of HIV infection and social factors on hormonal...
Amy Tan, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaFaculty of Land and Food Systems

Amy is a PhD student in the Human Nutrition Program at UBC. Her research interests lie in the field of nutrient requirements, optimal nutrition and identifying populations at increased risk of nutrient deficiency. As part of the EpiBrain Project, a transnational collaboration among researchers...
Guadalein Tanunliong, Graduate Student, University of British ColumbiaFaculty of Medicine

Guad is a graduate student in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UBC, and her graduate research is based at the BC Centre for Disease Control. Under the supervision of Dr. Inna Sekirov and Dr. Mel Krajden, she is investigating the antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 infections...
Ali Tracy, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychology

Ali received her B.A. (Hon’s) in Psychology in 2016 from the University of British Columbia Okanagan and is now a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Program at UBC. The overarching goal of her research is to better understand resiliency factors related to Major Depressive Disorder in...
Luzia Troebinger, Postdoctoral Fellow, University College London

Luzia Troebinger completed her PhD at the UCL Functional Imaging Laboratory under the supervision of Gareth Barnes and Sven Bestmann. While she focused quite heavily on electrophysiological data in her early career, she always had a strong interest in psychopharmacology,...
Sandra Tsoenemawu Sikanku, PhD Student, University of British Columbia

Sandra Tsoenemawu Sikanku is a Ghanaian Special educator and an advocate for Persons with Disabilities with her specific interest in the education for the Visually Impaired. Currently, she is a first-year Special Education PhD student in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology...
Keila Turino Miranda
Keila Turino Miranda, Master's student, University of Alberta

Keila Turino Miranda is a first year Masters in Medical Science student at the University of Calgary supervised by Dr. Sofia B Ahmed. Her masters project focuses on establishing the optimal method to measure kidney function in transgender individuals on gender affirming hormone therapy. From her...
Megan Udala, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychology

I am a third year Ph.D. student in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of British Columbia. My research has focused on forensic psychology issues, specifically focusing on discrimination in the justice system. My clinical work has focused on neuropsychology in both inpatient and...
Makenna Vanegas, Undergraduate Student, University of British Columbia
Amy  Vassallo, Research Fellow, George Institute for Global Health

Dr. Amy Vassallo is a Research Fellow in the Global Women’s Health Program at the George Institute for Global Health and committed to using evidence and innovation to improve population health. Her current research focusses on understanding sex and gender based bias and data gaps in health and...
Mai  Wageh , PhD Candidate, McMaster University

Mai Wageh is a second-year Ph.D. candidate in the Molecular Exercise Physiology and Muscle Aging Lab as well as the Protein Metabolism Research Lab, supervised by Dr. Gianni Parise and Dr. Stuart Phillips, respectively. Her M.Sc. work looked at multi-ingredient protein supplementation and...
Kate Wahl, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Faculty of Medicine

Kate Wahl is a researcher interested in new strategies for moving evidence into health policy and practice. As a PhD student in the Reproductive and Developmental Sciences program at the University of British Columbia, she uses qualitative methods to develop and evaluate approaches for sharing...
Bhairavi  Warke , PhD Student, Simon Fraser University

Bhairavi Warke is a PhD Student in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University. Her doctoral work focuses on Designing Interactive Self-care tools for Women experiencing Perimenopause and Menopause aimed towards real-time tracking and ...
Lianna Wat, Postdoctoral Fellow, 

Dr. Lianna Wat’s research interests focus on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying how males and females regulate energy metabolism differently. Lianna completed her PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology in Dr. Elizabeth Rideout’s lab at the University of British Columbia. During her...
Elise Wiley, Master's student, McMaster University

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-...
Jennifer Williams, PhD Candidate, McMaster University

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 ...
Alexandra Williams, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British ColumbiaFaculty of Medicine

I am a clinical cardiovascular physiologist, currently a postdoctoral fellow at UBC’s Faculty of Medicine and the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD). Although spanning a range of different conceptual approaches and methodologies, my research is increasingly focused on the...
Sophia Witterick-Laskin, Undergraduate Student, University of Toronto
Sarah  Wong , Medical Student, University of British ColumbiaMedicine

Sarah is currently a medical student at UBC and continues to advocate for women's health through medical student initiatives including the Women's Health Initiative and the Community Women's Initiative. Sarah completed her BSc in Behavioural Neuroscience at UBC and worked in the Galea lab (2015-...
Maggie Woo Kinshella, PhD Student / Study Coordinator, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Faculty of Medicine

Maggie Woo Kinshella (@MaggieWooK on Twitter) is the Global Health Research Coordinator with PRE-EMPT (PREgnancy Evidence, Monitoring, Partnerships and Treatment), IMCHA (Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa) and BEMEQ (Burden Ethnographic Modeling Evaluation Qaujilisaaqtuq)...
Madeline Wood, Master's student, University of Toronto

Graduate student at University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Research Institute researching sex differences in risk for Alzheimer's disease.
Tessa Woodside, Undergraduate Student, Queen's University

My name is Tessa Woodside, and I am an undergraduate student going into my third year of life sciences at Queens University! I am spending my second summer as a research trainee working with Drs. Sandra Dumanski and Sofia Ahmed in their lab at the University of Calgary, with the Libin...
Melissa Woodward, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychiatry

Melissa is an IMH Marshall postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr. Honer in the Department of Psychiatry at UBC. Her project focuses on the impact of nonfatal overdose on the brain for individuals living in precarious housing in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the use of both...
Sandy  Wu , Medical Student, University of British ColumbiaMedicine

Sandy completed her Bachelor’s degree in Cellular, Anatomical and Physiological Sciences with Honours at the University of British Columbia. She then worked for a couple of years as a research coordinator at BC Children’s Hospital before heading back to UBC to pursue her degree in medicine....
Shunya Yagi, PhD Candidate, University of British ColumbiaNeuroscience

Overall objective of my research project will focus on sex difference and the effect of estrogens on adult neurogenesis and hippocampus-related cognition in rodents. Firstly, I am looking at sex differences in cognitive flexibility and the effect of estrogens on the ability of memory encoding...
Kendra  Zadravec, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaMedicine

Kendra is in her second year of the combined Master of Physical Therapy and PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences program supervised by Dr. Kristin Campbell. Kendra completed her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology at the University of Victoria in 2018, and her Master of Science in Rehabilitation...
Angela Zhang, Undergraduate Student, University of British Columbia

Angela has finished her third year in honours Cellular, Anatomical, and Physiological Sciences at UBC. She is currently a research assistant in the Cembrowski lab at UBC, where she's using highly multiplexed fluorescent in situ hybridization to map the anterior thalamic nuclei at a single-cell,...
Jennifer (Jia Yu) Zhang, Undergraduate Student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Kinesiology

Jennifer is an undergraduate student at UBC currently completing her BKIN. She is currently a research study coordinator at UBC Sexual Health Research for the JUNIPER project, which is examining the differences in neural correlates of sexual response between women with and without sexual...
Rebecca Zivanovic, Resident Physician, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychiatry

Dr Rebecca Zivanovic is a mother, mental health clinician and clinical researcher. She works primarily in the areas of concurrent disorders and reproductive mental health - with particular interest in how reproductive health, sexual health and supported parenting can be improved for those with...