You are here

Home | People | Cluster Members | Trainee Members

Trainee Members

Meet the Trainee Members of our Cluster

Jesse  Lacasse, PhD Student, Concordia University
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. She is also a reviewer for the Canadian Journal of Undergraduate Research. Melina previously studied at the University of British Columbia, where she completed her B.Sc. in Biology (2018) and M.Sc. in...
Christine  Anderl , Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology

Christine Anderl received her doctorate degree in Psychology from Goethe University Frankfurt. She joined the UBC Social Health Lab (PI: Dr. Frances Chen) as a postdoctoral fellow in April 2017 to investigate the short and long term effects of sex hormones in shaping social-affective functioning...
Foruzan Bahrami, Graduate Student, Université Laval

Has earned a B.Sc in Midwifery and a master's degree in epidemiology with an endometriosis focus
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...
Lexia Bao, 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.

...
Cindy Barha , Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Physical Therapy

Dr. Cindy Barha, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physical Therapy at UBC, an affiliate member of the Women’s Health Research Institute, and an adjunct professor at SFU. Dr. Barha is a translational neuroscientist with training in behavioural neuroscience, cognitive...
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, 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...
Tamara Bodnar, Research Associate, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Cellular & Physiological Sciences

Dr. Tamara Bodnar is a Research Associate in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences at The University of British Columbia (UBC), supervised by Dr. Joanne Weinberg. Her research examines the impact of prenatal alcohol exposure and other early-life environmental manipulations on...
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...
Danica Chang, Master's student, University of CalgaryMedicine

Danica Chang is a second-year MSc student in Medical Science at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine, under the supervision of Dr. Sofia Ahmed and Dr. Sandi Dumanski. Her research focuses on contraception, sexual function, and reproductive health in young women with chronic...
Marjan Cheraghi, Undergraduate Student, University of British Columbia

Hi! This is Marjan Cheraghi, a 3rd year undergrad student of Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice (I studied Biology for 2 years and transferred to GRSJ this year). I work as a residential/support worker in Elizabeth Fry Society which is a non-profit organization that helps women and...
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, Graduate Student, School 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
Livia Cosentino, Postdoctoral Fellow, 

My long-term research goal involve 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...
Janet Currie, Graduate Student, School of Nursing
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 Student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Nursing

Ismália De Sousa is a Doctoral student 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, Master's student, University of British Columbia
Piper Dickhout, Undergraduate Student, University of British Columbia
Becky Donelon, Advanced Care Paramedic, Government of Alberta
Madeline Doucette , PhD Student, University of Victoria

I am currently completing my Master’s in the Clinical Neuropsychology program at the University of Victoria and will begin my doctoral studies in the Fall of 2021. My interests are primarily in the effects of exercise and sports concussions on executive function, especially with my own personal...
Paula Duarte-Guterman, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British ColumbiaNeuroscience

Dr. Paula Duarte-Guterman is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of British Columbia in the laboratory of Dr. Liisa Galea. She completed her PhD at the University of Ottawa investigating the interactions of thyroid and sex steroid hormones during frog development. She then...
Teal Eich, PhD Student, University of Southern California
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...
Josephine Mary Violet Francis Xavier, PhD Student, York University
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, Master's student, University of Waterloo

My research interests lie in women's experiences of the healthcare system, either as providers or as receivers of care, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. My previous work has investigated lesbians' experiences of reproductive healthcare services when building biologically-related...
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...
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...
Travis Hodges, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British Columbia

Dr. Travis Hodges is a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Behavioural Neuroendocrinology of Dr. Liisa Galea at the University of British Columbia. His research investigates the sex-specific and age-specific biological mechanisms involved in negative cognitive bias, a treatment-resistant...
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....
Holly Hunsberger, Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University

Holly is a postdoctoral scientist with a dual appointment at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI/RFMH). She received her PhD from West Virginia University in Dr. Miranda Reed’s laboratory. There, she studied glutamate’s role in Alzheimer’s disease pathology...
Dannia Islas, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British ColumbiaNeuroscience

My research interests are mainly how sexual hormones could impact our behavior and lead to some pathologies. I studied my PhD in Mexico City and my research was to elucidate the HPA axis activity in response to hormonal absence or an abrupt drop of them, such as progesterone withdrawal (PW). PW...
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...
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...
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.
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...
Stephanie  Koebele, Postdoctoral Fellow, Arizona State University

Stephanie earned her Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience in Psychology. Her research interests include the cognitive and neurobiological effects of reproductive hormones in the context of menopause, memory, and aging in females. This includes the natural fluctuations in reproductive hormones...
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...
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, School 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...
Anna MacKinnon, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Calgary

Dr. Anna MacKinnon is a postdoctoral fellow at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, in the Departments of Psychology and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on social determinants of child health and development, risk and resilience for...
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...
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 , PhD Student, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio MarañónNeuroscience

Magdalena is a Neuroscience Ph.D. student 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...
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...
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, PhD Student, University of British ColumbiaFaculty of Land and Food Systems

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...
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, Graduate Student, School of Population and Public Health

Comparing incidence, risk factors and macrosomia-associated morbidity for midwives v. physician clients in BC and Washington State.
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
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. 

...
Leah Sarah Peer, Founder, 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...
Sydney  Penner, Undergraduate Student, Simon Fraser UniversityDepartment of Psychology

Sydney is a third year psychology major at Simon Fraser University. Her focus thus far has been in critical analysis of research methods and theoretical models in biopsychology. In her degree, she has studied the the fields of psychopharmacology, behavioral endocrinology, and health...
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...
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, Graduate 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

Wansu Qiu, PhD student in the Galea lab. 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...
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 Gothenburg

My primary area of expertise focuses on understanding the interaction of sex hormones with gut-to-brain signals. More specifically my research has focused on investigating the behavioural and neuroendocrine processes that control homeostatic and hedonic food intake, and potentially how...
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...
Laura Schummers, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British ColumbiaFaculty of Medicine

Dr. Laura Schummers, ScD, is a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist. After completing her doctorate of science in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Schummers joined the Contraception and Abortion Research Team in the Department of Family Practice at UBC as a...
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, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto

Anam Shahil-Feroz is a Ph.D. 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, University of British ColumbiaNeuroscience

My research interests focus around behavioural neuroendocrinology, especially when it comes to sex differences and hormones in learning and memory. My graduate work explored how estrogens can rapidly affect short-term memory within a timeframe too brief for the classical genomic actions of...
Maria Shock, Undergraduate Student, University of British ColumbiaFaculty of Science

Maria is an undergraduate pursuing her BSc in Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. She is a research assistant in the Soma Lab and is particularly interested in investigating the roles of estrogens in social behaviour. Maria is currently assisting Cecilia Jalabert with...
Rozina Somani, PhD Student, University of Toronto

Rozina Somani has been a professional nurse for 25 years. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Nursing from the University of Toronto with a Collaborative Specialization in Global Health (CSGH). Her field of study is “Critical approaches to health and health outcomes” and her PhD research focuses...
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, Master's student, University of British ColumbiaFaculty of Land and Food Systems

My research interests lie in the field of nutrient requirements, optimal nutrition and identifying populations at increased risk of nutrient deficiency. My project focuses on vitamin B12 in pregnant women and their newborns. Vitamin B12 is important for the healthy growth and brain development...
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...
Emilie Theberge, Master's student, University of British ColumbiaMedical Genetics
Faculty of Medicine

Emilie is a graduate student in UBC's Medical Genetics program under the co-supervision of Dr. Jessica Dennis and Dr. Wendy Robinson. For her MSc thesis, she is investigating sex differences in depression subtypes and shared associations with coronary artery disease. She is passionate about...
Reena Titoria, Master's student, University of British ColumbiaSchool of Population and Public Health

Research Areas: Clinical, Health Systems and Services, Population and Public Health...
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...
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, Graduate 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...
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-...
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...
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 ...
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.
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, Graduate Student, 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, Master's student, University of British Columbia

Kendra is a first year MSc student supervised by Dr. Kristin Campbell. Kendra completed her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology at the University of Victoria in 2018. Her current research focuses on how to minimize the prevalence of upper limb dysfunction after breast cancer surgery using...
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 completely 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...
Natasha  Zippan , Undergraduate Student / Research Assistant, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Psychology

Natasha is a Psychology major (Critical Studies in Sexuality minor) at UBC, working towards a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in the area of sexology. Her clinical interests are adult and developmental psychopathology, body dysmorphia, chronic illness, depression/suicide, trauma, sexual...