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 blog, podcast and more.

Avani Dhunna, Event Coordinator, 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...

Romina Garcia de Leon, Blog Co-coordinator, University of British Columbia

Romina is a MSc/PhD 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...

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...

Chhavi Mehra, Podcast Coordinator, University of British Columbia

Chhavi Mehra is the podcast coordinator at the Women's Health Research Cluster. She is a ball of excitement who loves to explore different cultures and learn about people from different walks of life. Her curiosity to learn more about the world as an Indian woman and how her intersecting...

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. Katherine expresses her...

Amanda Namchuk, SGBA Research Project Assistant, University of British Columbia

I am 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, I am conducting an analysis of the integration of SGBA, or...

Negin Nia, Events & Communications Specialist, University of British Columbia

Negin is our first ever Events & Communications Specialist who is 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....

Tallinn Splinter, SGBA Research Project Assistant, University of British Columbia

Tallinn Splinter just recently completed her B.Sc. in Biology at UBC, and is currently a research assistant for the WHRC. She is assisting in conducting a Sex and Gender Based Analysis (SGBA), into research funding proposals in Canada. Tallinn also supports our podcast Women’s Health Interrupted...

Jessica Stewart, Data & Evaluation Specialist, University of British Columbia

Jessica is a third-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 well-being. Jessica also has a background working as a content strategist, where she focused on user experience research...

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...

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....

Amy Thachil, Event Coordinator, 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...

Sarah Williscraft, Podcast Coordinator, University of British Columbia

Sarah Williscraft is a second-year master of journalism student at the University of British Columbia. Prior to starting their master’s degree, Sarah worked as a multimedia journalist at the Fort McMurray Today and as a podcast producer for The Pigeon.

Sarah spent the past summer...

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