Owerko Centre Award Recipients

Ravi Bullock

Supervisors: Dr. Matthias Wilms and Dr. Nils Forkert 

"I am grateful for receiving the Owerko Centre Graduate Scholarship. My research focuses on pediatric stroke, an important yet underexplored contributor to childhood morbidity and mortality. Specifically, I am using a machine learning method called brain age prediction to determine the impact of pediatric stroke on neurodevelopment. In this method, models are trained on data from individuals with typical neurodevelopment to learn normative patterns of brain aging. Then, these trained models are applied to data from individuals with various medical conditions to quantify potential neurodevelopmental deviations from the norm. My work is intended to provide novel insight into how neurodevelopment evolves following pediatric stroke and inform more personalized and effective approaches to rehabilitation." 

Farzaneh Nobakht

Supervisor: Dr. Guang Yang 

"My study focuses on understanding how an autism risk gene CSDE1 shapes neuronal identity during brain development and how its disruption contributes to autism spectrum disorder. Using a transgenic mouse model, I will investigate the link between molecular changes to behavioural outcomes to uncover the disease mechanisms and potential therapeutic strategies. My long-term goal is to lead an independent research program in neurodevelopmental biology that bridges fundamental discoveries with translational applications, while fostering inclusive, collaborative science through mentorship and STEM outreach."

Giulia Riondino

Supervisor: Dr. Kelly Dean Schwartz 

"I am currently completing my Master's degree in the School and Applied Child Psychology program. My research project centers around first responder families and their exposure to occupational stress and trauma. Specifically, I am examining the impact of posttraumatic stress symptoms on family functioning, well-being, and response to intervention in spouses of first responders. I have a passion for working with children exposed to trauma and maltreatment. My goal is to create and facilitate accessible intervention that helps strengthen family systems and child-parent dynamics."

Ozge Senoz

Supervisor: Dr. Paul Arnold 

"My research integrates genomic and EEG data to investigate heritable brain markers of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in youth. I focus on two event-related potential components - Error-Related Negativity (ERN) and delta error positivity (ΔPe) - as candidate endophenotypes that may mediate links between polygenic risk scores (PRS) and symptoms. By combining child EEG, clinical data, and PRS from children and parents, I aim to clarify how genetic liability shapes brain function in OCD. I am deeply committed to this work, striving to improve lives and advance our understanding of OCD. Receiving the Owerko Centre Graduate Scholarship is a great honour. It validates the importance of my research, provides significant financial support, and enhances my motivation."

Samar Singh

Supervisor: Dr. Gerry Giesbrecht 

"My long-term career goal is to become a clinical neuropsychologist specializing in child development and mental health. I am particularly interested in understanding the factors that make infants and children vulnerable to poor mental health and neurodevelopmental challenges. My research explores how prenatal programming and early-life environments contribute to long-term outcomes, with a focus on both biological and environmental influences. I am especially curious about the role of protective factors, such as access to green and blue spaces, in supporting resilience. I am deeply grateful to the Owerko Centre for supporting my academic and research journey."

Erika Tjostheim

Supervisor: Dr. Tamara Bodnar

"I am a Master’s student in the Healthy Generations Lab, supervised by Dr. Tamara Bodnar. My project is exploring the connection between immune and cardiac health of children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and Autistic children. My research aim is to better understand the pathophysiology of these two neurodevelopmental disorders in children. This may help with the discovery of better biomarkers for FASD and Autism, which can assist in correcting the historical underdiagnoses of these conditions."   

Ishnoor Nahal

Supervisor: Dr. Sarah MacEachern 

"I am grateful to have received the Owerko Centre Knowledge Dissemination and Engagement Award. In the past two years, I have worked in partnership with 38 neurodiverse youth, their caregivers, and pediatric physicians to create a novel sleep education intervention named Nova Sleepcare. Throughout this project, we have created a user-friendly website (www.novasleepcare.com) offering co-designed sleep resources. With ongoing translations and active community partnerships, I am excited to continue sharing research and evidence in accessible language to diverse end-users. Thank you to the Owerko Centre for this award! 

Stephanie Andreasen

Supervisor: Dr. Carly McMorris 

Stephanie received the Owerko Centre Graduate Scholarship in 2024 which allowed her to continue her pursuit of research in the area of services and supports for mental health in Autistic youth. The Owerko Centre Publication Award recognizes one of her recent publications in this area, "Where are all the services? Mapping community-based services for Canadian autistic youth with co-occurring mental health conditions" in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Stephanie completed her MSc degree in June 2025, and will be starting her PhD in School and Applied Child Psychology program, continuing under the supervision of Dr. Carly McMorris. In addition to her research skills, Stephanie brings over 15 years of experience working in the disability services field supporting children, youth, and adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families. Stephanie’s research interests include the mental health of late diagnosed autistic girls and women, as well as understanding and improving accessibility of mental health services for neurodivergent youth and young adults.

Jenney Zhu

Supervisor: Dr. Sheri Madigan 

"It is an honour to receive the Owerko Centre Publication Award for my research on the intergenerational transmission of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) across two generations within the same family. As part of this work, we conducted the first meta-analysis synthesizing all existing research on the association between caregiver and child ACEs. Our findings revealed a significant link: higher levels of caregiver ACEs were associated with greater ACE exposure in their children.

A central aim of this research was to inform meaningful changes in public policy and clinical practice—especially by promoting the adoption of trauma-informed care models that can help break the cycle of adversity passed from one generation to the next. This award will support my dissertation research which aims to identify early environmental factors that create vulnerabilities in children’s developmental trajectories, with the goal of informing upstream support efforts for families."

Xinyuan Li

Supervisor: Dr. Catherine Lebel 

"I am very thrilled to be awarded the Owerko Centre Pathways to Independence Grant as it provides enormous support for my research examining relationships between new immigrants’ material hardship during pregnancy, infant brain development and behaviour. Making the most of this grant, I hope that my research will help better understand the neural correlates and postnatal mental health factors via which immigration-related maternal hardship can impact child development, and the necessity of strengthening maternity care among newly-arriving migrant women. Moreover, this grant is vitally important for trainees to acquire advanced skills and accumulate novel pilot data for the launch of their future independent research of child brain development and mental health."

Leila Razaei

Supervisor: Dr. Gerry Giesbrecht 

"I am honoured to be awarded the Owerko Centre Pathways to Independence Grant, which marks a pivotal step in my journey as an independent researcher. This funding provides essential support to advance my project, which applies innovative metabolic modeling approaches to investigate how gut microbial functions influence early childhood brain development. By integrating metagenomic and neurodevelopmental data from the Pregnancy During the COVID-19 Pandemic (PDP) cohort, my work aims to uncover the biological mechanisms linking microbial metabolism to neurodevelopmental outcomes during this critical period. This opportunity not only enables me to generate impactful findings that could inform early interventions but also strengthens my foundation for securing future external funding. I am deeply grateful for the Owerko Centre’s investment in early-career researchers and excited to contribute meaningful insights to the field."

Li Shu

Supervisor: Dr. Paul Arnold 

"The Owerko Centre Pathways to Independence Grant represents a meaningful step forward in my research journey. This funding will help me develop my "Data-Bridge Framework," which connects neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative research through computational approaches. With this support, I'll be better equipped to work with complex neuroscience data and develop predictive models for neurodevelopmental disorders. The grant also provides resources to grow my independent research program, foster collaborations across disciplines, and move scientific findings toward clinical applications. This support is an important milestone as I work toward establishing myself in computational neuroscience and neurodevelopmental research."

Erika Tjostheim

Supervisor: Dr. Tamara Bodnar

“I am a master’s student in the Healthy Generations Lab run by Dr. Tamara Bodnar. I am very grateful to have been awarded the Owerko Centre Training and Community Grant. This funding will allow me to strengthen my research project by including lived experience from the children and families impacted Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in my study approach, and give back to the community through education workshops. Funding like this is important to trainees because it allows us to build relationships with the communities with which we work. These relationships help trainees ensure we are working to meet the needs of the communities we study, and hopefully help translate our research into policy and progress.”

Dr. Amelia Austin

Supervisor: Dr. Gina Dimitropoulos

"I am incredibly grateful for the funding provided by the Owerko Centre, which will allow me to travel to the Eating Disorders and Autism Collaborative at the University of Edinburgh. This opportunity will enable me to deepen my understanding of how to best conduct research with and for neurodiverse young people with eating disorders. As a postdoctoral researcher, this support is invaluable during this critical stage in my career, where every opportunity for growth and collaboration makes a significant impact."

Bevin Wiley

Supervisor: Dr. Kara Murias

“The support of the Owerko Centre Training and Education Grant will be instrumental in my graduate education. This funding will allow me to participate in a lab visit to the McLean Hospital in Boston with Dr. Joshua Brown. I will engage in research aimed at understanding the mechanism of non-invasive brain stimulation with psychoactive medications in a hospital setting. This research is directly applicable to my thesis using non-invasive brain stimulation in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who often take different psychoactive medications. This unique opportunity to experience another training environment is important for gaining valuable research skills that will hopefully inform future child health research studies. I am very grateful to the Owerko Centre for all their support!”

Jessica Youngblood

Supervisor: Dr. Elizabeth Condliffe 

"As I am approaching the successful completion of my PhD, I am exploring seeking new opportunities for continued development of my research skills. My current research focuses neurorehabilitation, specifically technological innovation aimed at improving function and quality of life for children with disabilities. This funding will make it possible for me to attend the Summer School on Neurorehabilitation (SSNR) in Spain. This summer school provides a unique learning experience and opportunity for direct training in new methodologies and techniques that are directly relevant to my research interests and brings neurorehabilitation experts from all over the world to speak to and learn with students. This is an incredible opportunity that I wouldn’t have been able to attend without this funding from The Owerko Center. That’s why I believe funding like this is so important for trainees and postdoc, it opens up important educational opportunities that trainees may not have access to otherwise."

Dr. Myka Estes

“I manage the Precision Neurodevelopment lab which is focused on improving the lives of children with profound disabilities. I came to this work via a circuitous path as I have worked in many fields (e.g., cancer biology, immunology, molecular neuroscience, infectious disease) and at many stages of development (drug development through Phase IV clinical trials). My current work is both the most challenging and most rewarding of my career. I love our lab’s focus on pragmatism: we aim to help families now with the tools we have currently and, in parallel, develop new tools in collaboration with impacted families. It is a great gift to feel that the work you do has an impact for families and that this mission is shared across the Owerko Centre.”

Dr. Myka Estes, PhD, Research Manager
Dr. Sarah MacEachern's lab 

Selma Low

“I am honoured to receive the Owerko Centre Staff Recognition Award for my work supporting the P3 Cohort study and P3 Brain Health sub-study. My energy is sustained by the many wonderful families I meet and the stories they share about their experiences with preterm birth. I am also privileged to work alongside a passionate and collaborative team of researchers every day. I believe both the families and our team are motivated by the same goal, which is to utilize the data we are collecting to improve outcomes for future parents and their babies.” 

Selma Low, Research Coordinator
Dr. Lara Leijser's lab