Meet the Team
A snapshot of current members
Yulika Yoshida-Montezuma
Kiara
Pannozzo
Alexandra
Palumbo
Mohammad Nazmus Sakib
Nicolette
Christodoulakis
Yulika is an Epidemiologist working in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster University. She is passionate about advancing chronic disease research using a social equity lens. As part of a CIHR-funded study, Yulika is currently investigating the association preterm birth and life-course cardiometabolic risk.
Kiara completed her MPH at McMaster University. As a thesis student, her research interests include the social determinants of health, health equity, and chronic disease epidemiology.
Alexandra completed her MPH at McMaster University pursuing her thesis. Her research interests include chronic disease prevention, maternal and child health, and obesity.
Nazmus is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster University. His research spans aging, chronic disease, cognitive epidemiology, and translational neuroscience. His current research focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on obesity and diabetes in adults.
Nicolette is an Integrated Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences student at McMaster University. Her passion involves science, medicine, technology, research and helping others. She is interested in pursuing a degree in Health Sciences and making a difference in people’s lives.
Taylor
Incze
Sahar
Khademi
Taylor is a MD/PhD student at McMaster University. She is completing her graduate work through the Health Research Methodology program with an interest in health promotion and chronic disease prevention
Sahar is a Ph.D. student in the Health Research Methodology Program. She has a Midwifery background with more than five years of experience in clinical practice and research related to women's and children's health. She is also a medical affairs director at Femtherapeutics Inc., a start-up based in Montreal that works on designing personalized medical devices for women. In her Ph.D. research, Sahar focuses on maternal and child health, particularly gestational weight gain.
A snapshot of past members
Alessandra Andreacchi
Jason
Morgenstern
Erica
Stone
Saman
Iftikhar
Isobel
Sharpe
Alessandra completed her MPH at McMaster University. Her master's thesis compared anthropometric measures for obesity in relation to health care utilization. She is interested in obesity, aging and chronic disease epidemiology.
Jason completed his thesis-based MPH, concurrently with the Public Health and Preventive Medicine residency program at McMaster University. He is broadly interested in applying artificial intelligence and novel data sources to public health. His thesis involved using machine learning to examine the relationship between nutrition and cardiovascular disease using population-based linked data.
Erica completed her MPH at McMaster University. To align with her interests in obstetric and child health, she investigated the association between preterm birth and life-course cardiometabolic risk.
Saman completed her MPH at McMaster University. During her research-based practicum, she investigated the association between late preterm birth and cardiometabolic risk aligning with her interest in maternal health and health equity.
Isobel graduated from the integrated science program at McMaster. As an undergraduate thesis student she evaluated the best methods for measuring sugar containing beverages in early childhood.
Ravinder
Sandhu
Ravinder completed an MPH at McMaster University in 2019. She conducted a study investigating the methods for evaluating population health interventions in child obesity and is now studying medicine at McMaster.
Andrea
Ziesman
Andrea completed an MPH at McMaster University in 2018. As a research practicum student she investigated the intake of sugar containing beverages among young children. Andrea is currently working in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University.
Bindra
Shah
Bindra completed her MPH at McMaster University. During her research-based practicum, she investigated the association between neighbourhood equity measures and body mass index in children from the TARGetKids! cohort.
Sukhman
Baath
Sukhman completed her MSc. in Psychology via distance learning at the University of Wolverhampton. She was the Research Coordinator for the Motivate Study which is investigating if motivational interviewing promotes healthy behaviours in young adults.
Jayson
Habib
Jayson completed his MPH at McMaster University pursing his thesis. His interests include youth mental health outcomes, the social determinants of health, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent populations.
Vanessa
De Rubeis
Vanessa De Rubeis completed her PhD in the Health Research Methodology program at McMaster University. Her interests are in life-course epidemiology and chronic disease prevention. Vanessa’s dissertation work explored the cyclical relationship between stress and obesity throughout the life-course, specifically focusing on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and stress experienced during the pandemic among older adults.
Jayati
Khattar
Jayati completed her MPH at McMaster University. Her thesis focused on investigating the relationship between social determinants of health and compliance with COVID-19 measures.