2024 Research and Practice in Health Sciences Conference

Conference program

Time	Activity
8:30 a.m.	Registration and poster viewing
8:45 a.m.	Land acknowledgment with Elder Myeengun Henry
9:00 a.m.	Opening remarks and morning oral presentations
10:30 - 11:15 a.m.	Morning break and poster viewing
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.	Columbia Room B: Grant writing workshop for research faculty, postdocs and PhD students
11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.	Main hall: Careers panel
12:15 - 1:45 p.m.	Lunch and poster viewing
1:45 - 3:00 p.m.	Afternoon oral presentations
3:00 - 3:30 p.m.	Afternoon break and poster viewing
3:30 - 4:30 p.m.	Keynote speaker: Dr. Neil Arya
4:30 p.m.	Awards ceremony and closing

Back to top

Careers panel: Practice in Health Sciences

Victoria Babysheva, MHE, PhD Student

Victoria is a first-year PhD student at the School of Public Health Sciences. Her research is focused on exploring and evaluating strategies to address the shortage of healthcare professionals and improve their retention in critical care. In 2019, Victoria graduated from the Master of Health Evaluation program at the University of Waterloo. She has a background in medicine and is an internationally trained physician. Prior to completing the MHE program, she worked as a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.

Currently, Victoria works as an Evaluation Specialist at Critical Care Service Ontario, a provincial agency working with Ontario Health and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to advance care in intensive care units across Ontario. She will be speaking about her experiences navigating the healthcare landscape, working with multidisciplinary teams, and designing, conducting, and analyzing a wide range of evaluations of complex social and health interventions.

Karolina Kaminska, MSc, PhD Candidate

Karolina is a PhD candidate in Public Health Sciences, Health Evaluation at the University of Waterloo. She obtained her Bachelor of Health Sciences and MSc in Health Systems at the University of Ottawa, and worked at several national and international non-profit and governmental organizations, including the World Health Organization, Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Karolina specializes in qualitative and quantitative research, analysis, and evaluation design, approaches, and methods. Her current doctoral research focuses on improving identification of youth with mental health and substance use issues by leveraging system- level evaluation, analysis, and machine learning.

Maddy McBay, BSc Health Studies

Maddy McBay is a Product Manager for health care technology company coeus.health where she fearlessly leads product vision, strategy and execution for the product suite. Here, Maddy has played an integral role in building out a world class patient engagement solution using artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) to provide perfected, reliable, multilingual patient communication.

During her time in the Health Studies program (Health Informatics option) at University of Waterloo, Maddy co-founded TAMVOES, a digital healthcare platform acclaimed as a top tech startup, earning her a well-deserved Co-op Student of the Year award for the Faculty of Health in 2021. Madison drove the company's mission and vision of empowering individuals to make more informed decisions about their care, while providing a platform to access their personal health information. Maddy has proven her commitment to innovation and her passion for driving improvements in patient experience, access and outcomes. She is excited to share more about her journey into health technology and provide insight into the opportunities that are available for other graduates in this sector.

Melissa Potwarka, MSc, PhD Candidate

Since 2009, Melissa has worked in health promotion, community development, and program evaluation in public health, post-secondary education, and most recently as a consultant with Collective Results. During her time in public health, Melissa managed several interdisciplinary public health teams addressing reproductive health, early childhood development, and healthy communities and public health policy. Melissa has led cross-sectoral leaders in systems planning for child and youth mental health in several communities across Ontario.

As of March 2024, Melissa will be rejoining Campus Wellness at University of Waterloo, as Associate Director, Health Promotion. Melissa is passionate about working with students and facilitating collaborative, multi-sectoral action to address health inequities and social determinants of health. Melissa holds a Master of Science in Health Studies and Gerontology and is a PhD Candidate in the School of Public Health Science at the University of Waterloo. Melissa’s research will contribute to our theoretical understanding of a whole-systems approach to wellbeing in higher education.

Angela M. Sinilaité, MPH, DrPH Candidate

Angela Sinilaité is a Senior Scientific Project Coordinator with the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) Secretariat at the Public Health Agency of Canada. As a technical advisor with a professional background in infectious disease epidemiology, Angela is responsible for strategic planning and coordination of a range of technical and scientific activities to compile and analyze evidence for the development of national immunization guidance.

She completed the Master of Public Health (MPH) program at the University of Waterloo and has an Honours Bachelor of Science (HBSc) degree from the University of Toronto, with specialization in Health & Disease, Immunology, and Psychology. While supporting the work of NACI, Angela is concurrently completing the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) in Leadership degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health.

The systems thinking and adaptive leadership skills/ competencies that Angela has acquired through the UIC DrPH program’s innovative approach to doctoral-level practice leadership development, multidisciplinary academic training, and research experience have been instrumental for her work as a public health leader within the Canadian federal government. Angela continues to teach graduate students and regularly provides leadership coaching and mentorship as preceptor for MPH practicum placements.

Back to top

Oral presentations

Oral presentations were a maximum of eight minutes followed by a two minute question and answer period.

9:00 to 10:30 a.m.

Title	Authors
U-IAS: Harnessing Big Data to Combat Health Misinformation on Social Media	Irfhana Zakir Hussain (Presenting author), Matheus Lotto, Navneet Kaur, Jasleen Kaur, Arlene Oetomo, Plinio Morita
Adverse outcomes of cannabis use in Canada, before and after legalization of non-medical cannabis: cross-sectional analysis of the International Cannabis Policy Study	Anastasia Marquette (Presenting author), Maryam Iraniparast, David Hammond
Social Isolation vs. Loneliness: Individual and Combined Impacts on Memory	Ji Won Kang (Presenting author), Mark Oremus, Suzanne Tyas, Joel Dubin, Charity Oga-Omenka
Retention among Healthcare Professionals: A Comparative Scoping Review of professional needs across career stages	Tithi Joshi (Presenting author), Nabeel J. Chudasama, Elena Neiterman
Depressive symptoms as a mediator of the association between functional social support and executive function: A moderated mediation analysis in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging Comprehensive Cohort	Laura Lupoi (Presenting author), Mark Oremus, Colleen J. Maxwell, Suzanne L. Tyas
Investigating unsupervised topic modelling using Large Language Models (LLMs)	Amandeep Kaur (Presenting author), James Wallace

1:45 to 3:00 p.m.

Title	Authors
Informing efforts beyond tailored promotional campaigns by understanding contextual factors shaping vaccine hesitancy among equity-deserving populations in Canada: an exploratory qualitative study	Helena G. Nascimento (Presenting author), Ève Dubé, Kathleen E. Burns, Patrick Brown, Michael Calnan, Paul R. Ward, Eric Filice, Hoda Herati, Nnenna A. U. Ike, Bobbi Rotolo & Samantha B. Meyer
Leveraging a practicum to aid future career planning	Alyssa Milano (Presenting author), Sharon Kirkpatrick, Jennifer Vena
The role of emotional/informational social support on mental health and coping behaviours in caregivers: Results from COVID-19 and Caregivers of Assisted living Residents - their Experiences and Support (COVCARES-AB/BC)	Emily C. Rutter (Presenting author), Colleen J. Maxwell, Joseph E. Amuah, Matthias Hoben, Suzanne L. Tyas
Understanding Issues of Supporting Elderly Parents Aging in Place: A Topic-Guided Thematic Analysis of r/AgingParents	Leila Homaeian (Presenting author), Vanessa Duong, Kaitlyn Li, James R. Wallace, Keiko Katsuragawa
Building the consumer profile of the meal kit user: findings from the International Food Policy Study	Kimberly D'Mello (Presenting author), Liza Boyar, Christine M. White, David Hammond
Exploring the relationship between marital quality and cognitive function: A systematic review	Paniz Haghighi (Presenting author), Emma A.L. Littler, Dane Mauer-Vakil, Michaella Miller, Mark Oremus

Back to top

Graduate and post-doctoral poster presentations (printed in-person)

Title	Authors
An appreciative inquiry on the impacts of land-based learning within an urban Indigenous community	Danica Bui
Hair cortisol concentration and psychopathology among children with a chronic physical illness	Emma A.L. Littler, Zahid A. Butt, Andrea Gonzalez, & Mark A. Ferro
rTMS for post-COVID-19 Condition in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Study	Taronish J. Kotwall, Peter A. Hall
Prolonging the work ability of aging physical workers in the Ontario manufacturing industry with a gendered analytic lens	Abbey Davis, Ellen MacEachen
Examining the illicit use of prescription painkillers among Canadian university students	Sanewal Singh., Samantha Meyer
Artificial intelligence and public health: a primer for public health scientists	Navreet Singh, Abel Torres-Espin, Sharon Kirkpatrick
Breaking barriers: Enhancing prenatal and postpartum mental health support for South Asian women from the Greater Toronto Area	Tanveer K. Randhawa, Jothi Khaira, Alyssa Madhani, Kanika Sarwal
The Association between Social Isolation, Functional Social Support, and Memory in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Moderated Mediation Analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging	Nicole Endresz, Colleen J. Maxwell, Suzanne L. Tyas, Mark Oremus
The interplay between early-life cognitive stimuli and genetics on cognitive reserve: findings from the Nun Study	Michelle Vuong, Suzanne L. Tyas
Longitudinal study of the onset of physical-mental multimorbidity in children with chronic physical illness	Melissa Elgie, Dillon T. Browne, Jennifer Yessis, Mark A. Ferro
Community-based gamification research for supporting women and children experiencing homelessness	Veen Wong, Greta James, James R. Wallace, Cayley MacArthur
Improving evaluation capacity for the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Nursing Mentorship Program	Karolina Kaminska, Sarah Sousa, Kimberly Lawrence, Tracey DasGupta, Laura Rashleigh
Estimating exposure to low- and no-calorie sweeteners using Canada’s national food composition database: a proposed classification system to inform nutrition policy	Lesley Andrade; Isabelle Rondeau; Allison C. Sylvetsky; Sanaa Hussain; Navreet Singh; Michael P. Wallace; Kevin W. Dodd; Sharon I. Kirkpatrick
Pathways of underemployment: the case of skilled Arab immigrants	Yasmeen Almomani
Comparison of indicators of dependence for vaping and smoking: Trends between 2017 and 2022 among youth in Canada, England and the United States	Makenna N Gomes, BHSc, Jessica L Reid, MSc, Vicki L Rynard, MSc, Katherine A East, PhD, Maciej L. Goniewicz, PhD, PharmD, Megan E. Piper, PhD, David Hammond, PhD
Use of flavored cannabis vaping products in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand: Findings from the International Cannabis Policy Study Wave 4 (2021)	Kimberly D’Mello, Gary C.K. Chan, Wayne Hall, Marta Rychert, Chris Wilkins, and David Hammond
Modifiable behavioural factors and their association with depression and anxiety in Canadian undergraduate post-secondary students	Sandra Gibson, Dr. Scott Leatherdale, Dr. Luke Potwarka, Dr. Adam Cole
Estimating the proportion of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli cases who develop hemolytic uremic syndrome and end-stage renal disease: an ongoing systematic review and meta-analysis	Udani De Silva, Antonela Ilic, Jacob Hammond, Ashvini Gulasingnam, Kanika Sarwal, Mark Oremus, Zahid A. Butt, and Shannon E. Majowicz
Perceived differential parenting and childhood physical-mental multimorbidity	hristopher J. Barclay; Mark A. Ferro
Creative-Movement Program for Caregiver Resilience: Intervention Design and Implementation	Eden Rose Champagne
"The more we keep our experiences tucked away, the more room there is for supports to be poor": (Re)constructing the journeys of people who have experienced abortion care in Ontario	Kathleen Slofstra

Graduate and post-doctoral posters (virtual poster presentation)

Title	Authors
Investigating the relationship between staffing structures, working conditions, and quality of care in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes	Michaella Miller, Ellen MacEachen
Occupational Health & Safety Measures in Healthcare Settings during COVID-19	Isra Ahmad
Examining the association between memory, functional social support, and depressive symptoms: A longitudinal mediation analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging	Ifunanya Modebelu, Colleen Maxwell, Mark Oremus
Evaluating the impact of an online educational tool for fostering constructive dialogue in the classroom	Dane Mauer-Vakil, Kelly Anthony
Illicit Tobacco in Canada Eluding Policy Solutions: Wicked Problem? Policy Failure? A Comparison of Ontario and Quebec	Dane Mauer-Vakil, Robert Schwartz
Impact of the sugar-sweetened beverage tax among adults in Newfoundland & Labrador: a comparison with other Canadian provinces in 2021 and 2022	Karen Hock, Lana Vanderlee, Christine White, Gary Sacks, Martin White, David Hammond
Does functional social support mediate the association between anxiety and executive function in middle-aged and older adults? An analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging	Cindy Wang, Mark Oremus, Nancy E. Newall, Suzanne L. Tyas
Evaluation of the Capacity Building Model for the Power Up Program: A Mixed Methods Study	Melvin C. Chen, David Larose, Dr. Vicky Drapeau, Dr. Chris Perlman, Dr. Troy Glover, Dr. Jennifer Yessis
What would your friends do? Attitudes and beliefs towards alcohol and cannabis impaired driving among university students	Ava Kucera, Dr. Bruce McKay

Undergraduate poster presentations

Title	Student	Supervisor(s)
Impacts and Experiences of Implementing a Person-Centred Care Program in Long-Term Care	Kavishka Abeywickrama	Carrie McAiney
How does the usefulness of synthetic health data compare to actual health data?	Faiq Ahmad	Helen Chen
Lived Experience and Mental Health Services	Zana Berisha	Warren Dodd
Assessing the relation between low cerebral blood flow, CSF tau and CSF AB: a retrospective analysis of ADNI 2 data	Abu Bakar Butt	Anish Kapadia
Analysis of Nutrition Misinformation on Social Media: A Study of Prevalence and Public Sentiment	Lisa Chen	Jasleen Kaur
A Secondary Analysis of the Association Between Parental Indoor Smoking and the Prevalence of Childhood Asthma in Children Between the Ages of 0-11 Years During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States	Evan Cummings	Annalise Ferro
The Role of Therapeutic Justice: Evaluating the Region of Waterloo Drug Treatment Court	Nina Doad	Jennifer Yessis
Truck Driver Health Promotion Using Wearable Technology	Thianna Edwards	Phil Bigelow
Assessing arousal to explain changes in emotional walking	Francis Ashley Fernandes	Kaylena Ehgoetz Martens
Exploring Ultrasonography for Comprehensive Skeletal Muscle Composition Assessment Across Alternative Anatomical Sites	Ciandra Greene	Marina Mourtzakis
Exploring the Factors that Impact Provider Experience While Caring for Pregnant People Who Use Substances	Magda Kalff-Duschenes	Geoff Bardwell
Exploring the Factors that Improve Provider Experience While Caring for Pregnant People Who Use Substances	Christina Mac	Kelly Anthony
Exploring Sleep in Individuals Living with Parkinson's Disease in a Free-Living Environment Using Wearable Sensor Technologies	Krisha Malik	Bill McIlroy
Exploring Drivers of Alcohol Use Among Sexual Minority Women: A Scoping Review	Anna Martin	Geoff Bardwell
Exploring interventions used to improve antimicrobial prescribing and dispensing practices in low- and middle-income countries	Kayla McCalla	Charity Oga-Omenka
Exploring perceptions and experiences with mental health diversion through semi-structures interviews	Megan McKinnon	Kelly Anthony
Examining the outcomes and impacts of knowledge mobilization initiatives in food sovereignty and climate change research in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Canada	Maya Morton Ninomiya	Kelly Skinner
Mental health transitions of secondary-school students	Sukhmeet Oshan	Scott Leatherdale
COVID-19 Effects on Mental Health and Service Provision on Children with Chronic Physical Illness (CPI) and their Families: The MY LIFE Experience	Reese Parks	Mark Ferro
Exploring The Impact of Lifestyle and Psychosocial Interventions on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Patients with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome: A Scoping Review	Meera Parthipan	Jennifer Yessis
A prospective study of food insecurity and emotional regulation in a cohort of Canadian youth	Ava Pollinzi	Karen Patte; Scott Leatherdale
Magic mushrooms on the mind: Exploring the frequencies and predictors of Psilocybin use among Canadian youth	Sierra Radovini	Scott Leatherdale
Southern Ontario Rest Area Shortage and Associated Health Risks	Ziba Raheemi	Phil Bigelow
Examining the role and process of a community-led partnership to address mental health and substance use in the Region of Waterloo	Kobisha Rajeswaran	Warren Dodd
Understanding the Experiences of Informal Caregivers for Older Adults on Waitlists to Access Specialized Geriatric Services	Samar Riaz	George Heckman
Usability and reliability of the digital Alberta Rating Index for Apps (ARIA)	Emily Rutledge	Lili Liu; Antonio Miguel-Cruz
Attention Capture in Vape PSAs	Sarah Shahid	Peter Hall
Do Plant-based Burgers Contain Healthier Fats than Meat-based Burgers?	Grady Smith	Ken Stark
Exploring the experiences of Ontario post-secondary students with the emergency contraception pill	Kathleen Szajbely	Elena Neiterman
The effect of stress hormones on the expression of AMPA receptor proteins in rat brain slices	Janvi Tamakuwala	John Mielke
Exploring Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and Mental Health in Northwestern Ontario	Claire Thiessen	Zahid Butt
Investigating the association between household food insecurity and sociodemographic, economic, and academic-related characteristics in Ontario post-secondary students	Megan Tramble	Sharon Kirkpatrick
Key-informant consultations to guide development of usable case scenarios involving dementia-related missing incidents	Vanessa Vahedi	Lili Liu & Antonio Miguel Cruz
A Neighborhood Assessment Tool: Evaluating Youth Mental Health Support within the Urban Environment	Marniesa Vassel	Leia Minaker
Exploring Narrative Interventions Promoting Women's Autonomy in Healthcare in Low- and Middle-Income Countries	Gurnoor Kaur Walia	Charity Oga-Omenka
The Potential for Sustainable Food In Healthcare to Promote Human and Planetary Health: Proposal for a Grey Literature Scoping Review	Lisa Blank	Sharon Kirkpatrick

Back to the top

Acknowledgements

Thank you to our Peer Review Committee:

• Joy Hutchinson and Makenna Nunes Gomes for coordinating the peer-review process

Thank you to our generous peer reviewers:

• Thank you to Dr. Narveen Jandu and Ashley King for assistance with the careers panel.
• Thank you to Elder Myeenhun Henry, Dr. Ellen MacEachen, Dr. Samantha Meyer, and Dr. Diane Williams for opening and closing the conference. 
• Thank you to Dr. Sharon Kirkpatrick, Dr. James Wallace, and the SPHS Research Committee for organizing the Grant Writing Panel. 
• Thank you to all panel speakers, judges, session chairs and others who contributed to making this conference a successful event.
• Thank you to Carol West-Seebeck and all the staff who helped out with emails, learn posts, finances, printing, promotions, and other details!

Thank you to the School of Public Health Sciences, the Graduate Studies Endowment Fund, the Applied Health Sciences Endowment Fund, The Dean's Advisory Committee for Mental Health and Wellbeing, and the SPHS Graduate Students' Association for their generous support of this event.