2022 Cohort
Shanzeh Chaudhry
Shanzeh is an MSc Pharmaceutical Sciences student at the University of Toronto. Before starting her graduate studies, Shanzeh graduated from Queen’s University with an Honors BSc in Chemistry. Her current research focuses on studying the impact of safety announcements on the prescription of topical medications. Within her thesis work, she will explore the impacts of post-marketing surveillance and safety communication to further shape drug policy. She aspires to be a key contributor to drug policy changes by expanding her knowledge in pharmacoepidemiology methods, knowledge translation, and patient-focused research.
Catherine Deng
Catherine is a second-year Doctor of Pharmacy candidate at the University of Waterloo’s School of Pharmacy. Prior to being admitted to the PharmD program, she studied the Honours Science undergraduate program at the University of Waterloo. Currently, she is working at Manulife Financial as a co-op student, as well as being a COVID-19 vaccine immunizer at her regional public health unit. Her key research interests lies in drug policy, pharmacoeconomics of drugs and improving access to medications for vulnerable populations. She hopes that through her research, she can optimize health outcomes in the most effective and efficient manner for patients.
Tara Dumont
Galo Ginocchio
Galo is a graduate student at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health pursuing a Master of Science in Community Health (Addictions and Mental Health). He conducts scientific activities as the research and quality improvement coordinator in the department of emergency medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital, and the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions. Galo is passionate about health equity, and his academic interests include positive psychology interventions, optimizing care for populations who presently & historically experience disadvantage, and creating a healthcare system that works for everyone.
Robin Gunning
Robin graduated from the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto in 2009. Subsequently, she completed a hospital pharmacy residency at Hamilton Health Sciences, and then worked for several years as a hospital pharmacist at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. During this time, she developed a strong interest in medication safety. Currently, she is enrolled in the PharmD for Pharmacists program at U of T. She became interested in pharmacoepidemiology and drug policy research after learning more about these fields of study through her PharmD courses. She was inspired to apply for the ODPRN Student Training Program, which provides an excellent opportunity to expand her knowledge and explore directions for her future career path.
Susan Ha
Susan Ha is a PharmD Candidate at University of Waterloo. Prior to beginning her PharmD journey, she studied Honours Science at University of Waterloo as a Conditional Admission to Pharmacy (CAP) student. Susan is currently a co-op student at Sunnybrook Health Sciences in the Odette Cancer Centre and is assisting with oncology research projects, such as analyzing granulocyte-colony stimulating factors (G-CSF’s) and cannabis use in cancer patients. She is passionate about improving access to optimal therapies and overall quality of life in people living with cancer and other chronic illnesses, and has joined the ODPRN program to explore more about medication use and accessibility.
Janet Jones
Janet Jones is a PhD candidate in Applied Philosophy at the University of Waterloo. She completed her MA and BA in Philosophy at Wilfrid Laurier University. Janet became interested in drug policy through her addictions advocacy work. Her dissertation looks at how we might dismantle, and not merely draw attention to, addiction stigma.
Jessica Kent
Jessica is a PGY3 Emergency Medicine Resident at the University of Toronto. She holds an MD from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, an MClSc. in Pathology from Western University and a BSc. (Hons) in Forensic Science from Laurentian University. She is interested in Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology and Addictions Medicine. Outside of medicine she enjoys spending time with her Dalmatian puppy Silvera.
Benson Law
Shaleesa Ledlie
Shaleesa is a PhD student in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Toronto Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. She previously completed her Master of Public Health within the Division of Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in 2020. Shaleesa’s primary research interests include pharmacoepidemiologic research methods as well as drug safety, utilization, and policy. Her thesis focuses on understanding how various pathways of care such as treatment for opioid use disorder, impact future health outcomes among people hospitalized due to an opioid toxicity.
Sara Ling
Sara Ling is a PhD candidate at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto and is presently employed at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) where she has worked in direct care and leadership roles for the past 12 years. Sara completed a Master of Nursing with a Collaborative in Addictions Studies at the University of Toronto in 2014. Sara’s clinical/research interests include withdrawal management and care of people who use substances, sex and gender based analyses, and how drug policy impacts patient outcomes and experiences of care.
Linda Liu
Linda Liu graduated from the University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy in 2012 and has worked as a hospital pharmacist since. In her previous role as a pediatric oncology pharmacist in China, she has witnessed the challenges in healthcare received by children with cancer due to disparities in regional healthcare policies and patients’ socioeconomic status. Her research interests are the evaluation of oncology drugs and reimbursement policies. Currently, she is working on her PharmD degree at the University of Toronto and is excited to learn from everyone in the ODPRN program.
Liam Michaud
Rafael Neves Miranda
Rafael Miranda is a third-year PhD candidate at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation of the University of Toronto, in the Health Services Research program with emphasis in Health Technology Assessment. Before starting his PhD, he worked in the Brazilian public health system as a family dentist and oral health manager. His main research interests are in the fields of health economics and resource allocation, and particularly the use of decision models to inform policy decisions for public funding and the development of prioritization policies.
Olivia Nwaokocha
Olivia is a Doctor of Pharmacy candidate at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy. She completed an Honours Bachelors of Science degree in biochemistry at the University of Guelph. Her recent work at Health Canada as a Junior corporate regulatory officer, helped pharmacies to improve drug safety by reporting and documenting suspicious transactions for narcotics and controlled substances. Her interest in drug policy research is a testament to her passion for increasing health accessibility and equity in various populations across Ontario.
Katherine Saunders
Katie is a 2nd year Doctor of Pharmacy student at the University of Toronto. She is passionate about optimizing patient outcomes, demonstrated through her work experience at MedEssist, a digital health-care startup based in Toronto. Training pharmacists from all over Canada, Katie brings her knowledge of independent pharmacy practice management, pharmacy workflow best practices and pharmacy product testing to the ODPRN team and is excited to learn from others as well.
Alyssa Yang
Alyssa is in the first year of her MSc studies at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto (UofT). She holds an Honor’s Bachelor of Science with a Specialist in Neuroscience, Major in Cell and Systems Biology, and Minor in Physiology at UofT. Previously, Alyssa conducted research within the field of Neurodegenerative Diseases. Currently, her interests include drug policy and effectiveness. Alyssa’s loves spending time dining out at new restaurants and cafes, taking photos with a film camera, and going rock climbing!
Samantha Yau
Samantha is pursuing her Masters of Science in Community Health in Health Practitioner Teacher Education (HPTE) at the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Toronto, completed a Hospital Pharmacy Practice Residency at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and her Doctor in Pharmacy degree from the University of Florida. Samantha has completed the Board of Pharmacy Specialties’ Board Certification in Geriatrics Pharmacy, Education Scholars Program (ESP) from the University of Toronto, as well as, the Lean for Healthcare Certification from the University of Michigan.
2021 Cohort
Anna Rzepka
Anna is an MSc student in pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Toronto. She recently graduated from Western University with an Honours BSc in neuroscience. Anna’s primary research area is pharmacoepidemiology. For her thesis, she is using self-controlled study designs to investigate the association between fluoroquinolone antibiotic use and acute kidney injury.
Anna Wong
Anna is a 1L at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and a Massey College Junior Fellow. She holds an Honours B.Sc. in Molecular Genetics and International Relations from the University of Toronto, and currently works as a researcher at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Governance, Accountability, and Transparency in the Pharmaceutical Sector.
Bassem Toeama
Bassem Toeama graduated in medicine and has worked in clinical medicine as an oncologist, in academia, and in the pharmaceutical industry over the past 20 years. His experience has been primarily in oncology, pharmacovigilance, clinical research, and lab research. He holds an MSc degree in Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Oxford, UK and an MSc degree in Experimental Medicine at McGill University, Canada. He is a Ph.D. candidate in health technology assessment at the University of Toronto, Canada. Bassem is a pharmacovigilance consultant, a clinical research instructor, a health economist, and an entrepreneur. He founded MD Pharma Consulting Group, a Canadian Contract Research Organization. Bassem’s areas of research are health technology assessment, decision analysis, and benefit-risk assessment.
Candace Rapchak
Candace is currently in her 3rd year of the University of Waterloo PharmD program. Before starting her pharmacy education, Candance studied biological sciences at the University of Windsor and worked briefly as a research assistant studying muscle protein kinetics. When she is not doing schoolwork, she enjoys walking her dog with her husband and spending time with friends and family. Candace is excited to be a part of the ODPRN program and to work with such a talented group of students!
Daniel Harris
Daniel is a third-year PhD candidate in the Division of Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. After completing a Master of Public Health at Brown University, Daniel came to Toronto to pursue doctoral research related to patterns of medication use among older adults living in long-term care. Supported by an Alzheimer Society of Canada Doctoral Fellowship, Daniel’s research will examine how antipsychotic and other sedating medications are prescribed for older adults with dementia, and whether different prescribing patterns (e.g., drug switching) have implications for health outcomes, such as falls.
Fatemeh Ahmadi
Fatemeh Ahmadi is a first-year Master’s student in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University. She is a Pharm.D, BCPS who graduated from the Clinical Pharmacy Residency Program at Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2017. While doing her residency thesis and later while working as a lecturer in a medical university, she worked on rational medication use. Because of her background, pharmacoepidemiology and clinical epidemiology are her general research interests. In particular, she loves working on the pharmacotherapeutic challenges of kidney diseases, diabetes, and thrombotic disorders.
James Keech
Kaitlyn Brethour
Kaitlyn is a first year MPH Epidemiology student at the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She recently graduated with an Honours B.Sc. in Biopharmaceutical Science and Genomics from uOttawa, where she completed her thesis in pharmacoepidemiology. Kaitlyn has previously worked at a pharmaceutical market access consultancy and is currently an employee of the Public Health Agency of Canada. Her key interests include the pharmaceutical industry, infectious disease and machine learning.
Marlene Haines
Marlene Haines is a PhD Candidate in the School of Nursing at the University of Ottawa. Her program of research focuses on the overdose crisis, drug policy, and safer supply programs. She is also a Nurse Coordinator with Ottawa Inner City Health, where she works with individuals experiencing homelessness and people who use substances.
Mary Elias
Mayur Tailor
Mayur is a second-year Doctor of Pharmacy candidate at the University of Waterloo’s School of Pharmacy. He completed an Honours Biomedical Science undergraduate degree at the University of Ottawa, where he completed a thesis involving circulating anti-angiogenic factors in women with type 1 diabetes in pregnancy at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. His research interests are clinical pharmacy, drug-policy, and optimizing health outcomes.
Michael Cristian Garcia
Michael Cristian is an international student from the Philippines currently doing an MSc degree in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University. His thesis is a mixed-methods study to produce reporting guidelines for studies on the prevalence of drug-resistant HIV. Cristian has a BSc in Health Studies from the University of Waterloo and developed a keen interest in both health policy and clinical epidemiology – particularly clinical pharmacology – during his time as a research assistant at various institutions such as St. Michael’s Hospital, The Hospital for Sick Children, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, and the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project. Currently, Cristian is leading both a systematic review and retrospective chart review on the relationship between QT-prolonging medications and adverse cardiac events, as well as a systematic review on interventions designed to improve medication adherence to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis in people at risk of HIV. During his free time, Cristian likes to play his Nintendo Switch, do at-home workouts on YouTube, and contemplate getting a dog.
Natalia Konstantelos
Natalia is a currently an MSc student supported by a CIHR CGS-M award and aims to transfer to the PhD program this year. She holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto in biomedical toxicology and has previously worked in research at the Hospital for Sick Children and St. Michael’s Hospital. Her research interests lie in real-world evidence, pharmacoepidemiology and osteoporosis research.
Pavanjit Bagri
Pavanjit graduated from the University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy in 2009 and has been practicing as a clinical pharmacist since then in both retail and hospital settings. Currently, she is enrolled in UofT’s PharmD for Pharmacists program, which is a doctorate level program designed for working professionals while also working for Halton Healthcare. In the fall of 2020, Pavanjit completed an Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiential with Telus Health’s Pharmacy Consulting Team. This was her first real exposure to drug benefits management and drug policy. She thoroughly enjoyed that experience, particularly learning about national drug policies and decided to apply to the ODPRN program. Pavanjit is looking forward to learning from her peers.
Ronald Zahoruk
Ronald Zahoruk is a pharmaceutical professional with 10+ years of commercial experience in industry across various functional areas throughout the drug development life cycle and is currently working on his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Toronto under Dr. Paul Grootendorst of the Leslie Dan School of Pharmacy. His research examines drug shortages from an industrial economics perspective and how the Canadian drug supply chain is compromised because of global crises, such as COVID-19. He also holds a Bachelor of Science from McMaster University and a Master of Science from the University of Waterloo. At present, Ronald is employed by Vasomune Therapeutics, Inc., a private biopharmaceutical firm based in downtown Toronto with clinical trials underway for its lead candidate drug targeting COVID-19.
Tara Farquharson
Tara is a practicing pharmacist at the outpatient pharmacy at the Hospital for Sick Children. She is currently working on attaining her PharmD. She graduated from the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto in 2013 and went on to complete a hospital residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in 2014. Her current practice focuses on complicated pediatric patients with advanced needs. In serving this population, the challenges and disparities faced by such families has become clear and triggered an interest in the creation of the policies governing their care.
Tiffany Ho
Tiffany is currently an MSc student in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Toronto and had obtained a Bachelor of Medical Sciences degree from the University of Western Ontario. Her research focuses on studying and enhancing nanoparticles for cancer therapy. She has a strong interest in expanding her understanding on how her research fits into the broader context driving drug policy, and how collaboration between researchers and policy makers can enhance the approval of research results and their clinical impact.
Tolulope Ojo
Tolu Ojo is a second-year Ph.D. student at the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She completed her MSc in Control of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and has worked on several public health programs related to access to medicines for infectious diseases. Her research interests include policy to improve access to medicines for vulnerable populations, health equity, and maternal, newborn and childhood health.
Vanessa Koo
Yousef Labib
2020 Cohort
Shreedhar Acharya
Oluwakemi Aderibigbe
Valentina Antonipillai
Laura Bennett
This September, Laura began graduate school at the University of Toronto Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, where she is studying synaptic plasticity in the spinal cord associated with persistent pain. When she started reading about treatment options for persistent pain she realized how often opioids are prescribed. She wanted to learn more about drug policy surrounding opioid distribution. Laura is enthusiastic about science communication and an avid hockey player in her spare time. She is looking forward to meeting her fellow ODPRN classmates and impacting future drug policy in Ontario!”
Sarah Cullingham
Kaley (Kaleen) Hayes
Kaley is a pharmacist and PhD Candidate in Epidemiology at the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health, specializing in pharmacoepidemiology and comparative effectiveness research. Kaley is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 2017. Her thesis focuses on the relative benefits and harms of different long-term osteoporosis pharmacotherapy strategies, and her other interests include clinical guideline and formulary development and pharmacy services research.
Aliya Jaffer
Aliya is currently a pharmacist working in a community pharmacy in Scarborough. She completed her undergraduate BSc in Life Sciences at McMaster and then completed her Master of Pharmacy degree in Nottingham in the UK. Aliya developed a special interest in health technology assessment and pharmacoeconomics while she studied in the UK and is now completing her MSc in Health Research Methodology with a specialization in Health Technology Assessment at McMaster University. Aliya aims to pursue a career where she can combine her pharmaceutical knowledge with her research expertise to evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of new drugs and clinical services.
Kadesha (Kay) James
Kay earned her honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto, double majoring in Physiology and Psychology. During her final year, she was a research assistant in a Department of Psychology lab and designed a study exploring cognitive differences and similarities between students with ADHD and students taking stimulants for the purpose of academic performance. Kay is currently a Master of Science student in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. Her current research project is focused on understanding the self-management experiences of adults taking chronic medications.
Asvini Keethakumar
Asvini Keethakumar is a Master of Science candidate in the Faculty of Health at York University. Her thesis examines the association between early menarche and premature birth, using a pregnancy-based prospective cohort study housed at Mount Sinai Hospital. Overall, her research aims to investigate a wide range of national and international population health trends. Asvini’s work has spanned various disciplines, with interests in patient-centered care, healthcare optimization, medical decision-making, maternal-child health, and substance use. She is also keen on bridging the gap between research and policy, through evidence synthesis, knowledge translation, and stakeholder engagement.
Lauren Killin
Kristen Morin
Laura Murphy
Laura Murphy, PharmD, ACPR, BScPhm is a pharmacist in the Comprehensive Integrated Pain Program at Toronto Rehab, and a Pharmacy Clinical Leader at University Health Network. She is completing a part-time MSc this year through the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, with supervisor Dr. Beth Sproule. Her research is focused on examining the use of extended-release opioids at shortened intervals, with a related project on changes in dispensing of extended-release opioids over time.
Abdelhady Osman
Abdelhady is an MSc candidate in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University, where he also graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Sciences degree in Physiology and Pharmacology. His thesis will study the impact of psychotropic and cardiovascular medications on gait and mobility in older adults. His research interests include pharmacoepidemiology and administrative data.
Indhu Rammohan
Nigar Sekercioglu
Inthuja Selvaratnam
Inthuja is a MSc student in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph. She completed her Honours Bachelor of Science at the University of Toronto and has worked on various research projects in health care and population health. Inthuja’s dissertation work examines reporting characteristics of disease maps as used in public health and epidemiological research. Her diverse areas of research interests include spatial epidemiology, infectious disease epidemiology, patient-oriented research, program evaluation, and pharmacoepidemiology.
Ahmad Shakeri
Ahmad is a second year Master of Science student at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. He completed his Bachelor of Science degree at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Toronto. His thesis examines the impact of policy changes on the delivery of medication review services among adults with diabetes in Ontario.
Nima Tourchian
Nima is a first-year master’s student in the Pharmaceutical Sciences program at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. He did his undergraduate degree in Psychology (BSc Hons) at York University, where he became interested in the study of polypharmacy. Broadly, he is interested in investigating the predictors of successful treatment using pharmaceutical drugs. In his free time, he loves to go backpacking, travel, and play chess.
Older
Laila Abu Esba
Laila is a clinical pharmacist at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a MSc degree in Infectious Diseases and a candidate of the doctor of pharmacy program at the University of Toronto. She holds a joint teaching position with the faculty of Pharmacy at King Saud University. She is interested in formulary management in large health care systems. Besides being an active member of the pharmacy and therapeutics committee, she is also leading the pharmacovigilance program at her institution and is interested in research related to implementing policies that minimize harm related to drugs, pharmacoeconomics, and methods that improve the drug selection decision-making process. She is currently involved in a national working group to address oncology pharmacoeconomics on a national level.
Mandana Amini
Mandana is a master’s candidate in epidemiology and public health at the University of Ottawa. She also previously completed her Ph.D in Neuroscience at the University of Ottawa. Mandana is currently working with the Workplace Mental Health team at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Center, where she is focusing on work-related stress and workplace mental health among Canadian immigrants. She also works as a data production officer for Statistics Canada, Health Statistics Division, Social, Health and Labour Statistics Field.
Anees Bahji
Anees is an MSc student in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Anees obtained his Honours BSc from the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University, his MD from the University of British Columbia, and is currently completing his Psychiatry Residency at Queen’s University. Anees’s current project focuses on identifying significant predictors of opioid overdose in Canada through a population-based retrospective cohort study. These factors might potentially be of value in providing targeted harm-reduction interventions to those who are most at risk of dying from an opioid overdose. A secondary project focuses on measuring the comparative effectiveness and safety of nabilone for the treatment of dementia (relative to antipsychotics) using ICES data.
Kristina Ellis
Kristina is currently completing a Master of Science in Pharmacy at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy under the supervision of Dr. William Wong. Her primary area of research is pharmacoeconomics. For her thesis she plans to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of CAR T-cell therapies for treating lymphoma, and will interview scientists, health professionals, and policy-makers to better understand potential barriers to implementing CAR T in the Canadian healthcare system. She completed her undergraduate degree in 2017 at the University of Waterloo in Health Studies in the co-op program. She also worked for CADTH in the summers of 2017 and 2018, and assisted with many projects for the the pan Canadian Oncology Drug Review.
Sadaf Faisal
Sadaf Faisal is a licensed pharmacist in Ontario with over 10 years of experience. She is a Board-Certified Geriatric Pharmacist. Currently she is completing a Master of Science in Pharmacy at the University of Waterloo, School of Pharmacy. During this time her research is focus on medication use problems in seniors, with particular emphasis on medication management and adherence issues due to cognitive and physical frailty. Her thesis project during her master’s program is to study the integration and functionality of smart multi-dose packaging in older adults to address medication management. This research will help to determine whether their integration can positively impact caregivers and health care providers.
Kelly Farrah
Kelly is an MSc student in epidemiology at the University of Ottawa. Her thesis project involves examining the attributable mortality and health system costs of sepsis using Ontario-wide data housed at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). Kelly is a Research Information Specialist with CADTH and has also worked for the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization Secretariat. Her research interests include methodology for health technology assessment and its application to drug policy decision-making.
Yichang Huang
Yichang is a Master of Science candidate at the School of Pharmacy of the University of Waterloo, having started his degree in September 2018. In April 2018, he completed his Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Life Sciences at Queen’s University, specializing in Drug Development and Human Toxicology. With his research field being broadly described as pharmacoepidemiology, his planned research is to investigate drug-associated malignant arrhythmia using Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) databases.
Kang-Wei Liu
Kang-Wei is completing his Master of Public Health degree at Queen’s University. He completed a research practicum at Cystic Fibrosis Canada, evaluating the impact of research supported by Cystic Fibrosis Canada on knowledge production, commercialization, clinical practice, policies, and health and economic systems. Kang-Wei is also currently the Pharmacy Manager, Operations and Systems, at Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC). He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and Post-baccalaureate Doctor of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto and completed his clinical training at St. Michael’s Hospital. He practiced as an Internal Medicine Clinical Pharmacist at KHSC for several years before becoming the manager. His research interests relate to vaccinations, antimicrobial stewardship, and other public health strategies to address health equity gaps across populations.
Benard Miregwa
Benard is pursuing his doctoral program in Health Policy at McMaster University. His current research interests include health system strengthening and health policy analyses that focus on improving public health outcomes. Benard completed his basic medical degree from Dr. MGR Medical University in India, and thereafter an MSc. Public Health from the University of South Wales in the United Kingdom and later an International Course in Health Development/Master of Public Health with a specialization in Tropical Medicine and HIV/AIDS at the Free University and KIT from the Netherlands. He has also completed graduate certificate courses in pharmaceutical policy analysis, pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety, and pharmacoeconomics at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Frederick Morfaw
Frederick Morfaw is a PhD Student in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University. He holds an MD degree and a fellowship in Obstetrics and Gynecologist from the University of Yaounde Cameroon, and Masters in Public Health Research from the University of Edinburgh UK. He is a 2015 Young African Leadership Initiative Mandela Washington Fellowship alumni. His ambitions are to reduce to zero maternal mortality in Africa, and to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV by actively involving the male partners. His research interests lie in effectiveness of drugs, especially misoprostols, in the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage.
Behdad Navabi
Behdad Navabi is a second year Pediatric Endocrinology fellow at CHEO, Ottawa. His main area of research currently is bone and cardiometabolic changes of transgender youth treated with puberty blockers and cross sex hormones as well as adolescent obesity. Behdad completed his Pediatric Residency at the University of Toronto and Ottawa. He also completed medical school and another Pediatric residency in Iran before coming to Canada in 2012. He has mainly been involved in clinical research using retrospective reviews.
Yasir Rehman
Yasir Rehman is completing a Ph.D. in Health Research Methodology Program (HRM) at McMaster University with a research area focus on chronic pain including persistent post-surgical pain and patient-important outcomes such as return to work (RTW), functional disability and opioid prescribing practices. Yasir’s research mainly focuses on systematic reviews of prognostic studies and qualitative studies, specifically on predictors of persistent opioid use after surgery and network meta-analysis of various interventions in PTSD patients.
Stefanie Rezansoff
Stefanie Rezansoff is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, BC). Her program of research aims to improve the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy for people diagnosed with co-occurring severe mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia) and substance dependence. Stefanie’s research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and L’Oréal Canada, with the support of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.
Ali Shajarizadeh
Ali Shajarizadeh is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Global health at the Department of Health Sciences, Wilfrid Laurier University. Ali has obtained his PhD in Economics from Department of Economics, University of Calgary. His research focused on different areas of Health Economics, specifically the economics of pharmaceutical industry, cost-effectiveness analysis, Economic evaluation, and Global health. Ali has strong modelling skills in both econometrics and economic theory and has published papers in Health Economics journals such as Health Economics and Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Ayesha Siddiqua
Ayesha Siddiqua is a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster University. For her thesis, she is examining social determinants of prevalence, development, and health service use of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder using a population level study. Ayesha has graduate level training in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method research methodologies, and has been involved in numerous projects in each of these research paradigms. Ayesha has significant interest in drug and technology policy research. She has completed several systematic reviews examining efficacy and safety of various drugs and food fortification agents to inform clinical practice guidelines as well as public health programs. Additionally, she has completed economic evaluations for health technologies and looks forward to enhancing her knowledge and skills for conducting such evaluations for drugs in the future.
Narthaanan Srimurugathasan
Narthaanan Srimurugathasan is an entry-to-practice Doctor of Pharmacy student at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. Narthaanan’s experiences span community pharmacy, government, academic teaching and community hospital practices. He is currently conducting a descriptive study of medication reviews conducted by primary care team pharmacists as part of an elective research course. His research interests include safe medication practices and cost effectiveness of medications in critical care settings.
Abhimanyu Sud
Abhimanyu Sud is a family physician with a focused practice in chronic pain medicine and is an MSc student in health services research at the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. His research interests relate to chronic pain, mental illness and opioid use, health policies to address the opioid crisis and evaluating meditation as a public health intervention. He is particularly interested in the interaction of psychological and behavioural therapies with opioid use. His work is supported by an Investigator Award from the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine and a Research Fellowship from the Medical Psychiatry Association.
Fan Xia
Fan is a PhD student in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Toronto. Fan obtained her Honours BSc and MSc from the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto. Fan’s current project focuses on identifying novel mitochondrial DNA maintenance factors through a CRISPR screen. These factors might potentially be therapeutic targets of mitochondria-related diseases such as diabetes and cancer.
Samantha Young
Sam is currently completing a General Internal Medicine Fellowship at the University of British Columbia and an Addiction Medicine Fellowship through the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use. She is also a Research in Addiction Medicine Scholar through Boston University, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). She will soon begin a Masters of Science in Clinical Epidemiology & Healthcare Research through the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto and will be completing the UBC Clinician Investigator Program. She completed her Doctor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and residency training at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests relate to harm reduction strategies and opioid agonist therapy for opioid use disorder.
Harsukh Benipal
Harsukh is a 1st year MSc student in the Health Research Methodology Program at McMaster University. She has a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) from McMaster University with an Interdisciplinary Minor in Community Engagement. She is completing a thesis-based Masters under the supervision of Dr. Anne Holbrook. Her research interests include evidence-based therapeutics and observational study designs, and her current work focuses on identifying predictors of oral anticoagulant-related safety outcomes among elderly patients during the high-risk post discharge period.
Araba Chintoh
Araba is a resident in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She has a long-standing interest in research, completing a PhD at the Institute of Medical Sciences before attending medical school. Her research focuses on medication-related issues in the schizophrenia population.
Michael Fralick
Michael is a PhD student in clinical epidemiology at the University of Toronto and a Research Fellow in the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He completed his Master’s of Science in clinical epidemiology at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University. Prior to that he completed his Doctor of Medicine and residency training at the University of Toronto. He is also completing the Clinician Scientist Training Program at the University of Toronto and works as a general internist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario.
Qi Guan
Qi is a PhD student at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Qi completed her Bachelor’s of Medical Science (Honors) at Western University and her Master’s of Science at the University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. Qi’s research interests lie in opioid use and pharmacoepidemiology, and her current work focuses on the risks associated with new initiations of opioid therapy.
Carina Iskander
Carina holds a Bachelor of Medical Sciences degree from the University of Western Ontario and has started her Master’s in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Western Ontario. Her research interests include pharmacoepidemiology and administrative data. For her MSc thesis, Carina will be studying SGLT2 inhibitor use and adverse renal events among patients in Ontario.
Alanna McEneny-King
Alanna is in the third year of her PhD at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy. Her research focuses primarily on the use of pharmacokinetics to improve safety and efficacy in hemophilia treatment, including the development of population pharmacokinetic models for dose individualization.
Flory Tsobo Muanda
Flory is a Postdoctoral research associate at ICES Kidney, Dialysis & Transplantation Program. Prior to that he completed his MSc and PhD at the University of Montreal. He is also a physician trained in RD Congo. His research interests are pharmacoepidemiology, methods in bio-statistics, meta-analysis and network meta-analysis. His current work focuses on drug safety in patients having low kidney function.
Mei Wang
Mei has been a surgeon for about 14 years before emigrating from China. In 2016, she got her Master’s degree in Health Research Methodology (HRM) from McMaster University. She is now a first year PhD student in the HRM program. Her research interest is oral anticoagulant management.