RI-MUHC ANNUAL REPORT 2024
TRAINEE SUCCESSES
What is our new generation of researchers achieving today?
Over 1,300 research trainees play a vital role in advancing biomedical research at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). These highlights celebrate only a few of the bright minds at work over the past year!
- PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS, PUBLICATIONS AND HONOURS
- FOSTERING OUTREACH AND COMMUNITY
- EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN HEALTH RESEARCH
PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS, PUBLICATIONS AND HONOURS
Henry Ukachukwu Michael
Doctoral student, Experimental Medicine
Supervisor: Nancy Mayo, PhD
- First author of two impactful publications: “The Association Between Anticholinergic/Sedative Burden and Physical Frailty in People Aging with HIV,” published in AIDS, and “Medication Utilization Patterns in Patients with Post-COVID Syndrome (PCS): Implications for Polypharmacy and Drug–Drug Interactions,” Journal of the American Pharmacists Association
- Second place in Scientific Poster Competition, 2023 National Meeting of the Canadian Deprescribing Network (CADeN)
- Member of the Research Committee of CADeN, which is dedicated to setting, leading, and promoting medication appropriateness research in Canada.
Hovy Ho-Wai Wong, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow, Neurosurgery
Supervisor: Per Jesper Sjöström, PhD
- First author of the publication, “Synapse-specific burst coding sustained by local axonal translation,”in Neuron
- 2023 Brain Star Award from the Canadian Association for Neuroscience
- Numerous scholarships and travel awards, including from the CIHR
- Offered a tenure-track job at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for fall 2024.
Ioanna Gianopoulos
Doctoral student, Experimental Medicine
Supervisor: Stella Daskalopoulou, MD, PhD
First author of a publication that improved our understanding of the dynamic evolution of atherosclerotic plaques: “Macrophage profiling in atherosclerosis: understanding the unstable plaque,” Basic Research in Cardiology (impact factor = 9.5). This work discusses the importance of performing high-dimensional approaches to facilitate the development of novel sex-specific immunotherapies that aim to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events.
Amanpreet Kaur
Doctoral student, Experimental Medicine
Supervisor: Louise Pilote, MD, MPH, PhD
2023 Paul Dudley White International Scholar Award for her abstract submitted to the American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions. Published in Hypertension (impact factor = 10.19) and titled “Sex Differences in the Relationship between the Age of Hypertension Diagnosis and Brain Structure in Midlife and Older Population: New Insights from the UK Biobank,” it was the highest ranked scientific abstract from Canada at this meeting.
Tho-Alfakar Al-Aubodah
Doctoral student, Microbiology and Immunology
Co-supervisors: Ciro Piccirillo, PhD, and Tomoko Takano, MD, PhD
- First author of a breakthrough study, published in Nature Communications, that implicated autoimmune-associated B cells in the development of childhood idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS), a disease also affecting a growing number of adults. By characterizing the B cells associated with this disease, this work will help tailor treatment and reduce the side effects of currently used immune-suppressive drugs in affected children. (Learn more)
- Co-president of the Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health Program Trainee Committee, 2019-2021.
Olivia Auclair, PhD
Former doctoral student, Animal Science
(graduated December 2023)
Supervisor: Sergio Burgos, PhD
First author of a publication in Nature Food (impact factor 23.2), a Nature Portfolio journal ranked first out of 142 in food science and technology. According to Altmetric, since its publication in February, its Attention Score of 256 is in the 99th percentile of tracked articles of a similar age in all journals. Titled “Partial substitutions of animal with plant protein foods in Canadian diets have synergies and trade-offs among nutrition, health and climate outcomes,” the article attracted significant attention from the media, including NPR, Radio-Canada, QR Calgary, CBC Montreal, and La Presse.
Mariam El Sheikh
Doctoral student, Epidemiology
Co-supervisors: Marina Klein, MD, and Dimitra Panagiotoglou, PhD
- Oral presentation at the prestigious International Workshop on HIV and Hepatitis Observational Databases in Villamoura, Portugal, in March 2024
- New Investigator Award, Canadian Association for HIV Research annual meeting, in April 2024, for best oral abstract presentation in Epidemiology & Public Health Sciences
- Co-president of the Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health Program Trainee Committee during the last year and organized the Research Day.
Fajri Gafar, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow, Medicine
Supervisor: Dick Menzies, MD
Received the prestigious Margaret R. Becklake Fellowship in Respiratory Research from the Montreal Chest Institute Foundation in 2023-2024, among other awards, for his work on optimizing the treatment of tuberculosis infection and disease with high-dose rifampin, using pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analyses.
Kim Tran
Doctoral student, Pathology
Supervisor: Maziar Divangahi, PhD
First author of an impactful publication in Nature Immunology titled “BCG immunization induces CX3CR1hi effector memory T cells to provide cross-protection via IFN-γ-mediated trained immunity.” This research reveals a new mechanism by which the 100-year-old Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine provides cross-protection against the influenza A virus.
Learn more in the YEAR IN REVIEW section of this report.
Sayed Azher
Doctoral student, Experimental Surgery
Supervisor: Jason Harley, PhD
- Best paper award, 2024 Richard and Sylvia Cruess Symposium on Scholarship in Health Sciences Education: Insights and Innovations Conference, Institute for Health Sciences Education, McGill University
- First author of two publications in peer-reviewed journals and seven international conference presentations, in addition to co-authored works
- Winner of a 2023 Fiera Capital Award for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Health Care, among other prestigious bursaries.
Ghadeer Olleik
Doctoral student, Experimental Surgery
Supervisor: Julio Fiore Junior, M.Sc., PhD
Received the Gerald Marks Rectal Cancer Award from the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons at their 2024 conference. Her research work aims to contribute evidence to optimize opioid prescribing after colorectal surgery.
Sacha Williams, MD, MS, MPH
Doctoral student, Experimental Surgery
Supervisor: Dan Poenaru, MD, MA, MHPE, PhD, CM
- Accepted into the Empowering Next-Generation Researchers In Perinatal and Child Health (ENRICH) Program with an award for Recipients of External Awards in Perinatal and Child Health (REACH)
- Accepted into the Canadian Mother-Child Collaborative Training Platform (CAMCCO-L) and Maternal Infant Child and Youth Research Network (MICYRN)
- Received an IDRC International Doctoral Research Award from the International Development Research Centre, Universities Canada
- Invited to co-chair the Canadian Organization for Gender and Sex Research (COGS) Program Committee
- Elected to the Black Physicians of Canada Resident/Fellows Executive Committee. (Learn more)
FOSTERING OUTREACH AND COMMUNITY
Julia Messina-Pacheco
Doctoral student, Pathology
Supervisor: Alex Gregorieff, PhD
- Member of the current cohort of the Chief Science Advisor’s Youth Council
- President of Science & Policy Exchange, a Montreal-based non-profit organization.
Amelia Martínez Villarreal
Doctoral student, Experimental Medicine
Supervisor: Ivan Litvinov, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Amelia Martínez Villarreal has made a strong contribution to RI-MUHC sustainability initiatives. As Vice President of Sustainability for the Cancer Research Program Trainee Council, she helped organize a sustainability trivia lunch to increase awareness of the plastics recycling project and provided input on challenges to implementing the project in the Cancer Research Program. She also provided an “outsider” viewpoint on solutions during the pilot recycling project in the Translational Research in Respiratory Diseases Program. She has distributed stickers to remind users to close fume hoods when not in use, disseminated information to inspire participation in the International Freezer Challenge and proposed the implementation of other sustainability projects.
Learn more on the SUSTAINABLE RESEARCH page of this report.
EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN HEALTH RESEARCH
The awards for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Health Care Research at the RI-MUHC recognize academic excellence of medical and health science students from racialized groups. Working with the MUHC Foundation, Fiera Capital Corporation has committed $120,000 over three years to fund these important awards for talented young researchers at the Master’s and PhD level. The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation is also an important financial supporter of the program.
The eight recipients of the 2024 EDI awards for academic excellence in health care research are:
Zafina Budhwani, a Master’s student specializing in human genetics, is studying the role of a specific protein, called Claudin-3, in a process referred to as neural tube closure. Research shows that improper neural tube closure can lead to birth defects.
Jéssica Ding, a nurse clinician and Master’s student in Advanced Nursing at McGill. She is currently exploring the use of virtual reality as a method of pain and anxiety control.
Nicholas Hickens, a trainee in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University whose research interests include chronic diseases, public health ethics, and empowering the well-being of marginalized populations.
Suleima Jacob-Tomas, a PhD student in the Integrated Program in Neuroscience at McGill University. She has always been passionate about understanding how complex neural interactions influence an organism's behavior, with the hope of one day contributing to interventions and healing.
Hani Rukh-E-Qamar, a Master’s student in McGill’s Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health who is passionate about translational research across digital health, health care accessibility, and sexual and reproductive health.
Yichun Sun, a PhD student in McGill’s Division of Experimental Medicine, is looking to improve treatments and outcomes for patients suffering from rare immunodeficiencies.
Thupten Tsering, a PhD student in McGill’s Department of Pathology, is studying how cancer cells release tiny packages called extracellular vesicles. These vesicles carry DNA and proteins from cancer cells to other cells in the body and can help us better understand how cancer spreads.
Sacha Williams, a Jean-Martin Laberge Global Pediatric Surgery Fellow and PhD student in the Surgical and Interventional Sciences division of McGill’s Department of Surgery. She is researching the impact of gender on surgical care in Africa.
Learn more on the EDI INITIATIVES page of this report.
Related news
Read more about these and other trainee achievements in Training news on the RI-MUHC website
Initiatives that placed the interests of RI-MUHC trainees front and centre this year are highlighted on the new Training and mentoring page of this report.
Our research programs
Brain Repair and Integrative Neuroscience Program
Cancer Research Program
Cardiovascular Health Across the Lifespan Program
Child Health and Human Development Program
Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health Program
Metabolic Disorders and Complications Program
Surgical and Interventional Sciences Program
Translational Research in Respiratory Diseases Program
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