Past Research Award Recipients

Brent Rosenstein

I am a Master of Science candidate in the department of Health, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology. My research project is on the “Short- and Long-Term Changes in Cognitive Function After Exercise-Based Rehabilitation in People with COPD”. The aim is to compare the effects of three different exercise-training protocols on cognition in senior patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the third most common cause of mortality worldwide and in Canada. Although COPD cannot currently be cured, it is possible to slow down disease progression with pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). PR, which combines exercise training, self-management education, and psychosocial support, has become widely recognized as a core component in the management of COPD. Seniors with COPD have a higher risk of developing mild cognitive impairment compared to their age-matched counterparts without COPD. Cognitive impairment can lead to functional disability and memory loss which, in turn, can result in a reduced quality of life. Early detection and management of this comorbidity could thus have an important impact on treatment outcomes. Pulmonary rehabilitation, particularly the exercise training component, has been proposed as a promising approach to mitigate cognitive declines in seniors with COPD. My research project has the potential to identify the optimal aerobic training intervention to improve or maintain cognitive function in seniors with COPD. It could therefore help improve their quality of life by increasing their exercise tolerance and cognitive function, which could lead to improvements in overall health-enhancing behavior change, functional status and autonomy. My long-term goal is to remain involved in research projects that use exercise as an intervention.

Kerri Delaney

The aim of my research is to further develop our understanding of how obesity leads to the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D). In Canada, the number of individuals who suffer from T2D has almost doubled in the past 10 years, with individuals who are 65 years or over having the highest rate of new diagnosis. Individuals with obesity are two times more likely to develop T2D than healthy weight comparisons, however not everyone who is obese develops T2D. Recent evidence has indicated that changes of the cellular activity in fat tissue may be to blame. Fat tissue from different regions of the body can vary greatly in inflammatory markers, immune cell presence and fat cell size and number, all of which can be related to insulin resistance. The objectives of my thesis project are to compare the effects of obesity and T2D on regional inflammation, immune cell presence, and fat cell characteristics and to determine how weight loss modulates changes in these outcomes. Furthering our knowledge in these areas will help to improve obesity and T2D prevention and management programs, promoting increased quality of life and healthier aging.

Dr. Dana A. Hayward

Dana Hayward earned her B.Sc degree in Human Behavioural Biology from the University of Toronto, and a B.Ed from York University. After teaching high school science for a few years, she began her graduate studies at McGill University. Her graduate work investigated social and non-social attention, including how it varies across individuals or populations (e.g., autism spectrum disorder) and how it is influenced by motivation and reward. Following this, she came to Concordia University as a postdoctoral fellow to be trained in neuroimaging, with a focus on exploring the link between individual differences in cognitive processes and mental/physical health. One such project is focusing on the role of various brain processes and their link with attention for social, emotional, and non-social information, along with level of physical fitness and depressive symptomology.

Dr. Yiming Xiao

Yiming Xiao earned his Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Electrical Engineering Honours program at McGill University in 2009. He gained his first research experience in neuro-imaging under the guidance of Dr. Tal Arbel on the topic of MRI intensity normalization for Multiple-Sclerosis patients during his time at McGill. In 2011, Dr. Xiao completed his Master of Engineering degree in Biomedical Engineering with Dr. Louis Collins at the Montreal Neurological Institute. His thesis proposed a new multi-contrast MRI sequence to improve the visualization of the basal ganglia for the surgical treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Later, he pursued his doctoral studies also under the supervision of Dr. Louis Collins with a focus on image-guided surgery and medical imaging analysis. His research interests lie in combining neuroscience, computer science, and signal processing to improve the understanding and treatment of neurological diseases. In his free time, he is a photographer and visual artist.
 

Aude Jegou

Aude Jegou received her Biomedical Engineering degree from ESIR (Ecole Supérieur d’ingénieur de Rennes) University of Rennes in France in 2015. She is currently a Masters student in Concordia’s Department of Physics. Ms. Jegou is conducting her research under the supervision of Dr. Christophe Grova and Dr. Thanh Dang-Vu. For her Masters project she will study the effect of sleep deprivation on brain function during sleep recovery using simultaneous EEG-fMRI acquisitions.
 

Dr. Maryse Fortin

Dr. Maryse Fortin graduated from Concordia University in the Athletic Therapy/Exercise Science program in 2008. As a certified Athletic Therapist, she then opened her sports medicine clinic in Montreal, and worked with a great variety of athletes from all disciplines and levels of competition for 3 years. During that period, Dr. Fortin also worked in a breast cancer center, Ville-Marie Women’s Fitness and Wellness Center, where she evaluated and treated patients pre- and post-surgery. Dr. Fortin received her PhD in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Alberta in 2013. Her PhD work focused on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) measurement of paraspinal muscle degenerative changes (e.g. asymmetry, atrophy, fatty infiltration) in relation to painful conditions of the lumbar spine. Dr. Fortin also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University and worked with a group of orthopedic spine surgeons, where she further explored and developed novel three-dimensional MRI measures of spinal cord compression and cervical muscle morphology in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy.

Dr. Fortin’s research is primarily focused on the development of new MRI measures of spine degeneration in order to improve the diagnostic value of medical imaging and advance current knowledge in the epidemiology, prognosis, and treatment of cervical and low back pain. Her primary goals as a researcher are to improve patients’ quality of life by contributing to the understanding, diagnosis, and management of common spinal disorders.

Caroline Fitzpatrick, Ph.D. 

Born and raised in Montreal, Canada Dr. Caroline Fitzpatrick is currently examining environmental and psychosocial factors associated with mental and physical health outcomes in children at risk of obesity. Dr. Fitzpatrick has a Ph.D. from the University of Montreal and has previously been awarded a Fulbright post-doctoral award to examine how children’s experiences and environments influence their eventual academic achievement and health at New York University. Dr. Fitzpatrick is also a Lecturer at McGill University in the Faculty of Education and Counselling Psychology, and a visiting researcher at the University of Johannesburg. Her work has been published in several influential journals and has been featured by worldwide media outlets such as BBC World, Time, and the Wall Street Journal.