Jennifer McArthur, MSc I have an undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Manitoba, and I am currently working towards my M.Sc. in Community Health Sciences with a specialization in aging. My research interests include the health and health services use of older adults, social behaviour and networks in older adults, and age friendly environments

Leigh McClarty, MSc I received my BSc (Hons) from the University of Manitoba, with a major in microbiology and a minor in zoology. I am currently in my final year of the MSc program in Community Health Sciences with a focus on global public health. My research interests broadly lie in examining health inequities in low-income settings, specifically relating to access to health care and services for vulnerable and marginalised communities. My MSc thesis focuses on potential barriers and facilitators to future HIV vaccine acceptability and uptake among male and female sex workers in India.

Leah Crockett, MSc Leah Crockett completed a Bachelor of Health Sciences from the University of Manitoba (2012) and is currently working towards a M.Sc. in Community Health Sciences. Her research interests include rural and remote access to care, epidemiology, and maternal child health at the population level, particularly concerned with the social and structural determinants of health and the influence of health and social policy aimed at improving health equity. For her master’s thesis, she will examine the longer-term (early childhood) health and educational outcomes among late preterm/early term births in Manitoba, with a specific focus on the impact of socioeconomic status and gestational age on outcomes.

Erynne Sjoblom, MSc Erynne Sjoblom is a M.Sc. student in the Department of Community Health Sciences. Her research interests include mental health, global health, and the health of Aboriginal peoples. She has been actively involved in global and local research initiatives, having investigated child nutrition in the Dominican Republic, treatment outcomes at a child mental health agency in Calgary, and Metis rights and traditional land use with the Manitoba Metis Federation. Her proposed thesis project seeks to explore, qualitatively, how community and family self-determinance plays a role in mental health outcomes in First Nations Tribal Council Areas in Manitoba.

Andrea Blanchard, MSc After growing up in Winnipeg, I moved to India for six years where I finished high school. I completed my undergraduate degree in International Development Studies at the University of Winnipeg. Through these experiences I developed an interest in researching socio-cultural factors underlying poor health and particularly among women. For my Master’s degree I am working on a study to better understand violence risk faced by women in sex work in south India.

Sarah Turner, MSc I graduated in spring 2013 from the Faculty of Human Ecology with a Bachelor of Health Science and minors in Psychology and Biology. I am passionate about healthy living and the importance of the community environment for making positive health choices. I am interested in the researching the factors that influence children’s health status and what can be done from a public health standpoint to improve these outcomes.  My goal is to work in the government sector creating policies and programs to improve the health status of Canadians.

Thomas Steur, MSc I am an Occupational Therapist with an interest in adult mental health. My research interest is in treatment seeking in mental health care and the medicalization of human distress, which I seek to understand from historical and structural perspectives in hope of untangling pathology from normal and adaptive human responses to stressful social, economic, and physical circumstances.

 

Shivoan Balakumar, MSc I completed my B.Sc. in 2008 with a combined major in Biology and Psychology from the University of Victoria. In 2011-12, I participated in the Western Regional Training Centre (WRTC) for health services research program at the University of Manitoba. My current research interests primarily stem from my experiences doing recreational programming for non-profit, inner-city, youth-serving agencies prior to entering the department. I am very interested in health equity, health promotion and inner-city population health. I am also interested in improving research and evaluation capacity for non-profits and community based organizations in MB. For my MSc thesis, I hope to perform a youth centred exploration of health risk behaviours among Winnipeg’s inner-city youth, with an aim to inform targeted prevention strategies.

I graduated in the spring of 2012 with my Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree from the University of Manitoba with a major in Sociology and a minor in Psychology. My research interests include aging and the issues surrounding aging in Canada, such as the type and quality of care provided through home care and long-term care facilities. For my Honours thesis, I focused on regional and provincial variations in the home care system in Canada. At the Master’s level, my goal is to continue to pursue my interests in aging, focusing on long-term care facilities and the care provided within them.

Elizabeth Wall-Wieler, MSc

I have recently completed my undergrad in Statistics at the University of Winnipeg.  I am interested in Aboriginal and Environmental Health research.

Sneha Abraham, MSc

I am a first year MSc student in Community Health Sciences. My interests are in public health, health services research, evaluation of complex health interventions and knowledge translation. For my thesis, I plan to examine the issues surrounding the care and support of the elderly and their caregivers. I am also interested in studying how research can benefit communities and decision makers. I have a HBA in health studies (research specialist) and human biology from the University of Toronto. For my undergraduate health studies research project I examined how community health centres in the City of Toronto use data to plan programs and services that address health inequities. I previously worked as a research assistant in evaluation and medical education technology settings at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto and University of Toronto. I look forward to be a student in the Community Health Sciences program at the University of Manitoba and to learn from my instructors and fellow classmates.

Janelle de Rocquigny, MSc

I have completed a B.Sc. at the Université de Saint-Boniface (then Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface) in 2005 and a B.A. Honours in Psychology at the University of Manitoba in 2008. My master’s thesis will focus on early childhood development in the Franco-Manitoban community, using the Early Development Instrument and other administrative data available through the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. Recent research projects include early childhood literacy programs in the Franco-Manitoban community, the health and healthcare utilisation of Francophones in Manitoba, as well as the availability and accessibility of French-language health services in Manitoba. Currently, I work part-time at the Université de Saint-Boniface as a research coordinator for the Transdisciplinary Community Health Project. In January 2013, I will be teaching Community Psychology at the Université de Saint-Boniface.

Loreno Plastino, MSc

I completed my BSc. (Hon) in Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of British Columbia. After my undergraduate degree, I spent time living and working in the L’Arche community of people with and without intellectual disabilities in Winnipeg. During this time, I came to be interested in the health and health care of individuals with an intellectual disability. I will use my Master’s thesis to research and describe the accessibility of health care and development programs for children with intellectual disabilities in Manitoba.
 

∗ web coordinator: Iryna.Tsybukh@med.umanitoba.ca