Trainees

Alex’s research focuses on examining the effect of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on upper and lower-limb muscles and nerves. Specifically, Alex aims to determine the impact of COPD on neuromuscular fatigue, neural excitability, and alterations to the corticospinal motor pathway in females and males.

Ali is focusing on the impacts of nutritional ketosis on inflammation, lung function, and exercise tolerance in individuals with COPD. He is trying to find a way to help cardiorespiratory patients through rehabilitation programs that are based on a psychophysiological method.

Alissa’s research is focused on exploring the neurophysiological mechanisms that govern the cardiovascular system, with an emphasis on understanding how injury to the spinal cord can affect these mechanisms.

With an applied approach, Bryce’s research focuses on sport-related neuromuscular function in elite hockey athletes. Specifically, he investigates mechanisms influencing inter-limb asymmetry, the impact of fatigue, and the relationship between neuromuscular function and sport-performance.

Bryony’s research focuses on the evolution of the mammalian heart. Specifically, Bryony is interested in understanding the morphology and function of the great ape heart, to i) support the healthcare of this taxa, and ii) to gain insight into the evolution of the human heart.

Camille is interested in atrial fibrillation in athletes and cardiac adaptations in response to exercise. Her research focus is not focused, as she doesn’t know what she’s doing yet.

Christina’s research interests include studying the effects of environmental stress on the human neuromuscular system. Specifically, Christina is interested in the acute and long term effects of hypoxia and hypercapnia on the fatiguing neuromuscular system and how this may change following high altitude acclimatization.

Connor’s research focuses on examining the effects of environmental stress on cerebral blood flow regulation and pulmonary function. Connor’s current research projects include 1) examining cerebral blood flow regulation in Andean highlanders with and without chronic mountain sickness living in the highest city in the world, La Rinconda, Peru (5100m); 2) cerebral blood flow and acid-base balance changes in lowlanders during chronic (6-month) high-altitude exposure; and 3) cerebral blood flow regulation and metabolism under conditions of avalanche burial.

Courtney’s research interests include physiological adaptations to environmental stressors. Specifically, she is interested the phenotypic differences in marine dependent humans who have been free diving for thousands of years and how they compare to closely related land-dwelling populations.

Dr. Williams’ key interests are focused on autonomic control of the heart, as well as sex-related differences in cardiovascular physiology. Her current research at UBC and ICORD aims to characterize the acute impacts of traumatic high-level spinal cord injuries (SCI) on the heart, and further determine whether hemodynamic management strategies that harness the heart—rather than solely targeting blood pressure—can optimize short- and long-term cardiovascular and neurological outcomes following injury. The findings from this work may ultimately help to inform clinical practices and optimize acute treatment strategies for SCI patients. Dr. Williams’ research additionally seeks to identify sex-related differences in cardiac (dys)function and the incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular disease in individuals with SCI.

Hashim’s postdoctoral research focuses on the impact of exercise on anti-inflammatory cytokine function and its contribution to the development of type 2 diabetes. Hashim has a background in skeletal muscle physiology and his PhD work examined how exercise and fasting impact molecular pathways that control mitochondrial biology in human muscle.

Jay is a Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor Phil Ainslie. His research interests include cerebral vascular function, the control of breathing, and adaptation to exercise.

Madden’s research focuses on the effects of wildfire on cardiorespiratory health. She is currently investigating these effects in wildland firefighters in collaboration with the BC Wildfire Service. As global climate change is predicted to exacerbate future wildfire activity, she hopes to continue this work to develop effective intervention strategies from both an occupational and public health perspective. Madden’s other research interests include high altitude physiology and the mechanisms which contribute to vascular dysfunction in low- and highlander populations. 

Dr. Debenham’s postdoctoral studies primarily focus on motor unit health in spinal cord injury patients, with the overall goal of improving patient functional outcomes following nerve transfer surgeries.

Dr. Hoiland’s postdoctoral research aims to leverage recent advances in the knowledge of blood flow control and the regulation of oxygen delivery to the central nervous system to reduce the severity of spinal cord injury. Following a traumatic spinal cord injury and resuscitation in the hospital, prolonged episodes of oxygen deprivation within the spinal cord can exacerbate the severity of injury. Therefore, treatments that may bolster oxygen supply to the injured spinal cord hold great promise as future therapeutics.

Stephen’s research aims to elucidate processes through which the heart, lungs, and vasculature interact, and how their integrated function facilitates or limits exercise capacity. His program spans the health spectrum from athletic and untrained healthy adults to those with chronic heart and/or lung conditions and uses non-invasive and invasive techniques to quantify heart, lung, and vascular function. His postdoctoral work is focused on the impact of breathing mechanics on ventricular function during exercise in older adults. Stephen also serves on the editorial boards for the Canadian Journal of Cardiology & CJC Open.

Tony’s postdoctoral research is centered around cardiovascular remodeling in health and disease. Using comparative and interdisciplinary approaches, one stream of Tony’s postdoctoral research examines the influence of social adversity on cardiovascular health and aging in non-human primates, and explores the underlying. Tony’s program of research also builds on his graduate work to further examine both the acute and chronic responses of the cardiovascular system to exercise, with a particular interest in the right ventricle, heart-lung interactions, and the functional reserve capacity of the system.

Travis’s research revolves around how the brain responds to environmental and energetic challenges, primarily thermal, exercise, gravity, hypoxia and fasting/starvation. His primary focus is in how oxygen delivery to the brain is regulated, and how changes in brain blood flow affect other highly regulated variables such as brain temperature, brain energetics, intracranial pressure and cognition. Travis has additional interest in exploiting these stressors to better understand how they can be harnessed to delay neurocognitive decline with aging, and improve resilience from acute brain injury.

Eric’s MSc study will focus on the effect of normobaric hypoxia and different postural demands on cortical and spinal excitability. Specifically, how excitability changes standing as compared to sitting. 

Garett’s masters research focused on changes in immune cell recruitment and mobilization in response to acute submaximal aerobic exercise in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Specifically, the response of these cells to an updated physical activity guidelines exercise bout for individuals living with both paraplegia and tetraplegia. Garett’s PhD work involves exploring and characterizing extracellular vesicle concentration and function in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and whether these can be altered using exercise and dietary interventions.

Helena is interested in understanding the ability of ketone bodies, typically generated by means of a low-carbohydrate high-fat ketogenic diet, to act as signaling metabolites within the immune system. Specifically, Helena is investigating the direct effects of ketones on both innate and adaptive immune function and defense in the context of type 2 diabetes.

Investigating the application of enhanced-recovery methods for improving the adaptation to exercise training.

Jonathan’s current research is focused on determining the effects of different types, patterns and intensities of exercise on glycemic control and biomarkers of cardiometabolic health in individuals living with type 2 diabetes. The overarching goal of Jonathan’s work is to further the idea of using exercise as medicine for populations living with chronic disease. Jonathan’s vision for his career in research is to someday get to a place where, with one quick DNA sample, we can know the perfect exercise prescription to achieve the most meaningful clinical results for each individual patient.

Katherine’s research includes applying blood flow restriction to the lower limbs to identify the response of the muscle metaboreflex during dynamic exercise. Specifically, looking at athletes during near maximal cycling to measure various cardiovascular changes at increasing workloads.

Kyla’s current research aims to explore alternative therapies to help improve exercise tolerance in clinical populations that are limited in their ability to exercise. To begin, she hopes to use passive heat therapy to improve impairments to functional sympatholysis that contribute to exercise intolerance in aging and disease. She is also interested in pursuing the involvement of the autonomic nervous system and blood flow regulation in post-exertional malaise and other forms of exercise intolerance.

Liam Stewart aims to demonstrate the presence of a sympathetically-mediated cardio-inotropic limb to the arterial baroreflex by performing informative integrative physiological studies in rodents. His research will provide key insights illustrating how the heart mounts the necessary inotropic response to maintain blood pressure homeostasis during physiological stress. He hopes that his research can used to develop more targeted therapeutics to treat cardiovascular dysfunction.

Liisa’s research interests include exercise and therapeutics for autonomic function in neurological disease. Her doctoral work aims to characterize the effects of acute intermittent hypoxia exposure on cardiovascular function in high-thoracic and cervical spinal cord injury.

Maddie’s research interests include studying sex-based differences in respiratory physiology, specifically in diaphragmatic perfusion. Her research will focus on diaphragm blood flow changes during exercise, and how these changes differ between males and females.

Mary’s research focuses on the effects of spinal cord injury on the heart on a physiological-to-molecular spectrum. Currently, Mary is more specifically investigating the effects of spinal cord injury on the heart transcriptome and testing the efficacy of emergent cardiovascular therapies on modulating cardiac gene expression.

Megan’s research interests include investigating sex-based differences in diaphragm blood flow and fatigue in humans. Specifically, Megan utilizes contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging to investigate changes in diaphragm perfusion, and transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the phrenic nerve to quantify contractile properties of the diaphragm.

Mina’s doctoral research is dedicated to examining the impact of acute intermittent hypoxia on renal function and sympathetic nerve activity in animal models with high-thoracic spinal cord injuries.

Mohammad’s research interests are primarily in the interplay between the sympathetic nervous system and vasculature, an area known as sympathetic neurovascular transduction. Specifically, he focuses on understanding how fluctuations in circulation affect sympathetic neurovascular transduction and the role angiotensin receptors play in this interaction.

Oliver’s research aims to develop innovative surgical techniques and cutting-edge biotelemetry technologies to better understand cardiovascular function in small and large animal models of health and disease. In particular, Dr. Wearing’s current work with Dr. West aims to leverage these novel methods to generate safe and effective translational therapies to restore cardiovascular function following spinal cord injury.

Paige’s PhD studies will focus on the effect of acute cannabis use on various facets of sensorimotor and cognitive activity. Further, she will focus on how these cannabis-induced effects may impact humans during different functional contexts, including fatigue and standing balance.

Paula is working on her Master’s Degree in EMIL at UBCO and her current research is focused on understanding Type 2 Diabetes Remission in individuals who achieved it by lifestyle interventions and Bariatric Surgery and their glucose profiles.

Lisa’s primary research focuses on the effects of high velocity contractions and postural demand on cortical and spinal excitability in males and females. She aims to examine fatigue-induced mechanisms on potential sex-related differences, and eventually hopes to extend her research across age groups. 

Quinn’s research interests include the effects of acute cannabis intoxication on human movement, the effects of dual tasking on balance control, sensorimotor integration, and the cognitive determinants of movement. He has also worked on determining the efficacy of various conservative approaches to treating chronic back pain, improving our understanding of the sensorimotor contributions to spinal manipulative thrust delivery, and is also proficient at computer programming.

For his MSc, Roddie will build on the Exercise Snacks project by applying this form of high intensity interval training to a clinical population (i.e., individuals living with T2D) with hopes to see improvements in metabolic markers. He is also interested in learning about the role that high intensity training has in improving mitochondrial function.

Scott’s research examines how our autonomic nervous system responds and adapts when repeatedly exposed to low oxygen. By mapping changes in autonomic regulation through measurements of peripheral nerve activity and the function of the heart, lungs and vasculature, his PhD aims to improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of hypertension in sleep apnea, as well as exploring the therapeutic potential of hypoxia and neural adaptation in spinal cord injury to translate to improvements in patient cardiovascular outcomes.

Spencer’s masters degree will examine how exercise regimes, body composition, and dietary interventions can impact mitochondrial respiration.

Tori’s MSc research involves a pilot study exploring the efficacy and feasibility of an exercise training intervention consisting of brief, isolated bouts of vigorous exercise (“exercise snacks”) among individuals living with type 2 diabetes.