We’re a group of graduate students, postdocs, early university faculty, early industry professionals, and early clinicians in psychology and neuroscience fields who are here to answer your questions. Whether you have general questions about graduate programs in psychology and/or neuroscience or seek guidance in the process of obtaining faculty positions or industry jobs, the various mentors in our network can help. Collectively, we’ve all been there and know how important it was for us to have someone to talk to answer our questions and provide guidance.
Current Mentors
Master's Students/Candidates (2)
Tolu Faromika
Tolu is a Masters student in the Adult Clinical Psychology program (Neuropsychology Stream), supervised by Dr. Shayna Rosenbaum, at York University. Her research focuses on spatial memory and the myriad of conditions that could disrupt the spatial navigation process. She completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough and has a variety of research/clinical experiences across age populations. Tolu's academic journey has been marked by numerous awards, including the Heart & Stroke Master's Personnel Award, the VISTA Training Scholarship, and CGS-M (NSERC) Scholarship. Beyond her academic pursuits, Tolu is deeply engaged in community service and advocacy through her work with the African Impact Initiative. She also founded The BrainCore Podcast which aims to bridge the gap between academia and the general public, making research more accessible globally.
Olivia O'Neill
Olivia O’Neill is a second year MSc student at the University of Guelph in the Neuroscience and Applied Cognitive Sciences Program, beginning her PhD in fall 2024. She obtained her BSc in Psychology and Neuroscience from Wilfrid Laurier University, completing her honors thesis with Dr. William Hockley and a funded research assistantship with Dr. Laurie Manwell. Olivia’s current research, under the supervision of Dr. Boyer Winters, explores the role of the neurotransmitter dopamine in long term memory dynamics using rodent models of declarative-like memory, and various techniques including pharmacological, histological, and chemogenetic manipulations. During her graduate training she has participated in various conferences delivering both oral and poster presentations, as well as pursued an educational placement at the University of Western Ontario to gain skills in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting fiber photometry data. Her MSc work is currently funded by an Ontario Graduate Scholarship.
PhD Students/Candidates (6)
Stephanie Simpson
Stephanie is a fifth-year PhD student in Dr. Brian Levine’s lab at the Rotman Research Institute. She is an NSERC-Postgraduate Scholarship-Doctoral award holder and was a standing committee member of the Research Training Centre for three years. Broadly, Stephanie is interested in studying the neural correlates of episodic memory retrieval in humans. One aspect of her doctoral work applies EEG techniques to investigate how the neurophysiological hallmarks of overnight sleep impact our ability to recall real-world events over time. Another stream of her research investigates how variability in hippocampal subfield structure relates to individual differences in memory using a unique population of people with severely deficient autobiographical memory. In her downtime, you can find her at the beach playing volleyball or taking her two dogs for a walk.
Andrea Aternali
Andrea Aternali, M.A. is currently pursuing her PhD in Clinical Psychology at York University under the supervision of Dr. Joel Katz. She obtained her B.Sc. in Psychology at McGill University where she completed an undergraduate thesis investigating stress and pain behavior in laboratory mice. After her undergraduate training, she worked as a research assistant evaluating sensitivity to physical activity in individuals with chronic pain conditions such as osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and back pain.
Andrea is interested in developing best-practice interventions aimed at improving the mental health of individuals with chronic pain. Her current research explores psychosocial factors that predict the development and maintenance of chronic postsurgical pain and phantom limb pain. Andrea’s doctoral research is generously supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the War Amps.
Andrea has worked in a variety of clinical settings including the Transitional Pain Service and GoodHope Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Clinics at the Toronto General Hospital, the Frederick W. Thomson Anxiety Disorders Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Maplehurst Correctional Complex, Vanier Centre for Women, and Forest Hill Centre for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. She currently provides treatment services to adults, older adolescents, and couples.
Meaghan Hall
Meaghan is a PhD candidate in Clinical Developmental Neuropsychology at York University, where she also completed her MA. Prior to this, she achieved an HBSc in Behaviour, Genetics, and Neurobiology at the University of Toronto. She completed her undergraduate thesis project in an experimental behavioural epigenetics lab, focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of memory. Meaghan’s current research interests lie in the realm of women and children’s environmental health. In particular, she is interested in examining the effects of prenatal neurotoxicant exposures on women’s health and children’s brain development. She is currently investigating mechanisms that may explain the developmental neurotoxicity of environmental chemicals, including maternal thyroid disruption. Clinically, Meaghan has completed training in pediatric neuropsychological assessment and intervention at The Hospital for Sick Children and The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. She is CGS-M, OGS, and CIHR CGS-D scholar.
Ruth Vanstone
Ruth Vanstone is a fourth-year PhD student in the Adult Clinical Health Psychology program at York University and holds a CIHR doctoral award. Ruth has completed clinical training at the Women’s Health Concerns Clinic (St. Joe’s Hamilton) and the Psychosocial Oncology Clinic (Princess Margaret Hospital). She currently works in private practice, delivering evidence-based interventions, such as CBT, EFT, and schema therapy to diverse populations. Her primary area of interest is in women’s health and oncology, helping individuals adjust to cancer diagnosis, treatment, and caregiving. She will be completing her residency year at the Halifax Clinical Psychology residency program.
Throughout her graduate training, Ruth has focused her research on perinatal concerns for women with a history of breast cancer. She is currently working toward developing an online resource to provide patients, healthcare providers, and community partners with knowledge and tools to better understand and cope with the lasting impact of cancer treatment on the perinatal period.
Zoha Ahmad
Zoha Ahmad is a third-year PhD student in York University's Biology program. She completed her BSc (Honours) in Biology at York University with a minor in Psychology. Currently, she is in the Freud Lab within the Centre for Vision Research at York University. Her primary research focus centers on investigating alterations in the development of visuomotor representations. She is particularly interested in how visual development can be altered in unique populations such as children with amblyopia, individuals with autism, and epileptic patients. Her work has led her to several collaborations with institutions including the Retina Foundation of the Southwest, Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Haifa. Zoha is honored to be an OGS and VISTA scholar. Outside of academia, she loves to travel, try new foods, and learn about the human mind!
Alyssia Wilson
Alyssia is a PhD student in the Clinical Developmental Psychology program in the Neuropsychology Stream at York University. She has taken a lifespan approach to her neuropsychology training with practicums at SickKids Hospital and Sunnybrook hospital and will be doing a lifespan neuropsychology residency in Fall 2024 at Hamilton Health Sciences. Alyssia is a Vanier scholar and her research investigates mental health outcomes following brain injuries in university athletes. Additionally, she has been a member of the Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion throughout her graduate training and is passionate about work her in the community. More recently, her endeavors have been more family focused as she balances maternity leave with while preparing for residency.
Postdoctoral Fellows (3)
Dr. Krista Mitchnick
Krista obtained a PhD in Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience in 2018 from the University of Guelph (funded through NSERC), where her research focused on the neurobiology of learning and memory in rodents. She was awarded the top Psychology PhD dissertation award. Having always been torn between basic research and clinical work, Krista then completed a PhD in Clinical Psychology - Neuropsychology stream in 2023 at York University (funded through the Elia Scholars program and VISTA). Here, her research took an interdisciplinary approach, assessing the involvement of individual hippocampal subfields in perception and memory using brain damaged case studies and rat lesion models. She was also awarded the top Psychology PhD dissertation award. As part of her clinical training, she completed a residency position in Clinical Neuropsychology at the London Health Sciences Centre (London, ON). Presently, Krista is a postdoctoral fellow at Baycrest Academy working with Dr. Brian Levine where her research is centred around characterizing the neural correlates and functional outcomes of individual differences in autobiographical memory, focusing on both basic mechanisms and clinical relevance. Clinically, she continues to conduct neuropsychological assessments for individuals across the lifespan in private practice (supervised practice). Outside of her research and clinical work, you can find her soaking up the sun and a good book at the beach, hiking with friends, at the gym, or playing board games far too competitively.
Dr. Ryan Yeung
Ryan completed his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo in 2022, studying memories that spring to mind involuntarily (e.g., recurrent or intrusive memories). Though these memories are surprisingly common in daily life, they also relate to symptoms of mental health disorders. For instance, the emotional quality and the content (i.e., what people report remembering) of these memories are systematically related to one's symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. In his postdoc, he investigates cognitive and neural mechanisms of why emotional memories persist or fade away. He is particularly interested in hypotheses that emotional or traumatic memories are enhanced due to their strong ability to evoke mental imagery; as such, emotional remembering might be modulated by individuals’ trait-level abilities to generate such imagery. Other research interests of his include computational methods of analyzing autobiographical memories, such as natural language processing and machine learning. Outside of research, he's a fan of hipster music, hipster tabletop role-playing games, and insisting that he's not actually a hipster.Dr. Claire Champigny
Dr. Claire Champigny is a bilingual French/English postdoctoral fellow in clinical pediatric neuropsychology at the Hospital for Sick Children. Throughout her fellowship and predoctoral residency there, she has worked across clinics including Neurosurgery, Neonatal Neurology, General Neurology, Epilepsy Surgery, Oncology Aftercare, and Metabolics/Genetics. She also works as a therapist in the I-InTERACT-North program at SickKids, providing parent coaching to support children with behavioural challenges and complex medical histories. Dr. Champigny is passionate about providing equitable, individualized, evidence-based, high-quality clinical care to the diverse families living in Toronto. In terms of research, Dr. Champigny has published her work in peer-reviewed academic journals and presented at multiple international conferences. Her research interests primarily revolve around neurocognitive and mental health outcomes following pediatric brain injury and neurological disorders.
Faculty (2)
Dr. Gilda Stefanelli
Dr. Stefanelli got her Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnologies at the University of Naples Federico II. After that, she gained her Masters in molecular biotechnologies at Vita Salute San Raffaele University in Milan. Here, she studied the role of CDKL5, a kinase mutated in Rett Syndrome, in synapses formation and maintenance. She then moved on to a PhD in Neurobiology at Insubria University, where she focused on how post-translational modifications of MeCP2 can influence its functions during brain development. For her postdoc, Dr. Stefanelli joined the lab of Dr. Iva Zovkic at the University of Toronto Mississauga where she studied how histone variants can influence memory formation and the molecular pathways that regulate their turnover in neurons. In 2023, Dr. Stefanelli started her own lab at the University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on the epigenetic mechanisms driving brain development. More specifically, her lab uses molecular biology and genomic techniques to understand how chaperones of histone variants shape gene expression during brain development by depositing or removing H2A.Z.
Dr. Moriah Sokolowski
Dr. Moriah Sokolowski an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University and an Adjunct Scientist at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Hospital. She completed her M.Sc. (2015) and Ph.D. (2019) in Psychology in the Cognitive, Developmental, and Brain Sciences area at Western University. Following this, she was a Banting Post-doctoral fellow at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Hospital from January 2020 to June 2023. Dr. Sokolowski’s research program addresses a fundamental question: how does the developing mind support complex learning? She uses mathematical thinking as a model to study the development of complex cognition in children, adolescents and adults, applying diverse methodologies, such as behavioural and brain-imaging techniques. In addition to conducting basic science research, she is passionate about linking her findings to real-world outcomes to support individual well-being and population-level innovation. Dr. Sokolowski has received multiple competitive awards, including the SSHRC Banting Post-Doctoral Fellowship, CIHR Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Governor General’s Gold Medal, and NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarships (Master and Doctorate).
Industry (3)
Dr. Ari Mendell
Ari is the President and Principal Medical Writer at Compass Leaf Medical Communications Inc. As a former Director of Value Communications/Medical Writing at a leading Canadian health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) firm, Ari leverages his substantial medical writing, strategic consulting, and project management experience to provide excellent strategic value and services to his clients. Ari has published and otherwise supported scientific publications and evidence-driven communications across many disease areas and research disciplines, ranging from medical affairs topics and clinical trials to health economic analyses, real-world evidence (RWE) studies, and literature reviews. Ari holds MSc and PhD degrees in Biomedical Science & Neuroscience from the University of Guelph and has authored or co-authored 18 published manuscripts and more than 50 conference presentations. He has also supported 60+ publications and congress abstracts/presentations in a medical writer/editor capacity.
Ari was the recipient of more than 15 awards and honours throughout his academic career, including the Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal and an NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Doctoral Canada Graduate Scholarship.
Dr. Meenu Minhas
Meenu earned her PhD in Neuroscience and Psychology from the University of Guelph, where her research focused on the neuropsychopharmacology of addiction in rodents. Subsequently, she pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at McMaster University, focusing on the application of behavioral economics to understand human drug addiction. During this time, she also held teaching positions at the University of Guelph-Humber and McMaster University. Following her academic pursuits, Meenu transitioned to the industry, working as medical writer for 3 years. Currently, she holds the position of medical science liaison, where she collaborates with external stakeholders to address medical unmet needs, disseminate scientific data, and improve patient outcomes.Dr. Cassidy Wideman
Cassidy earned her MSc and PhD in Psychology with a specialization in Neuroscience from the University of Guelph, where her research focused on neurobiological mechanisms underlying dynamic memory storage. During her graduate studies, Cassidy co-authored 12 published peer-reviewed manuscripts and over 30 conference presentations. Cassidy was awarded NSERC funding at both the master’s and doctoral level. Following completion of her graduate studies, Cassidy pursued a career in industry, where she is currently working as a medical writer at EVERSANA. There she works as part of the Value and Evidence team developing evidence-based and value-driven medical communications across a range of disease areas. In the last year, Cassidy has also added the title of Mom to her credentials and is busy gaining valuable experience raising a tiny human.
Clinical Psychologists (2)
Dr. Adam Newton, PhD. C.Psych (supervised practice)
Dr. Adam Newton is a Health and Clinical Psychologist in supervised practice. He completed his Master's and PhD in clinical psychology at Western University and his predoctoral residency at the London Clinical Psychology Residency Consortium. Dr. Newton primarily works within the Pediatric Pain Program at Children's Hospital - London Health Sciences Centre. He also works in private practice and often holds teaching positions at Western University. He is involved in research in behavioural sleep disturbances and sleep development (especially napping) in young children, program evaluation initiatives, and pediatric chronic pain care improvements.
Dr. Sara Pishdadian, Ph.D., C.Psych (supervised practice)
Dr. Sara Pishdadian (she/her) is a staff psychologist in the Geriatric Mental Health, Neuropsychology Assessment and CBT for psychosis services at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada. She completed her PhD at York University in Clinical Psychology and Clinical Neuropsychology (funded through CIHR, NSERC, and VISTA) and her predoctoral residency at The Ottawa Hospital. Her research investigates the divide between subjective and objectively measured abilities and the effectiveness of psychotherapy and cognitive rehabilitation interventions for individuals with cognitive difficulties due to neurodegenerative and/or psychiatric illness. She has mentored undergraduate and graduate students across North America, and co-founded a graduate-undergraduate mentorship program at York University which continues today.