April 4, 2025
The School of Public Health Sciences (SPHS) is delighted to be hosting the Research and Practice in Health Sciences Conference (RPHS). The conference will take place Friday, April 4, 2025 in a hybrid format.
Registration is not required to attend the in-person conference at Federation Hall. However, tickets must be purchased in advance if you would like to attend the lunch.
Registration to attend virtually is coming soon!

About the conference
The aim of this student-led conference is to expose current undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to a range of career paths, including research and practice related to public health. The conference will offer an opportunity for the community to reflect on skills needed for health research and practice and provide graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with presentation experience.
The conference is open to all UWaterloo graduate students conducting research or working in public health, and all SPHS undergraduate students, faculty and staff.
All undergraduate thesis (HLTH 432) student poster presentations are automatically included in the conference.
- Conference program (includes livestream info!)
- Keynote spotlight - Dr. Melody Morton Ninomiya
- Careers panel
- Poster presentations
- Oral presentations
If you have any general questions about the conference please email us.
RPHS Presentation Award Winners
Best Overall Graduate Oral Presentation Award Winners
First Place: Karen Hock
Runner Up: Lucas Tucker
Honourable Mention: Anastasia Marquette
Best Overall Graduate Poster Presentation Award Winners
First Place: Lisa L. Blank
Runner Up: Cindy Wang
Honourable Mention: Vlad Shein
EDI-R Presentation Award Winners
Nuzhat Namiha, Amreetha Jayathilake, Helena Godinho Nascimento and Sultan Abdulkarim, Veen Wong, and Ehinomen Oko-Oboh
Organizing Committee
Co-Chairs: Grace Okusanya & Sanaa Hussain
Financial Officer: Helena Godinho Nascimento
Peer Review Coordinators: Makenna Nunes Gomes & Carly Wheelans
Logistics Officers: Nuzhat Namiha & Ifunanya Modebelu
External Communications Officer: Tara Chen
Internal Communications Officer: Elizabeth Wang
Logo Designer: Bea Rivera
Career Panel Coordinators: Ava Kucera, Syntheya Leslie, & Neha Dhanvanthry
Event Co-op Students: Philippa Crerar (F’24), Evelyn Mah and Thanh Le (W’25)
Acknowledgements
Thank you to our generous peer reviewers:
- Anatasia Marquette
- Ava Kucera
- Dane Mauer-Vakil
- Dipika Shankar Bhattacharyya
- Emma Littler
- Karen Hock
- Kiran Dhuga
- Labiqah Iftikhar
- Lucas Tucker
- Melissa Elgie
- Seun Adegboyega Adejumo
- Silver Nanema
- Taronish Kotwall
Thank you to our Conference Faculty Advisory Committee, Dr. Williams, Dr. Morita, Dr. Kirkpatrick, and Dr. Yessis.
Thank you to Dr. Yessis and Ashley King for assistance with the Careers Panel.
Thank you to the School of Public Health Sciences, the Graduate Studies Endowment Fund, the SPHS Graduate Students' Association, the Health Dean's Advisory Committee on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism, and the Applied Health Sciences Endowment Fund (AHSEF) for their generous support of this event.
Past conferences
See past conference proceedings and presenters: