Our Students

(Supervisor: Dr. Parissa Safai)

I’m a former university student-athlete, who has continued to pursue my passion for athletics and academics at the graduate level. In addition to being a full time graduate student I’m also a full time coach, working in university sport. I’m personally and professionally interested in making the world of sport a more inclusive space for everyone. In addition to athletics and academics, I enjoy being involved in my community as a volunteer and traveling.

I’m a socio-cultural researcher who adopts a qualitative approach to researching my interests, which include work and professionalization, sports coaches, and women in sport.

(Supervisor: Dr. Christopher Perry)

In my spare time, I enjoy traveling and have been to about a 14 countries with hopes to increase that number in the near future. One of my ultimate travel destinations is Japan. I also enjoy playing sports and growing up I played hockey, soccer and rugby competitively. Currently I play ultimate frisbee and have been working on my golf game.

My research focuses on the production of energy in muscle, how it is impacted by disease and if we can target this with drugs.

(Supervisor: Dr. Hala Tamim)

In future, I see myself serving globally to improve Maternal and Child Health with special focus on resource constrained populations, enable underserved communities to overcome cultural barriers that undermine access to health care for women and young children, and influence local governments to strengthen relevant health policies.

My major research interest is in the field of reproductive health. Currently, I am trying to explore long-term effects of social determinants on women health.

(Supervisor: Dr. Janessa Drake)

Outside of York, Heather enjoys outdoor adventures such as backcountry, canoeing and hiking. She is an avid recreational runner and coaches Learn to Run and 5Km Training programs.

Occupational and Clinical Biomechanics, Ergonomics, Health Psychology

(Supervisor: Dr. David Hood)

Growing up an avid hockey player and a cancer survivor, I witnessed the benefit of physical activity in promoting and restoring health. This fostered a curiosity about human health and performance which led me to pursue graduate research with Dr. Hood at York's esteemed School of Kinesiology and Health Science. Beyond the lab I still enjoy playing and coaching hockey, as well as activities like cycling, woodworking, and hanging out with my dog Grapes.

I study the molecular basis of skeletal muscle metabolic health, specifically focused on transcriptional regulation of mitochondrial remodelling by transcription factors ATF4 and p53.

(Supervisor: Dr. Heather Edgell)

I am very passionate about sports, and like to play soccer and volleyball, as well as am a big Raptors fan. I also enjoy reading on topics such as health and fitness in order to stay up-to-date on current content.

I am interested in cardiovascular physiology, and more specifically the role of estrogen and progesterone on sex-based differences in cardiovascular health.

(Supervisor: Dr. Olivier Birot)

My personal interests include music production, working out, cooking, bartending, evolutionary biology, natural history and intellectual debate

My research interests are focused towards elucidating muscle angioadaptation in response to physiological and pathological stressors at the cellular and molecular level.

(Supervisor: Dr. Joe Baker)

My personal interests revolve around watching and playing sports, weight training, gaming, and playing the piano. One of my biggest passions is podcasting and interviewing; as I host the Fandom Science Podcast where I interview leading experts on Sport Science from around the world.

My research focuses on optimizing talent selection and development in professional sports, primarily in the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association.

(Supervisor: Dr. Hala Tamim)

Outside of my academic research, I am very passionate about art and expressing my creativity through different forms of mediums. My personal favourite is painting landscapes and occasionally still life sketching. Being a huge dog lover myself, I am an active volunteer at the Wildlife Center, feeding orphaned squirrels. I also enjoy volunteering at my local church, mentoring children and leading life groups.

My research interests focus on studying health behaviours and factors in the Canadian population. Specializing in epidemiology, studying health outcomes in minority groups.

(Supervisor: Dr. Ali Abdul-Sater)

Apart from science, I enjoy singing, reading, philosophy, and thinking. Above all, I have a passion for helping people in need with the right knowledge to elevate their state of mind and life with the dream of contributing to an unbiased lifestyle for all parts of the world.

My thesis investigates how various exercise programs modulate the inflammatory responses and the associated signalling pathways to uncover the underlying mechanisms which cause the changes

(Supervisor: Dr. Loriann Hynes)

Some of my interests are staying active and playing sports such as Volleyball, Spikeball and Ultimate Frisbee, to name a few. Being around family and friends as well as helping my community as one of the founders of Healing in Nature: Bereavement Network(HNBN).  HNBN is a non-profit guiding youth and young adult through nature hike to help with their grieving process.

My current research interests are in visual reaction time, oculomotor skill and cognition relating to sports concussion return-to-play and return to learn protocols.

(Supervisor: Dr. Michael Connor)

My personal interest is listening to friends and strangers, I believe it is vital to making connections and maintaining healthy relationships in the era of technology and social-media. A main interest includes engaging with others in a unique way and delivering an experience through conversations. My highly appraised feature is baking ginger-banana bread, packaging it and delivering to friends and co-workers. I truly believe the way to make anyone smile is through laughter and banana-bread

My current research involves the analysis of cell-cycle regulation in breast cancer cells, with future interests in studying other topics that are not well understood.

(Supervisor: Dr. Joe Baker)

A pretend triathlete and sports enthusiast. In my spare time (if a grad student ever finds any), I enjoy the trails, travelling, camping, and all nature-adventure included activities. I used to like working on cars and houses but we all know grad students don't have the money or time to do such things. So we keep writing.

Athlete Development and Expertise: Currently working with the Canadian Paralympic Committee and Paralympics Australia to better understand Paralympians' experiences across their career.

(Supervisor: Dr. Arthur Cheng)

My personal interests include outdoor activities such as running, hiking and biking. Other personal interests of mine are reading, fitness training and performing self-taught yoga at home.

I also enjoy creating animation videos and editing random snippets taken of my daily life.

My research interests are skeletal muscle fatigue, effects of cooling or heating on muscle recovery and calcium handling in skeletal muscle