Adenike Adelakun, Stream 1

Biography

Adenike Adelakun is a pharmacist and a first-year MSc student at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, under the supervision of Dr. Peter Loewen. Her current research focuses on improving the clinical outcomes of patients with atrial fibrillation on oral anticoagulant therapy. Adenike works with administrative data in her current research. Her interest in research started from her undergraduate thesis where she evaluated community pharmacists’ questioning and diagnostic skills for minor ailment complaints by a pseudo-patient and the appropriateness of medications recommended by the pharmacists. She obtained her B.Pharmacy at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Anubhav Agarwal, Stream 1

Biography

Anubhav is pursuing PhD in epidemiology at the University of Ottawa. Working under the supervision of Dr. Kednapa Thavorn, Anubhav’s doctoral research, and his current work at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute aims to evaluate the clinical outcomes and costs associated with treating certain types of blood cancers in Ontario. Previously, he has obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Hospital and Health Management from the Institute of Health Management Research (Jaipur, India) and a Master of Public Health from Harvard University (Boston, USA). Anubhav has several years of global research experience focused on issues pertaining to health systems and policy research. This includes conducting impact evaluations of health and social interventions such as pay-for-performance models, contracting for health, and unconditional cash transfer programs. He has also conducted economic evaluations of pneumococcal vaccination in several countries. In his free time, he likes to play tennis.

Fatemeh Ahmadi, Stream 1

Biography

Fatemeh is a first-year master’s student in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University, working under the supervision of Dr. Amit Garg. She holds a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree and also a specialist degree in Clinical Pharmacy from Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. To date, Fatemeh worked on several pharmacoepidemiological projects primarily focused on rational medication use and comparative effectiveness. Her current research centers on medication safety in the population with kidney diseases using administrative health databases.

Wajd Alkabbani, Stream 2

Biography

Wajd is a Pharmacist and a second year PhD student at the School of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo, working under the supervision of Dr. John-Michael Gamble. She completed her BSc in Pharmacy from Kuwait University in 2015 before she moved to Manitoba, where she obtained her MSc degree from the College of Pharmacy, University of Manitoba in 2019.  Wajd is specializing in Pharmacoepidemiology research, studying medication use and effects in large populations. Her research focuses on evaluating the long-term safety of antidiabetic medications by utilizing administrative healthcare databases. For her PhD thesis, Wajd will be conducting a series of cohort studies to detail the association between diabetes, antidiabetic agents, and dementia. Wajd’s PhD is supported by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, President’s Graduate Scholarship, and the International Doctoral Student Award from the University of Waterloo. Wajd strives to be a clinician scientist with a goal to combine her clinical training and research skills to address important questions that can improve patient outcomes.

Heidi Fernandes, Stream 1

Biography

Heidi is completing her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Alberta School of Public Health. Under the supervision of Dr. Dean Eurich, her thesis is focussed on the pharmacoepidemiology of medical cannabis as well as understanding the needs for patients and healthcare providers following Canada’s decision to legalize cannabis. Previously, Heidi received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy in 2017. She practiced part-time as a pharmacist while completing her Master of Science in Pharmacy under the supervision of Dr. Sherilyn Houle, focussing on pharmacy practice and travel medicine research.

Michael Garcia, Stream 1

Biography

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. Michael Cristian 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 database analysis on the relationship between QT-prolonging medications and adverse cardiac events.

Sai Gudi, Stream 1

Biography

Sai Krishna Gudi is a second-year Ph.D. student at the College of Pharmacy, University of Manitoba, where his current research looks at the utilization, effectiveness, and safety of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for Hepatitis-C in Manitoba. His education background includes a B.Sc (Pharm) and a PharmD degree from India, also an M.Sc (Pharm) from the University of Manitoba, Canada. He is a budding researcher in Pharmacoepidemiology & Outcomes Research, where he has authored around 22 papers published in reputed international journals. He has received various scholarships and awards for his academic excellence and scientific work throughout his educational journey. His primary research interest includes studying medication use and its long-term effects in large populations; comparative effectiveness & medication-safety research; optimizing irrational drug-use & medication appropriateness (over-treatment), particularly among older adults; knowledge translation through evidence-based practice; pharmaceutical policy & health-services research; confounding & bias analysis; and systematic reviews, meta-analysis & network meta-analysis methods

Daniel Albert Harris, Stream 2

Biography

Daniel Harris is a third-year PhD candidate in the Division of Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health working under the supervision of Dr. Susan Bronskill. Daniel completed his Master of Public Health at Brown University where his thesis investigated the use of sedative-hypnotic and antipsychotic medicatiadeon use in older adults. Supported by the Alzheimer Society of Canada, Daniel’s doctoral work investigates the patterns of psychotropic and central nervous system-acting medication use in long-term care. In light of widespread antipsychotic deprescribing efforts in long-term care, Daniel is specifically interested in whether antipsychotics are being substituted with other medications, such as antidepressants and anticonvsulsants, and how to measure medication switching using pharmacy claims data.

Alekhya Lavu, Stream 1

Biography

Alekhya is a Ph.D. student at the College of Pharmacy, University of Manitoba. Before joining University of Manitoba in 2019, Alekhya completed a PharmD degree from Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Science, Manipal Academy of Higher Education. Alekhya is specializing in drug safety and pharmacoepidemiology, with a research program that focuses on medications in pregnancy and neonatal safety outcomes.

As part of her Ph.D., Alekhya will conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis and two population-based cohort studies on antiepileptics use in pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. Alekhya’s Ph.D. is supported by provincial and national research funds. Through DSECT, Alekhya plans to develop advanced research skills that will establish her as a successful pharmacoepidemiologist.

Lisiane Leal, Stream 1

Biography

Lisiane is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University, working under Dr. Robert Platt’s supervision. She has earned a ScD in Epidemiology (2019) and a master’s degree in Cardiology and Cardiovascular Sciences (2016), both from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). Lisiane is a pharmacist and also completed training in Health Management (2012) and Health Informatics (2016). Before dedicating her career to pharmacoepidemiology research, she worked for 8 years as a hospital pharmacist in Brazil. Her projects are focused on perinatal research, with a special interest in maternal health outcomes and medication use during pregnancy.

Reem Masarwa, Stream 2

Biography

Reem Masarwa is a pharmacist by training and a pharmaco-epidemiologist conducting research dedicated to the utilization, safety, and

effectiveness of prescription drugs in children. She is currently a Post-doctoral Fellow in Pharmacoepidemiology at the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health Department at McGill University. Under the mentorship of Drs. Kristian B. Filion and Robert W. Platt Reem’s research focuses on pediatric pharmacoepidemiology, especially the utilization, safety and effectiveness of various prescription drugs including drugs used gastrointestinal reflux, centrally acting drugs, and drug for diabetes and obesity

Arielle Mendel, Stream 3

Biography

Arielle Mendel MD MSc is an assistant professor in the division of rheumatology at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and Junior Scientist at the Research Institute of the MUHC. Her research program is dedicated to evaluating and improving patient safety, with a focus on medication safety, in patients with systemic rheumatic disease such as vasculitis. Such patients take a complex array of immunosuppressive medications, which place them at a heightened risk of adverse drug events (ADEs). She aims to improve medication safety in this population by studying root causes of ADEs, with a particular focus on glucocorticoids and other immunosuppressive agents, in order to design innovative strategies for improving medication safety in this population. She is currently initiating a study on the safety and effectiveness of rituximab biosimilars compared to the originator drug in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis.

Sandy (Alexander) Morrison, Stream 1

Biography

Sandy is currently a first-year Master of Science student in the department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia. He is supervised by Dr. Colin Ross and is working on functionally validating a genetic variant implicated in the adverse drug reaction (ADR) known as anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity. He holds a BSc in Life Science & Psychology from Queen’s University where his research interests were in finding biomarkers for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) at Providence Care Hospital. After his undergraduate degree he worked as a laboratory technician at Norgen Biotek before pursuing graduate studies.

Omotola Olasupo, Stream 1

Biography

Omotola is a PhD student in the Dept of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster University. Her research focuses on real-world evidence synthesis using observational studies and other methodological approaches to outcomes assessment in the perioperative care of patients with hemophilia and rare bleeding disorders. Previous research includes burden of illness studies, risk assessment, cost-effectiveness studies and health policy research in infectious diseases, oncology, and vaccine use. Her passion is to help clinicians and healthcare decision makers make the best clinical decisions while also achieving the best patient-important outcomes.

Anna Rzepka, Stream 1

Biography

Anna is an MSc student in pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Toronto. She holds an Honours BSc in neuroscience from Western University and is currently pursuing her graduate degree with a focus on pharmacoepidemiology. Anna’s research interests include osteoporosis pharmacotherapy and self-controlled study design methodology. Anna is a trainee in the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network student training program, and currently serves as secretary of the University of Toronto chapter of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology.

Noor-Ul-Huda Shah, Stream 1

Biography

Huda is currently a PhD student studying Health Services Research at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dr. Andrea Tricco. After completing her MSc in population health from the University of Waterloo (UW), she started working as a research assistant at UW’s School of Pharmacy to tackle the opioid crisis. She has conducted pharmacoepidemiologic analysis on the impact of socioeconomic status on opioid-related mortality, hospitalization, and emergency department visits. As well, she has been a part of a national project to promote interprofessional education on opioid use and opioid use disorder. For her PhD thesis, she hopes to increase the participation of racialized minorities in health research data to improve health equity.

Angela Siemens, Stream 1

Biography

Angela holds a BSc in Biochemistry and has worked in various research positions, including Orthopedics research at St. Paul’s Hospital, the Cancer Science Institute in Singapore, and the Department of Medical Genetics at BC Children’s hospital. Currently, Angela is a UBC Masters student in Medical Genetics working with the CPNDS research team.

Enav Zusman, Stream 1

Biography

Dr. Enav Zusman is a PhD student with Dr. Tim Oberlander and Dr. Robert Platt in the Reproductive and Developmental Sciences program at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Enav’s research interests include pharmacoepidemiology, perinatal epidemiology and mental health. The main focus of her research is the investigation of the associations between prenatal serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant exposure and the development of affective disorders in childhood and adolescence. Prior to commencing her PhD studies, Enav obtained a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) and MSc in Experimental Medicine from UBC and a BSc in Medical Sciences from Tel Aviv University (Israel). Enav has held multiple prestigious research awards, including the CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master’s award, CIHR Undergraduate Summer Studentship Award, ImpactBC Scholarship in Health Care Research and Development (UBC Health award) and BC Patient Safety & Quality Council & Institute for Healthcare Improvement Open Schools Healthcare Improvement Scholarship. As a trained pharmacist, Enav plans to combine her clinical knowledge and experience with her research work to better support medication safety and effectiveness during pregnancy to improve patient care.