Students and Trainees

Brooke Mounsey, MD Undergraduate Program, UBC,

Team: Dr. Sarah Munro, Health Professional Trainee

FLEX Student supporting a systematic review and environmental scan of literature on access to family planning services for Indigenous Peoples in Canada; a CIHR-funded Story Project.

Carol-Anne Vallée, MD, 

Team: Dr. Sarah Munro, Health Professional Trainee

Family Planning Fellow – Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, working on the youth access to contraception study.

Enav Zusman, MSc, PharmD, PhD Student

Team: Dr. Sarah Munro

Enav Zusman is a PhD student in in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) – Faculty of Medicine. Prior to commencing her PhD studies, Enav obtained a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) and MSc in Experimental Medicine from UBC and a BSc in Medical Sciences from Tel Aviv University (Israel). As a pharmacist, Enav plans to combine her clinical knowledge and experience with her research work to better support medication safety and effectiveness during pregnancy to improve patient care. Enav’s doctoral research is supported by a Killam Doctoral Scholarship.
Research Interests:
  • Pharmacoepidemiology
  • Perinatal epidemiology
  • Reproductive health
  • Mental health during and after pregnancy

Kate Wahl, MSc, PhD Student, 

Team: Dr. Sarah Munro

Research Interests:

  • Knowledge translation in health policy settings
  • Access to abortion and reproductive health services
  • Health equity for people with endometriosis

To learn more about her research and projects, please visit: www.katewahl.com

View Kate’s publications here

Follow Kate

Maple Lei, Biochemistry Undergraduate,UBC

Team: Dr. Sarah Munro (Work Learn Student)

Maple Lei (she/her) is a 5th year Biochemistry student at UBC and a project assistant at CART-GRAC. She designs project websites to support research and manages social media accounts for CART-GRAC. 

Paula Pinzón, MPH, PhD Student, 

Team: Dr. Sarah Munro 

Paula Pinzón is a PhD student in the Women+ and Children’s Health Sciences program – Dept. Obstetrics and Gynecology – Faculty of Medicine
Research Interests:
  • Abortion
  • Contraception
  • Family Planning
  • Global Health
  • Health Policy
  • Knowledge Translation

Piper Scott-Fiddler, MSc, Team: Dr. Sarah Munro

Samantha Martin-Ferris, MSc, Team: Dr. Sarah Munro

Zeba Khan MSc, Team: Dr. Sarah Munro 

Zeba Khan is a Research Trainee with the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences & Contraception and Abortion Research Network

Research Interests:

  • Experiences of Immigrants and Refugees in accessing healthcare services
  • Sexual and Reproductive Health
  • Women’s Health
  • Knowledge Translation
  • Digital Health

Clare Heggie, MA, PhD Student

Team: Dr. Martha Paynter

Clare Heggie is a PhD student at the University of New Brunswick – Interdisciplinary Studies
Research Interests:
  • Reproductive health and criminalization
  • Abortion and contraception
  • Rural health

Temulun Bagen, MSW Student

Team: Dr. Stephanie Begun

Temulun Bagen is completing her Master of Social Work at University of Toronto Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. She is currently completing her work placement at St. Michael’s Hospital in the outpatient gynecology clinic. She is a research assistant for projects with Dr. Stephanie Begun, including Sharing in the Healing Journey, researching expressive arts-based group therapy for families who have experienced intimate partner violence, and also The CART Access Project on advancing abortion access for underserved populations, as part of the Youth Wellness Lab research team.
Research Interests:
  • Reproductive health and intimate partner violence
  • Abortion for underserved populations

Sarmitha Sivakumaran, HBSc, Research Trainee

Team: Dr. Stephanie Begun

Sarmitha is a Research Trainee at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. She also recently completed her Honours Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences from the University of Toronto.

Research Interests:

  • Abortion
  • Community-Based Participatory Research
  • Health Policy
  • Knowledge Translation
  • Spinal Cord Injuries

Gajathree (Gaja) Ananthathurai, MSW Student

Team: Dr. Stephanie Begun

Gaja is a MSW student at the University of Toronto, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.
Research Interests:
  • Reproductive Justice
  • Gender-Based Violence
  • Trauma-Informed Mental Healthcare
  • Health Policy & Experiences of Equity-Deserving Groups in Accessing Healthcare

Ayla Arhinson, BSW Student, Youth Research Assistant

Team: Dr. Stephanie Begun

Ayla is a BSW student at York University and a Youth Research Assistant at The Youth Wellness Lab
Research Interests:
  • Sexual & Reproductive Health
  • Abortion & Contraception
  • Trauma-informed Approaches to Health Care

Hajar Seiyad, BSc, Youth Researcher

Team: Dr. Stephanie Begun

Hajar Seiyad studied Mental Health Studies and Political Science at the University of Toronto. She is a research assistant with Dr. Stephanie Begun at the University of Toronto’s Youth Wellness Lab and also works with Dr. Sarah Munro at the University of British Columbia, investigating national youth access to contraception. Hajar is passionate about amplifying youth voices and building an equitable future for all, by all.

Research Interests:

  • Youth Access to Contraception
  • Health Policy and Equity

Cam Bautista, BCYC Student, Youth Lab Coordinator

Team: Dr. Stephanie Begun

Cam Bautista is a Child and Youth care student, completing their Bachelor of Child and Youth Care at Humber College.

Research Interests:

  • Abortion
  • Reproductive Justice
  • Queer and Trans Affirming Healthcare

CARSI Students

The Contraception Access Research Student Initiative (CARSI) is a medical student collaboration within CART-GRAC. This group was founded by UBC medical students interested in reproductive health and family planning. Sharing the same goals developed by CART-GRAC, CARSI hopes to support women’s equitable access to high-quality family planning knowledge, methods, and services.

Students involved in CARSI have the opportunity to develop and execute their own research questions under the guidance of expert scholars within CART-GRAC. This experience encourages medical students to develop both clinician and scientist skills through managing independent projects, and collaborating with community, academic and healthcare experts. In addition, involvement with CARSI promotes the CanMED competencies of Medical Expert, Communicator, Collaborator, Health Advocate, Scholar, and Professional.

Lingsa Jia (CARSI Team Co-Lead, UBC Faculty of Medicine)

Ann Hsu-Lin (CARSI Team Co-Lead, UBC Faculty of Medicine)

April Lu (CARSI Team Co-Lead, UBC Faculty of Medicine)

Elisabeth De Marchi (UBC Faculty of Medicine)

Jennifer Clune (UBC Faculty of Medicine)

Sara Lynskey (UBC Faculty of Medicine)

Ruphen Shaw (UBC Faculty of Medicine)

Trainee Alumni

Ali Fuchshuber, RN, MPH/MSN student (School of Population and Public Health, School of Nursing, UBC)

 

Andrea Carson, PhD (MA, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Nursing, Dalhousie University)

 

Claire Styffe, BA &Sc., MPH student (School of Population and Public Health, UBC) 

 

Dahn Jeong, MSc, PhD Student (School of Population and Public Health, UBC)

 

Emma Cameron, B.Sc (Hons), MA Health Promotion Candidate (Dalhousie University)

 

Kira Knight, BSc. (Work Learn Student, Global Resource Systems, UBC) 

 

Lauren Kean, BSc, Medical student (University of British Columbia) 

 

Madeleine Ennis, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow (Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UBC)

 

Mahan Maazi, BSc student, (Work Learn Student, IntSci, Faculty of Science, UBC) 

 

Michaela Shulman, Medical student (University of Montreal) 

 

Mika Ohtsuka, BSc, MPH, PhD Student (School of Population and Public Health, UBC)

 

Ziwa Yu, MScN (Dalhousie University)

 

Past Summer Students:

Natalia Malagon (BCCHR Institue, Mini Med Summer Student //  SFU Faculty of Science)

Eric Blachut (McGill University Faculty of Arts, Summer Student)

Suhani Thakore (UBC Faculty of Medicine, Summer Student)

Carmen Wong (UBC Faculty of Science, Summer Student)

Angie Xiong (UBC Faculty of Medicine, Summer Student)

Adriana Mejia-French (UBC Faculty of Medicine, Summer Student)

Sandeep Chatha (UBC Faculty of Medicine, Summer Student)

Emily Teng (University of California, Los Angeles Faculty of Economics, Summer Student)

Marek Blachut (University College London Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Summer Student)

Hannah Rahim (University of Calgary Faculty of Health Sciences, Summer Student)

Marabeth Kramer (UBC Faculty of Medicine, Summer Student)

 

Past Volunteers:

Brian William Vickers 

Mani Asgharpour

Sofia Villarreal

Tina Gao (UBC Faculty of Science)

Winnie Lee (UBC Faculty of Medicine)