Organizing Committee
Leads
Shaghayegh Foroozan
About: Shaghayeh is a third-year Ph.D. candidate at IMS researching Gut inflammation in Spondyloarthritis.
Favourite song: a Persian song named “Dastaye to” by Dariush, (It means “your hands”).
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: It is about survival, function, and performance in this challenging and potentially lethal environment (i.e. Grad School lol). She also loves that space medicine is international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary.
Kyla Lee
About: Kyla is a first-year Ph.D. Student at IMS researching the relationship between physicians and immigrant patients in the Ontario primary care system.
Favourite song: Bambi by Hippo Campus.
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: how space medicine brings applications back down to Earth!
Shamantha Lora
About: Shamantha is a second-year Master’s student at IMS researching Multimodal Neuroimaging.
Favourite fun fact: In a few billion years, our Milky Way galaxy will smash into the rapidly approaching Andromeda Galaxy. This new larger galaxy has been named by astronomers, “Milkdromeda” (if you have a better name for this, you can email them your suggestions!)
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: Brain and neuroscience studies led by NASA called the NeuroLab Program (a 17-day Life Sci Space Shuttle mission). 26 neuroscience experiments looking at the effects of weightlessness and space environment on the nervous system. I love that studies in space tell us about neurological behaviour in an environment other than Earth.
Sajeevan Sujanthan
About: Sajeevan is a second-year Ph.D. candidate at IMS researching Clinical Neuroscience.
Favourite fun fact: He has a twin brother with different birthdays.
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: It’s a combination of exploration, science, technology, and medicine. A complex interplay that can potentially provide answers to the unknowns of space and space travel.
Muzaffar Bhatti
About: Muzaffar is a third-year Ph.D. candidate at IMS researching mechanisms of acute myeloid leukemia resistance.
Favourite song: Paranoid Android- Radiohead
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: It is the cutting edge of human progress. It excites him that the topics he has read about in sci-fi books are actively being worked on. 🚀
Kayvan Aflaki
About: Kayvan is a second-year MSc candidate at IMS researching Maternal mortality & population health risk.
Favourite fun fact: He got his pilot’s license before the start of the pandemic
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: he is so marveled at the rate at which space medicine research continues to grow every year!
Serena Peck
About: Serena is a second-year Master’s student at IMS researching Cardio-oncology.
Favourite song: As it Was by Harry Styles.
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: she loves the innovation that happens in space medicine/research and pushing boundaries!
Advisors
Dr. Laura Best
About: Laura has graduated with a Ph.D. degree from IMS and she is a Neuroscientist.
Favourite fun fact: When she was a Mcgill varsity cheerleader, she was in a Grimes music video.
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: The infinite possibilities that medical research in space holds to improve care outcomes here now, and in the future.
Swapna Mylabathula
About: Swapna is an MD/Ph.D. candidate at IMS researching Concussions.
Favourite fun fact: She learned from stellar Canadian astronaut Dave William that space smells a bit like an empty can of peas!
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: it’s out-of-this-world cool that the discoveries made in space science are often incredibly applicable right here on earth in medical applications to support good health! 🙂
Organizing Team Members
Sami Ul Haq
About: Sami has graduated with a Master’s degree from IMS and his research area is lung cancer epigenetics using liquid biopsy.
Favourite fun fact: Licking doorknobs is illegal on other planets.
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: Advances in cybernetics that will ultimately help him get swol!
Zoya Aamir
About: Zoya is a third-year Ph.D. candidate at IMS researching Cancer Genetics.
Favourite fun fact: Her school was named after an astronaut: Chris Hadfield Public School.
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: A special doctor called a “flight surgeon” is assigned to each space mission!
Emily Ana Butler
About: Emily Ana is a first-year Master’s student at IMS researching Obstetric/Pediatric Health Outcomes.
Favourite fun fact: She has 7 nieces and nephews!
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: She loves that this field is relatively new in the medical community, so I am eager to know how much more we will learn in the future to expand healthcare!
Isabelle Caven
About: Isabelle is a second-year Master’s Student at IMS researching Autism.
Favourite song: Wait a Minute! by Willow.
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: The endless possibilities to discover and learn!
Gina D’Souza
About: Gina is a first-year Master’s student at IMS researching Neuroscience.
Favourite fun fact: She enjoys hiking with her pup.
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: Space medicine technology and its application to us here on Earth.
Veena Sanmugananthan
About: Veena is a second-year Ph.D. candidate at IMS researching Cognition and Pain.
Favourite fun fact: There are some cats in the world that have allergies to people 😺
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: many physicians come from various different backgrounds such as internal medicine, family practice, emergency medicine, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, and psychology. They all provide their own unique approach and expertise to the development and implementation of space medicine.
Adriano Nella
About: Adriano is a second-year MSc candidate at IMS researching Physiatry.
Favourite song: Roses by Outkast.
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: the creativity involved in researching space medicine is the most interesting aspect of the field. During undergrad, he helped with a project investigating the fidelity of DNA polymerase in microgravity environments, and he saw firsthand the creativity required to apply traditional scientific methods under a rigorous zero-gravity environment.
Helen Yang
About: Helen graduated with a Master’s degree from IMS. She researched Geriatric Oncology.
Favourite fun fact: Sea lions could dance to a beat
Favorite thing about Space Medicine: Space medicine research is explored in unfamiliar environments but can bring about great insights and improvements to prevalent issues related to human health and health technology.
Dig In: Our Health on a Platter 