Pat Forgione
Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
PEOPLE
Research team

Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows

Tiantian Chen
Postdoctoral Fellowship student

Jessica Chang
MSc student
Originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Jessica attended the University of Ottawa for her Honours BSc in Biopharmaceutical Science with a specialization in Medicinal Chemistry. After her bachelor's, she decided to come to Concordia University for her MSc in Chemistry with the Forgione Research Group. Here, Jessica is working on a methodology-based project exploring a new synthetic approach to thienopyrroles through Pd-catalysis.

Brandon Cigana
MSc student
Brandon received his BSc from Concordia University in 2020. Currently he is a MSc student in the Forgione Research Group. His research focuses on the development of synthetic methodologies to access structurally complex oligofurans from biomass-derived starting materials. In his free time, Brandon enjoys pleasant walks with his dog Luna and rewatching Ryan Reynolds movies.

Rafael A. Hernandez
PhD student
Rafael focuses on developing mechanochemical 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions reactions to synthesize heterocycles in a sustainable manner. In his free time, Rafael enjoys relaxing bike rides and appreciates a cold beverage on a warm day.

Keegan McKibbon
PhD student

Venelin Petkov
MSc student
Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, Venelin came to Canada at nine years old. He later got his BSc in Biochemistry at Concordia University. His graduate research is on the optoelectronic properties of doped fixed-length oligothiophenes. Personal hobbies include building and working with computers and learning about other types of science such as physics and engineering.

Sevag Pilavdjian
MSc student
Upon completing his BSc in Honours Chemistry at Concordia University, Sevag pursued his graduate studies in the Forgione Research Group. His research entails the design and synthesis of thiazole-based inhibitors for liver cancer treatment via C-H Activation strategies. In his free time, Sevag enjoys tutoring, playing video games (trying to be the best Pokémon player in Canada) as well as cooking and baking.

Phil Prevost
MSc student
Phil received his BSc from Simon Fraser University in Chemistry. His primary research focus is in medicinal chemistry for the development of potential broad-spectrum antibiotic compounds, with an emphasis on the synthesis of aliphatic amines and various heterocyclic amine groups. Ironically, he cannot properly read pH strips due to colour blindness.

Emma Shaver
MSc student
Emma completed her BSc at the University of Victoria. Currently, her primary research focus is in medicinal chemistry where she is working on developing potential chemotherapeutics. Nobody is more of a 2000s girl pop fan than her.
Past group members
- Cindy Buonomano, PhD (2014-2022)
- Cynthia Messina, PhD (2018 – 2022)
- Fei Chen, MSc (2012 – 2014), PhD (2014 – 2020)
- Franklin Chacón-Huete, PhD (2015 – 2019)
- Peter Liu, MSc (2016 – 2019)
- Fadil Tac, MSc (2015 – 2019)
- David Bendahan, MSc
- Daniel Mangel, MSc (2014–2016)
- Dirk Ortgies, PhD (2010–2014)
- Avid Hassanpour, PhD (2009–2013)
- Nicholas Wong, MSc (2010–2012)
- Arison Rajasingam, MSc (2010–2012)
Co-supervised by Christine DeWolf, PhD - Stéphane Sévigny, MSc (2009–2011)
- Giuliana Giacomini – 2022
- Negin Nabavi – 2022
- James Parsons – 2022
- Jeremy Wu – 2022
- Sabrina Pedicelli – 2021
- Sevag Pilavdjian – 2021
- Irini Trakakis – 2021
- Karina Wong – 2021
- Brandon Cigana – 2020
- Negin Niksirat – 2020
- Stephanie Patterson – 2020
- Keroles Soliman – 2020
- Kelly Burchell-Reyes – 2019
- Sam Babity – 2017
- Xue Bin – 2017
- Rafael Hernandez – 2017
- Alessandro Petrella – 2017
- Alexandre Shafeii – 2017
- Sydney Sullivan – 2017
- Paul Szavay – 2017
- Jonathan You – 2017
- Liana Zoubi – 2017
- Ishaq Syed Albiz – 2016
- Maythem Ali – 2016
- Michelle Barbagallo – 2016
- Donald Campbell – 2016
- Hassan El-Husseini – 2016
- Francesco Ferrato – 2016
- Steven Lalonde – 2016
- Cynthia Messina – 2016
- Kathia Pharand – 2016
- Melanie Ruck – 2016
- Ernesto Cuadra Foy – 2015
- Hassan El-Husseini – 2015
- Michele Langella – 2015
- Nathan Niskala – 2015
- Dustin Ng – 2013
- Sara Aly – 2010
- Barbara Moreno Panelli César – 2010
- Brigitte Desharnais – 2009
- Gabriel Derai – 2008
- Mike Mulholland – 2008