Lawrence Grierson, PhD
Lawrence is Associate Professor with the Department of Family Medicine (DFM), Scientist with the McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences' Program for Educational Research, Innovation, and Theory (MERIT), and Assistant Dean of the Health Sciences Education (HSED) Graduate Program at McMaster University. Lawrence leads the FSG Med Ed Research Lab.
Aimun Q Shah, BSc
Aimun is a full-time Research Assistant with the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. She has a bachelor’s degree is in Life Sciences (McMaster University). Aimun supports and leads a wide variety of FSG Med Ed research projects including those concerned with clinician experiences of moral distress, social innovations of medical school admissions, and the development of Patient Medical Home practices across Canada.
Augustine Okoh, MSc
Augustine is a PhD candidate in the Health Policy graduate program at McMaster University. He receives support from the David Braley Primary Care Research Collaborative. He has a bachelor’s degree in Medical Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy (University of Nigeria) and a master’s degree in Gerontology (University of Southampton). Augustine is pursuing thesis research concerned with bridging the gap in continuity of care during the long-term care transition process and contemplates the role of transdisciplinary interprofessional care of the elderly and health professions education in the process.
Asiana Elma, MSc
Asiana is a PhD student at the University of Toronto. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, she worked full-time as a Research Coordinator in the FSG Med Ed lab, where she supported and led various research projects. These projects focused on medical school admissions, family medicine education, and its influence on physician practice patterns and organization. Asiana’s doctoral research will focus on the implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) systems to support care coordination in team-based primary care models. Her work is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Doctoral Award.
Trishana Nayiager, MSc
Trish is a PhD Student in the Health Research Methodology graduate program at McMaster University. She has a bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences (Queen’s University) and a master’s degree in Health Research Methodology (McMaster University). Trish's research focuses on the integration of primary care providers into survivorship care for survivors of childhood cancer.
Thuy Anh Ngo, PhD
Thuy Anh is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. Thuy Anh receives support from the MITACS Accelerate Program. She has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Mathematics (Trinity University) and doctoral degree in Psychology (Nanyang Technological University). Thuy Anh leads research concerned with illuminating sources of systemic inequities in the medical school admission process.
Raquel Burgess, MSc MPhil
Raquel Burgess is a PhD Candidate at the Yale School of Public Health (expected fall 2024). Prior to her doctoral degree, she served as a full-time Research Assistant in the McMaster FSG Med Ed Lab, conducting qualitative and quantitative research on medical admissions and topics in family medicine. Her doctoral research is focused on advancing our ability to measure corporate activities that influence human health (e.g., harmful products, labour practices) and finding ways to incentivize corporations to better protect human health. Her doctoral studies have been supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Doctoral Foreign Study Award) and the International Chapter of the Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.)
Laurie Yang, BHSc
Laurie is a medical student at McMaster University completing a Horizontal Research Elective with the FSG lab. She supports and leads research concerned with medical school admission policies and primary care transformation.
Hila Shnitzer, BHSc
Hila Shnitzer is a medical student at the Michale G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Kinesiology from Queen’s University. Currently, she works as a Research Assistant in the McMaster Education Research, Innovation and Theory (MERIT) Program at McMaster University, supporting research that examines the implementation of the Patient Medical Home model in family medicine practices across Canada.
Joshua Choi, BHSc
Joshua is a Research Assistant with the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. His research interests lie in investigating the impact of artificial intelligence use in health education.
Jenny Zhao, BHSc
Jenny is a Research Assistant with the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University, providing research support on the integration of primary care providers into survivorship care for survivors of childhood cancer and various lab projects.
Naisha Dharia
Naisha is a Research Project student contributing to research efforts aimed at investigating the commercial determinants of health. Naisha begins her third year in the Health Sciences program at McMaster University in the fall of 2023.
Sana Gupta, BSc
Sana is a medical student at the University of Ottawa, with a bachelor's degree in Life Science (McMaster University). As a Research Assistant with the FSG lab, Sana is supporting research concerned with informing evidence-based practice and gaining comprehensive insights into routine care for survivors of childhood cancer.
Alfina Shahu
Alfina is a Research Project student contributing to the research on optimizing health information exchange during patient transitions into long-term care. Alfina will enter her fourth year in the Health and Society program at McMaster University this coming fall.
Kenneth Chen, BHSc
Kenneth is an alumnus of the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) program at McMaster University. During his time at the FSG lab, he worked under Raquel Burgess to evaluate the extent to which current environmental, social, and governance (ESG) frameworks account for corporate activities impacting human health, strengthening the understanding of commercial determinants of health as an emerging field of public health. Kenneth will begin his Master’s studies at the University of Toronto Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in fall 2024.
Savas Kim, BHSc
Savas is a Research Project Student with research interests lying in the commercial determinants of health and the role of health professions education in it. Savas just finished his fourth year in the Health Sciences program at McMaster University and graduated in May 2024.
Christine Lin
Christine is a Research Project Student and a fourth year Bachelor of Health Sciences student. Christine supports research on the impact of commercial activities on human health, as well as interventions to address these activities and the systems that enable them.
Rod Parsa
Rod is a medical student at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University. Prior to medicine, he was a management consultant in Toronto and Boston helping companies innovate and improve their bottom lines. His research interests include professional identity formation in medical school, as well as clinical research in oncology and medical imaging.
Rebekah Sibbald
Rebekah is a medical student at McMaster’s DeGroote School of Medicine. Prior to medicine, she worked in banking in a variety of roles spanning financial crime, digital technology, and learning & development. Her current research focuses on understanding how students with previous careers develop their professional identities in medical school.
Caroline Caswell
Caroline is a Research Project student supporting research on medical school admission policies and their upstream impacts. Caroline will enter her fourth year in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program at McMaster University in the Fall of 2024.
Angela Huang, BHSc
Angela is a Medical student at McMaster University completing a Horizontal Elective with the FSG Lab. Her research currently is focused on professional school admissions and upstream impacts of admissions policies on student behaviors and wellness
FSG Med Ed Lab 2023-2024
Photography by Mathew Mercuri