Staff Team

The Cluster's day-to-day operations are supported by our wonderful staff team. They cover everything from coordinating events to facilitating meetings to creating content for our blogpodcast and more.

  • whrc logo

    Our Sex and Gender Based Analysis (SGBA) Grant Facilitator has a Ph.D in Environmental Science and her work focused on climate change research in agroecosystems in US and Canada. She has extensive grant writing experience and has provided project management support to research teams in the fields of healthcare and environmental science both in university and private sector settings. In her previous role as a research administrator, she had facilitated Tri-Agency grant applications for Engineering and Health Sciences researchers.

  • Muna Ibrahim

    Muna Ibrahim

    Office Administration & Finance Assistant

    University of British Columbia

    Muna has worked in women's health and behavioural neuroscience research for 6 years. As a research technician at the Galea lab, she manages the lab's finances, and is actively involved in studies exploring sex differences in the affects of exercise on cognition, as well as the impact of motherhood and diet on neuroplasticity in an Alzheimer's disease model. As an Office Administration & Finance Assistant with the Women's Health Research Cluster, Muna works closely with Katherine Moore to manage Cluster finances and coordinate working groups.

  • bonnie

    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.

  • Katherine

    Katherine Moore

    Director of Operations & Strategic Initiatives

    University of British Columbia

    Katherine's career has focused on advancing the health and wellbeing of all youth in BC. Working towards this goal, she has contributed to various projects in the healthcare, education and public sectors relating to health promotion, community engagement and research.

  • Shayda

    Shayda Swann

    Blog Co-coordinator

    University of British Columbia

    Shayda is a our Blog Co-coordinator for the Women's Health Blog. She is a graduate student and Vanier scholar 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. Her thesis work is exploring the impacts of HIV and social factors on hormonal dysregulation and healthy aging in women.

  • Amy

    Amy Thachil

    Events & Communications Assistant

    University of British Columbia

    Amy is a graduate student at the University of British Columbia, pursuing her masters degree in experimental medicine. Her work focuses on biomarkers of rejection in kidney transplant recipients. Amy has a strong interest in medical research and is keen to explore research topics with relevance to clinical care. She is excited to work with the Women’s Health Research Cluster to highlight topics and issues that pertain to women’s health. 

Past Staff

  • Rebecca

    Rebecca Baron

    Podcast Co-host

    Rebecca Baron is a third-year undergraduate student studying Global Health & Nutrition at the University of British Columbia. Her passion to advance girls' education took her to the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement in Uganda, where she worked to improve reproductive health education with the Simbi Foundation. Rebecca's advocacy work has also led her to give a TEDx talk titled Conquering the Gender Gap in STEM and her passion for scientific research has led her to win the 2015 national science fair.

  • maddi

    Maddi Dellplain

    Podcast Coordinator

    University of British Columbia

    Maddi is a second-year Master of Journalism student at UBC, specializing in public health.Maddi has a background in radio and podcasting and loves working on stories that explore socioeconomic determinants of health, disability, and drug policy. She was previously involved in researching and editing audio as the Women’s Health Interrupted Season 1 Podcast Coordinator, and is excited to join on as co-host of Season 2.Thank you for all your contributions to the WHRC Maddi! 

  • Avani

    Avani Dhunna

    Events & Communications Assistant

    University of British Columbia

    Avani is a fifth-year undergraduate student studying English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. Avani has a background in managing an undergraduate literary journal and is passionate about playing a part in the process of bringing important, diverse stories to light. She worked effortlessly to help the Women's Health Research Cluster highlight research and initiatives that helped bridge the gap in women's health.   

  • alex

    Alex Lukey

    Graduate Student

    School of Nursing

    University of British Columbia

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

  • victoria

    Victoria Mann

    Podcast Coordinator

    Victoria is a first-year Master of Journalism at UBC. Born in Canada but educated in the UK, she’s excited to be back on home soil. Having spent all four of her undergraduate years working for her student radio station at the University of Exeter and creating podcasts, she jumped at the opportunity to help out with the Women’s Health Interrupted podcast. Her main tasks for the podcast include editing and research, allowing her to exercise her skills in knowledge translation and creating educational, but engaging, content.

  • Amanda

    Amanda Namchuk

    SGBA Research Project Assistant

    University of British Columbia

    Amanda is a first year Neuroscience MSc student at The University of British Columbia investigating the sex-specific neurobiological mechanisms underlying stress disorders and depression, which disproportionately impact women. For the WHRC, Amanda conducted an analysis of the integration of SGBA, or sex- and gender-based analysis, into research funding proposals in Canada. Outside of the lab, she enjoys any activity that will get her outside, weightlifting, reading, dancing (especially at concerts!), and listening to podcasts.

  • Negin

    Negin Nia

    Events & Communications Specialist

    University of British Columbia

    Negin was our first ever Events & Communications Specialist who was in charge of leading all our knowledge translation initiatives including overseeing the Women's Health Blog, producing the Women's Health Interrupted podcast, newsletter, social media, conferences, and events. Before she took on this role, she was our Blog Co-coordinator.

  • Tallinn

    Tallinn Splinter

    SGBA Research Project Assistant

    University of British Columbia

    Tallinn Splinter completed her B.Sc. in Biology at UBC, and is a former research assistant for the WHRC. She is assisted with conducting a Sex and Gender Based Analysis (SGBA), into research funding proposals in Canada. Tallinn also supported our podcast Women's Health Interrupted by conducting episode research, creating show notes, updating our podcast website and promoting each episode.

  • Jessica

    Jessica Stewart

    Data & Evaluation Specialist, PhD Candidate

    Department of Psychology

    University of British Columbia

    Jessica is a fourth-year PhD student in Health Psychology at UBC. She is studying likeability as a stable trait across the lifespan and its relationship with social ties and downstream health outcomes. Jessica also has a background working as a content strategist, where she focused on user experience research for non-profit organizations. As a former Data & Evaluation Specialist with the Women’s Health Research Cluster, Jessica generated and implemented metrics for each of WHRC’s initiatives.

  • Tori

    Tori Stranges

    SGBA Research Project Assistant

    University of British Columbia

    Tori is a first year PhD student in the Faculty of Health and Social Development, under the supervision of Dr. Paul van Donkelaar at UBC Okanagan! Joining the SOAR (Supporting Survivors of Abuse and Brain Injury Through Research) Project, Tori’s work focuses on brain injury resulting from intimate partner violence in the queer community. Tori has joined the WHRC to aid in the Sex and Gender Based Analysis project. In her spare time she enjoys exploring British Columbia with her partner and dog!

  • Arrthy

    Arrthy Thayaparan

    Blog Co-coordinator

    Arrthy is a first-year UBC Master of Journalism student, based on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-waututh nations. She is endlessly curious about science and social justice, and hopes to bridge the gap between the public and experts in her work. She also has an immense passion for multimedia journalism and strives to assist marginalized communities share their stories.

First Nations land acknowledegement

We acknowledge that the UBC Point Grey campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.


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