Volunteer Team

Eddy is an environmental toxicology graduate (BSc) interested in understanding the impact of environmental toxicants on women’s and children's health, with environmental justice at the core. She is big on science communication and currently works as a communications, design, and marketing outreach intern with the Children's Environmental Health Network (CEHN). Her work involves using several tools and platforms to communicate the science on the health impact of environmental toxicants in order to create awareness and effect change.

I'm a Master's student in Dr. Liisa Galea's lab at the Institute of Medical Science at University of Toronto. I'm passionate about increasing our scientific knowledge of women's health issues and better understanding the underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms of neurological disorders, like depression, that affect women at much higher rates than men. At the Galea lab, I am studying sex differences in negative cognitive bias, a key, and often treatment-resistant, symptom of Major Depressive Disorder.

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 this and other projects, she cooperates with the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory (PNL), Harvard Medical School, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA.

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 effects of ovarian hormones on cognition. In addition, I am passionate about advocating for mental health and learning about feminist and clinical psychology.

I am a Master’s student in Dr. Liisa Galea's lab, focusing on the intersection of sex and APOE genotype in hippocampal plasticity and cognition during middle age, with a particular interest on the role of the complement system. Both sex and APOEε4 genotype are significant risk factors for Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Notably, females with AD typically exhibit more severe neuropathological changes and cognitive decline compared to males.

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 mechanisms underlying neuro plastic changes and behavior, and will allow us to identify possible future targets for precision medicine. I got my B.A. in Neuroscience from Washington University in St.

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. 

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

Joyce Xi is a Biomedical Engineering student at the University of British Columbia. She is passionate about developing sex-specific treatments in biomedicine and applications of genetic engineering. Currently, Joyce works in Dr. Elizabeth Rideout's lab on several projects to investigate sex-linked differences in metabolism and fat storage using fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) as a model organism.