Student awards - Concordia University

Award recipients

2024

The following awards were presented at the Inaugural School of Health Conference.

Ed Whitlock Award

Winner: Berkley Petersen

Berkley Petersen is a 4th year PhD candidate in the department of Psychology at Concordia University. Her doctoral research aims to investigate if a home-based online cognitive training intervention can improve older adults’ cognition, mobility, and multitasking abilities. This 6-week attention training program might help offset declining motor and cognitive systems and enable older adults to continue their everyday activities and leisure pursuits more safely and with less effort. Another part of her dissertation is dedicated to qualitative research to gain insights into the lived experiences of older adults who encounter a combination of sensory, motor, and cognitive challenges. Outside of research, Berkley is actively involved in the aging community as an avid curler at the Montreal West Curling Club. Engaging in sports with older adults has allowed her to develop a better understanding about the importance of leisure and active living as one grows older. As Berkley enters her final year of study, she is excited to share her dissertation results with the aging community to promote healthy and active aging.

Student Poster Presentation Awards

Brain Vision Award ($250)

Winner: Claire Dyment
Presentation title: Exploring the Interaction of Age and Presence of Insomnia on Sleep Spindle Density in Females
Winner: Vanessa Raspa
Presentation title: Corticomuscular Representation in Motor Sequence Learning

engAGE Award ($500)

Winner: Julia Bissessar
Presentation title: The Use of Rhythmic Speech Cuing® and Vocal Intonation Therapy® for Speech Intelligibility in Parkinson's Disease: A Case Study

Fédération des kinésiologues du Québec (FKQ) Award ($250)

Winner: Chanelle Montpetit
Presentation title: Making Waves: Exploring The Effects of Aquatic Therapy on Muscle Strength in Chronic Low Back Pain

Patricia Dudar Award ($250)

Winner: Vanessa Pereira
Presentation title: Genetic Network Rewiring Between Distantly Related Eukaryotic Species
Winner: John Neufeld
Presentation title: Narrative Futurity in Later Life: Rethinking life story work to address loneliness
Winner: Malcolm Dunson-Todd
Presentation title: Towards standard testing to evaluate exoskeleton efficacy for construction workers
Winner: Jullie Coupal
Presentation title: Feasibility of a Fully Virtual Graded Exertion Test in Children with Concussion

Réseau de recherche en santé cardiométabolique, diabète et obésité (CMDO) Award ($500)

Winner: Anjalee I. Wanasinghe
Poster presentation: Effects of animal vs plant-based protein in a hypocaloric ketogenic diet on regional subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) T cells in individuals with obesity.
Winner: Lyne Al-Nabelsi
Poster presentation: The relationship of dietary protein to energy metabolism, body composition, and muscle function in individuals undergoing bariatric surgery

2023

The following awards were presented at the Student Health Research Event that took place on May 11.

Ed Whitlock Award

Winner: Emma Hsiaowen Chen

Emma Hsiaowen is a master's student in the Department of Health, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology. A former pre-professional dancer, she is interested in how dance can be used to improve the fitness and balance of older adults. Through her work she has received master’s training scholarships from both the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé and the Canadian Institute for Health Research, and she will be continuing to a PhD fellowship at Concordia in September.

Patricia Dudar Award ($500)

Winner: Mathieu Johnson
Presentation title: Behavioural impact of connectome-wide differences in white matter myelination
Winner: Paria Asadi
Presentation title: Vitamin B5, a coenzyme A precursor, rescues TANGO2 deficiency disease-associated defects in Drosophila and human cells

Réseau de recherche en santé cardiométabolique, diabète et obésité (CMDO) Award ($500)

Winner: Brandon Kosik
Poster presentation: Implications of Actovegin on aerobic exercise performance and cardiac mitochondrial respiration in trained and untrained mice
Winner: Emma Hsiaowen Chen
Poster presentation: Online dance classes as fall prevention programming for women aged 65+

2022

The following awards were presented at the Annual PERFORM Centre Research Conference.

Ed Whitlock Award

Winner: Emily Carrese-Chacra

Emily Carrese-Chacra is completing a PhD in Clinical Psychology at Concordia University. As a member of the Stress, Interpersonal Relationships, and Health Laboratory, Emily's doctoral research aims to identify interpersonal processes that influence health behavior change in younger as well as older adults. More specifically, her research examines the specific interpersonal processes (i.e., social control, communal coping, autonomy support) that may play a role in how overweight or obese, cohabiting romantic partners influence each other as they attempt to alter their health behaviors (i.e., eating and physical activity habits) post the COVID-19 confinement period. This research will inform couples-based interventions for health behavior initiation and maintenance by highlighting key interpersonal processes clinicians need to target in their couple interventions. Moving forward, Emily will continue to focus on promoting health and wellbeing in the older adult community in her volunteer work, through her graduate training, and her future clinical practice.

Patricia Dudar Award ($500)

Winner: Christiane Meyer
Presentation title: Environmental desynchrony affects voluntary alcohol intake and emotionality during alcohol withdrawal in female rats
Winner: Stefanie A. Tremblay
Presentation title: Accounting for covariance in studies of multimodal microstructure — a model for multivariate quantification in health and disease

Réseau de recherche en santé cardiométabolique, diabète et obésité (CMDO) Award ($500)

Winner: Emily Marcotte
Poster presentation: Evaluation of motor functioning after Bmal1 Habenular knockout
Winner: Hanieh Mohammadi
Poster presentation: The Effect of Antihypertensive Treatment on Cerebral Pulsatility in Older Adults with Cardiovascular Risk Factors
Winner: Pascale Doherty-Haigh
Poster presentation: Impact of Bmal1 Knockout in the Nucleus Accumbens on Alcohol Drinking Behaviour