The pandemic may have continued to throw a spanner in the works for many, but it certainly didn’t slow down growth at CHÉOS. We welcomed a host of new long-term staff members to the team last year.
Let’s meet them…
Elisa Lau
Data Manager
Elisa joined CHÉOS in January 2021. She has previously worked at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) and the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD). Elisa holds a BSc in genomics from UBC.
Allison Coleman
Project Manager
Allison joined CHÉOS in February 2021. She has 11 years of clinical research coordination experience from the Department of Neurology and the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, UBC. Recently, she spent 4 years as a clinical project manager at the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre in the area of spinal cord injury research. Allison holds a BSc in Physics from UBC and is a Certified Clinical Research Professional with the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA).
Jennifer Leong
Program Operations Coordinator
Jennifer joined CHÉOS in March 2021 as a Program Operations Coordinator. She previously worked at the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada as the research and health promotion coordinator, where she helped to manage the research portfolio and delivered various health initiatives, including the BC Public Access to Defibrillation (PAD) Program. Jennifer holds a BSc in Food, Nutrition and Health from UBC.
Micah Piske
Project Coordinator
Micah Piske is a project coordinator working with Dr. Bohdan Nosyk. She holds an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a BSc from UBC. Her research has recently focused on the cascade of care for opioid use disorder, as well as maternal and neonatal health in the context of substance use and HIV.
Jeong Eun Min
Statistician
Jeong Eun Min is a statistician working with Dr. Bohdan Nosyk. She provides statistical support for various research projects related with HIV/AIDS and substance use disorder. She received her MSc in Statistics from Simon Fraser University.
Megan Kurz
Statistician
Megan received an MSc in statistics from SFU in 2020, with a thesis focused on survival analysis applied to retention in opioid agonist treatment. She works as a statistician under Dr. Bohdan Nosyk, leading and supporting statistical analyses for his research projects.
Emanuel Krebs
Health Economist
Emanuel Krebs is a senior health economist with the Health Economic Research Unit at CHÉOS. He is also a PhD student at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, holding a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Research Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. His research has spanned evaluation in HIV/AIDS and opioid use disorder. He completed his MA in Economics at Simon Fraser University and has expertise specializing in applied econometrics using administrative data, mathematical simulation modeling, and model-based health economic evaluation.
Benjamin Enns
Health Economist
Laura Dale
Project Coordinator
Laura Dale is a project coordinator working with Dr. Bohdan Nosyk. She has a BSc from McGill University and a Master’s degree in Public Health from UBC. Laura’s primary research interests are in the policies, programs, and systems surrounding substance use. She is interested in the translation of research evidence to facilitate policy decision-making, with a focus on health equity and the social determinants of health.
Fahmida Homayra
Statistician
Caro Lander
Operations Coordinator
Caro Lander joined CHÉOS’ HR team in May 2021. She has experience working with social services and non-profits, most recently in homelessness services as a shelter manager. She holds a BA from Oxford Brookes University in the UK, and certifications in non-profit management and communications.
Guiping Liu
Statistician
Guiping Liu joined CHÉOS in July 2021 as a statistician in Dr. Hubert Wong’s team. For the past 10 years, he has been a research analyst at UBC’s School of Population and Public Health. Guiping has extensive experience working with patient-reported outcomes data, administrative data, population census, and survey data for the evaluations of health services and policy, and in-depth studies of patient-level health inventions. Guiping holds a PhD in Demography.
Chidubem Okechukwu
Research Assistant
Chidubem joined CHÉOS in August 2021 as a research assistant for Dr. Wei Zhang’s Health Economics team. She most recently worked for the case and contact tracing team at VCH. Chidubem holds an MPH from UBC and an MBBS from the University of Nigeria, College of Medicine.
Elizabeth Semowo
Events & Engagement Specialist
Elizabeth Semowo joined CHÉOS in September 2021. She has over 15 years of cross-continental work experience as an event specialist and has worked with both private and government agencies to communicate ideas through events. Her expertise includes conceptualizing ideas and turning them into engaging events to communicate brand stories. In her years of experience, she has occupied roles such as programs coordinator at SafeCare BC, volunteer coordinator at Welcome Collective’s Winter Clothes Drive, amongst others. She has managed over a hundred projects back in her home country, Nigeria. Elizabeth holds a BA in English from the Lagos State University.
Alison Müller
Communications & Social Media Officer
Alison Müller joined CHÉOS in October 2021. While completing a PhD in physiology at the University of Alberta and a postdoctoral fellowship in digital health communications at UBC, she pursued various opportunities to engage the public about medical research. When she’s not helping our research reach a larger audience, she’s involved in other science communication ventures, including writing her biotech blog.
Zeba Khan
Research Coordinator
Zeba joined CHÉOS in October 2021 as a research coordinator for Dr. Sarah Munro to support the ‘Improving access to family planning services for Indigenous peoples through storytelling: The STORY Project’. She grew up in Bangladesh and immigrated to Canada in 2015 as an international student. She will continue to work with Dr. Sarah Munro on her Master’s project, investigating the barriers faced by immigrant youth in accessing sexual health care.
Amanda Reath
Grant Coordinator
Amanda Reath joined CHÉOS in October 2021. She graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with a BA in Political Science and Global Studies with Social Entrepreneurship and has a background in fundraising for health research. In her role, Amanda supports by finding and securing research funding.
Cindy Choi
Research Assistant
Cindy joined CHÉOS in October 2021 as a research assistant for Dr. Joseph Puyat’s team. Currently, Cindy is working toward a MSc in UBC’s School of Population and Public Health. Her research interest lies in investigating facilitators and barriers to accessing mental health services and identifying health disparities in young adults.
Lia Humphrey
Mathematical Modeler
Lia holds a MSc in Applied Mathematics from the University of Guelph. At CHÉOS, she specializes in the development and implementation of mathematical models used in research projects with the Health Economic Research Unit.
Sarah Blawatt
Research Coordinator
Sarah joined CHÉOS in December 2021 as a research coordinator for Dr. Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes and will be working on the ‘Program of Outcomes Research on Treatment with Injectables for Addiction (PORTIA) study’. Sarah comes to the team with over a decade of experience working in low-barrier, harm reduction service provision for people who use substances and has a background in social justice, gender studies, and critical theory. Currently, Sarah is a PhD Student with UBC’s School of Population and Public Health.
