ACHRI Trainee Association
ACHRI Trainee Association (ACHRITA) is an association for all ACHRI trainees (graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and postgraduate medical and clinical fellows).
Our Mandate:
To foster a sense of community among ACHRI trainees and postdocs, enhance training experiences and represent the interests of trainees.
We Aim To:
- provide academic and professional development opportunities to gain expertise through workshops and collaborations with other research institutes
- encourage trainees to become active community members through outreach and volunteer opportunities
- foster strong relationships among trainees through social events and networking
ACHRITA Executive Team
Anamika Choudhary
President
Anamika is a PhD student supervised by Drs. Morris Scantlebury and Cezar Gavrilovici. Her research focuses on the role of acid sensing ion channels in controlling the anti-seizure effects of the ketogenic diet in a pediatric epilepsy called infantile spasms.
Omar Kinawi
Vice-President & Treasurer
Omar is an MSc Student supervised by Dr. Mary Dunbar. His research focuses on understanding the role of infant sex in the characteristics and timing of symptoms of arterial ischemic stroke in newborns using volumetric MRI analysis.
Mannthalah Abubaker
Education Committee Co-Director
Dr. Mannthalah Abubaker is a postdoctoral associate with Dr. Sarah Childs. She has a PhD in biomedical engineering and specializes in mechanobiology. Her current work focuses on brain vascular development, particularly the role of mural cells in development. As Education Committee Co-Director, she is committed to fostering accessible and interdisciplinary learning opportunities that connect science, community and mentorship.
Ceilidh McConnell
Education Committee Co-Director
Ceilidh McConnell is a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology, working under the supervision of Dr. Deinera Exner-Cortens. Her research focuses on the prevention of sexual violence in the post-secondary setting and exploring how to engage men in those prevention efforts.
Chloe Scholten
Social and Community Outreach Co-Director
Chloe is an MSc student in neuroscience supervised by Dr. Catherine Lebel. Her research uses structural MRI to gain an understanding of how prenatal alcohol exposure influences brain structure and mental health symptoms during adolescence.
Amsal Rajan
Social and Community Outreach Co-Director
Amsal is an MSc student supervised by Dr. Kara Murias. His research explores the impact of non-invasive brain stimulation on executive functioning in children with ADHD.
Nicole Camacho Soto
EDI Director
Nicole is a second-year PhD student in the Clinical Psychology program, supervised by Dr. Deinera Exner-Cortens. Her research focuses on developing prevention programs for adolescent dating violence to promote healthy relationships, prevent domestic violence, and disrupt the intergenerational cycle of violence.
Courtney Gilchrist
Elected Rep: Postdoctoral Researcher
Courtney is a postdoctoral fellow supervised by Dr. Catherine Lebel. Her research uses a multi-modal MRI approach to characterize brain development in the context of early life events, with a particular focus on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).
Ember Larson
Elected Rep: Graduate Student
Ember is a first-year MSc student in Kinesiology, supervised by Drs. Jonathan Smirl and Carolyn Emery. Her research is looking at cognitive processing in female adolescent rugby players and the potential for change in response to head acceleration events, concussions, and in comparison to non-collision sport athletes, to promote brain health and awareness during a sensitive period of development.
Founding Members
Areefa Alladin, Meghan Maiani, Conné Lategan, Anna MacKinnon, Bevin Wiley and Joanna Keough.
Past Executives
Bevin Wiley, Meghan Maiani, Aliza Jaffer, Anna Bourgeois, Mashiat Zaman, Abhishek Sharma, Tiffany Bell, Shefali Rai, Alam Randhawa, Zahra Clayborne, Mohammad Ghasoub, Rumika Mascarenhas, Areefa Alladin, Jessica Youngblood, Paulina Hart.
ACHRITA is a volunteer association comprised of ACHRI and Owerko Centre trainees and postdoctoral fellows. Their work is supported by generous community donations through the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation.