Lab Updates 2025 - 2026
Congratulations to Lab Director Dr. Rebecca Pillai Riddell on her appointment to the eMHIC’s Global Leadership council and her 2025 Major Contributions Award from Strong Minds Strong Kids.
Wow-ed by Oana Bucsea (Former CIHR CGS Doctoral Fellow) for having published her 14th peer reviewed paper in 2025.
Congratulations to Ilana Shiff who continues on her CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarship.
Congratulations to Sara Jasim! She started maternity leave this past year.
Overjoyed for Dr. Katie Di Pierdomenico who won her first grant – a SSHRC Explore grant.
Delighted for Lojain Hamwi, a 2025 recipient of a CIHR Doctoral Canada Graduate Scholarship to honour Nelson Mandela and for winning the departmental award for Outstanding Master’s Research in Clinical Health Psychology.
Congratulations to Haleh Hashemi for publishing her 2025 Master’s thesis in the highest impact journal in our field – PAIN.
Proud of Estreya Cohen for being invited to give a ‘Hot Topics’ presentation of her Master’s thesis at the 2025 Canadian Pain Society and winning an 2025 Ontario Graduate Scholarship
Hooray for Nichaela Garvey who won a 2025 SSHRC Master’s Canada Graduate Scholarship.
VISION
Welcome to the Opportunities to Understand Childhood Hurt (O.U.C.H.) Laboratory website. The Lab is run by Dr. Rebecca Pillai Riddell, a Full Professor at York University (Department of Psychology), an Honorary Professor at University College London (Department of Neuroscience, Physiology, and Pharmacology), a Scientific Staff member at Sick Kids (Department of Psychiatry Research), and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Toronto (Department of Psychiatry). Our Laboratory primarily focuses on understanding how caregivers and children interact within the context of pain. Our research is performed in a variety of settings from our lab space on the York University Campus to the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of major hospitals within North America and beyond.
Get in Touch
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON M3J1P3
Office:
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health
Room 2006, Sherman Health Science Research Centre
416 736 2100 x 20177