NHP Graduate Student Awardees

Ibrahim Ghanem is a PhD student in Human Geography at University of Toronto Mississauga, Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment. His research focuses on exploring the relationship between neighbourhood-built environment and health of immigrants in Canada. Utilizing quantitative methods and Geographic Information System (GIS), Ghanem will investigate how neighborhood walkability and food environments impact the health of Arab immigrants. Ghanem is supervised by Professor Kathi Wilson.

Ingrid Giesinger is a PhD candidate in epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Her research explores novel ways to consider the combined effect of multiple social determinants of health on multimorbidity risk. Ingrid will utilize machine learning methods to develop a theoretically informed social exposure measure, and evaluate the effect of total social exposure on multimorbidity incidence in Ontario. Ingrid is working under the supervision of Professor Laura Rosella.

Sonya Grewal is a MSc student in Health Services Research at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Using qualitative methods, her research will explore the barriers and enablers to accessing and using cancer genetics services among racialized and ethnic communities in Ontario. By understanding the needs, priorities and concerns of populations experiencing these disparities, Sonya's work will contribute to the co-design of interventions integral to equitable clinical genetics service delivery and outcomes. Sonya is supervised by Dr. Yvonne Bombard.

Ijeoma Itanyi is a Ph.D. Candidate in Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Her research aims to use machine learning and causal inference methods to examine and predict multimorbidity risk among adults in Ontario. Additionally, she will investigate disparities in multimorbidity risk across various population groups to inform health equity initiatives to improve population health. Ijeoma is co-supervised by Dr. Karen Tu and Dr. Laura Rosella.

Mary Anne Panoyan is a PhD Candidate in Anthropology with a specialization in Global Health at the Faculty of Arts and Science. Her research uses cross-disciplinary approaches to identify modifiable factors and biological markers that are associated with chronic disease to better understand disease etiology and prevention. Her current project focuses on determining the causal effect of cardiometabolic traits on Alzheimer’s Disease using large biobanks. Panoyan is co-supervised by Professor Esteban Parra and Assistant Professor Daniel Felsky. 

Scarlett Rakowska is a PhD student in the Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Her research focuses on using geospatial techniques to investigate the spatial associations of health diseases with exposure and accessibility to outdoor urban spaces. Her study aims to access noncommunicable diseases (e.g. type 2 diabetes) through a geospatial lens. Rakowska is supervised by Dr. Matthew Adams.