Research Staff
Miranda Butler
Research Coordinator
Email: mbutler@arthritisresearch.ca
About
Miranda recently earned her Kinesiology degree from the University of British Columbia. She was previously a research assistant in Dr. Jackie Whittaker’s Stop Osteoarthritis (SOAR) Clinical Trial before stepping into her current role as a research coordinator on the same project.
Shireen Divecha
Administrative Assistant
Tel: 604.207.4041
About
Shireen is an administrative assistant and provides administrative support to Dr. Linda Li and the research team at Arthritis Research Canada. Prior to joining Arthritis Research Canada, Shireen was an executive assistant at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and has over 12 years of experience supporting senior level executives.
Lourdes Gonzalez Arreola
Research Coordinator
Tel: 604.207.4040
About
Lourdes earned her MSc degree in Population and Public Health from the University of British Columbia. Over the past 3 years she worked with several different researchers at Arthritis Research Canada, coordinating projects at Mary Pack Arthritis Centre. She is now research coordinator to Dr. Antonio Aviña-Zubieta and Dr. Shahin Jamal on various projects including SUCCEED, INTACT, and CanRIO.
June Kaminski
Research Coordinator, RN, BSN, MSN, PhD Candidate
Tel: 604.207.4017
About
June has maternal blood ties to the Ketegaunseebee Anishnabai, Garden River First Nation in Northern Ontario. June is currently a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of British Columbia (UBC), with a focus on critical pedagogy, e-learning and nursing informatics. She earned both her Bachelors and Masters of Nursing from UBC and has taught BSN nursing students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) since 1989. She is currently the Curriculum Coordinator for a hybrid BSN Post Baccalaureate program which integrates Indigenous content and processes throughout the curriculum. In 2016, June was awarded the KPU Distinguished Teaching Award. She also teaches a course for the UBC Institute for Indigenous Health and UBC Indigenous Health and Community Administration program about information management, digital literacy, and community planning for information technology theory for community managers and health professionals. June has developed expertise in nursing informatics and is involved in a number of initiatives to support informatics competencies in nurses in Canada and internationally.
In 2012, June received the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) and Canada Health Infoway’s inaugural Nursing Faculty E-Health Award. This award recognizes nursing school faculty who demonstrate exceptional leadership and commitment to e-health in nursing education, and was part of a Clinicians-in-Training Initiative, aimed at improving the preparedness of graduates to work in a technology-enabled environment.June is President of the Canadian Nurses for Health and the Environment (CNHE), and encourages all Canadian nurses to become involved in promoting ecological sustainability on a national level. She feels the most logical source of sustainability wisdom that promotes ecological wholeness are traditional Indigenous teachings and philosophies.June is working as a Research Coordinator at Arthritis Research Canada, helping Dr. Diane Lacaille to develop and pilot culturally-relevant arthritis wellness programs in partnership with Haida Gwaii and Kwakiutl District Council communities. She is also working on a Case Manager pilot project with these two communities to promote comprehensive community-based care for people with arthritis. She is dedicated to promoting Indigenous health, education, and self-governance. She is also keenly interested in the use of emerging technologies to promote holistic health for all Canadians, including e-health, mobile devices, wearable tools, and telehealth initiatives.
Ayesha Kirmani
Research Assistant, MBBS
Tel: 604.207.4007
About
Ayesha is a research assistant currently working on the INTACT study under the supervision of Dr. Antonio Aviña-Zubieta. She is an international medical graduate and holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, Pakistan.
Astrid Knight
Research Coordinator, MSc
Email: aknight@arthritisresearch.ca
Tel: 604.207.4005
About
Astrid Knight is a research coordinator with Diane Lacaille’s team. She received her MSc in Anthropology from the University of Oxford in 2010, and was awarded a Clarendon Scholarship for her graduate research into knowledge sharing and Inuit material culture. Bringing significant skills in community-engagement and collaborative research, Astrid has previously worked at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Oxford.
Makshada Kowlessur
Research Coordinator
About
Makshada earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Simon Fraser University. She has been working on multiple clinical trials for Dr.Chan and Dr. Carruthers for over 3.5 years at Artus Health Centre. Recently, she started working on projects with Dr.Kun Huang and Dr.Hyein Kim.
Leo Lu
Statistician, MPH
Email: llu@arthritisresearch.ca
Tel: 604.207.4045
About
Na Lu(Leo) obtained his MPH degree (concentrating in Biostatistics & Epidemiology) from the Boston University in 2014. Before joining Arthritis Research Canada he was a statistical analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston as well as an epidemiologist at the Clinical Epidemiology Research and Training Unit at the Boston University. Currently he is working on the PRECISION project as a statistician at Arthritis Research Canada. His research interests include assessing the comparative effectiveness of rheumatic medications; investigating the epidemiology of rheumatic disorders; and applying advanced epidemiologic methods to clinical and pharmacoepidemiologic studies. He authored/coauthored over 50 manuscripts, during the past three years, published in top rheumatic journals.
Ainsley Needham
Research Assistant
About
Ainsley Needham is a 4th-year Neuroscience student in the Behavioural & Cognitive stream at the University of British Columbia. She is a research assistant working on the INTACT study under the supervision of Dr. Antonio Aviña-Zubieta.
Helen Prlic
Research Team Coordinator, MA
Email: hprlic@arthritisresearch.ca
Tel: 604.207.4008
About
Helen Prlic earned her MA from the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at York University and her BSc in Biopsychology from the University of British Columbia. She has experience in a variety of health fields and has worked in academic, public, and private sector settings. Her expertise is in project coordination and resource management for large-scale, multidisciplinary health research studies and knowledge mobilization projects. She has a background in research methods, survey development, and patient partner collaboration.
In her 20+ years with Arthritis Research Canada, Helen has coordinated and managed multiple research projects—including four team grants—co-led the “ACTION – Arthritis Connection through Information, Outreach, Network” community outreach program that provided public access to the latest arthritis research, and produced dozens of videos on arthritis research, some recognized by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research as innovative knowledge translation tools and others used as teaching tools to train health professionals.
As a member of Dr. Linda Li’s arthritis and implementation science research team, Helen is currently the Western Regional Research Coordinator for Small Steps for Big Changes – an exercise and counselling-based program for people with prediabetes being implemented across Canada and in Australia.
Pam Rogers
Research Coordinator, MA
Email: progers@arthritisresearch.ca
Tel: 604.207.4016
About
Pamela Rogers is a research coordinator to Dr. Diane Lacaille at Arthritis Research Canada. She has a BA from the University of British Columbia in Human Geography and Film with a Masters in Adult Education focusing on documentary film as an educational medium. Working with several different researchers at Arthritis Research Canada, she has coordinated many projects for over 15 years. She has provided recruitment, data management, and analysis support for these many varied projects. She reads and writes poetry in her spare time. Research Project:
- Arthritis and Employment: Making it Work!
Monika Szpunar
Knowledge Mobilization Associate, MSc, PhD
About
Monika provides knowledge mobilization support to Arthritis Research Canada leadership, trainees, scientists, and the Arthritis Patient Advisory Board. Monika completed a Master of Science and PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Science at the University of Western Ontario, specializing in Health Promotion.
Jeremiah Tan
Research Assistant
Email: jtan@arthritisresearch.ca
Tel: 604.207.4036
About
Jeremiah Tan earned his BSc in Biology from the University of British Columbia. He currently works on a variety of studies under the supervision of Dr. Antonio Aviña-Zubieta and Dr. Neda Amiri.
Stephanie Therrien
Research Coordinator, BA
Tel: 604.207.4027
About
Stephanie Therrien earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees, one in Psychology and one in Criminology alongside a Counselling and Human Development Minor from Simon Fraser University. She is currently a research coordinator to Dr. Linda Li at Arthritis Research Canada and is coordinating The Falls Prevention (OTAGO-IST) and Citizen Science studies. She is also involved in the OPERAS rheumatoid arthritis and Knee Health App studies.
Sofia Rieger-Torres
Research Assistant, BSc
About
Sofia Rieger-Torres earned her BSc in Biology from the University of British Columbia. She currently works on a variety of studies, as a research assistant, under the supervision of Dr. Alice Mai, Dr. Raheem Kherani, Dr. Neda Amiri and Dr. Natasha Dehghan.
Mandy Yu
Research Assistant, 4th Year BSc
Email: myu@arthritisresearch.ca
About
Mandy Yu is a fourth-year Biology major with a minor in Data Science at the University of British Columbia. She is a research assistant for the INTACT study, working under the supervision of Dr. Antonio Aviña-Zubieta.
Yufei Zheng
Statistician, MPH, MA
Email: yzheng@arthritisresearch.ca
Tel: 604.207.4034
About
Yufei Zheng is a statistician currently working on the PRECISION project with Dr. Aviña and Dr. Xie. He has a MPH from the University of Alberta and a MA from Renmin University of China. He also has a Data Science Certificate of Microsoft Professional Program. Before Joining Arthritis Research Canada he worked as a health economist and biostatistician in the Institute of Health Economics in Edmonton. His research focuses on statistical and economic evaluation of health care program using observational data.
Jackson Zhou
Nutritional Science Student (3rd Year)
Email: jzhou@arthritisresearch.ca
About
Jackson Zhou is a 3rd year Nutritional Science student at the University of British Columbia. He is a research assistant working on the INTACT study under the supervision of Dr. Antonio Aviña-Zubieta.
