Research
Research
I write these summaries in plain language on purpose: if I can’t explain a project to a family friend, I don’t understand it yet. My exact role is listed for every project.
Barriers to Primary Care Access Among Recent Immigrants in Peel Region: A Scoping Review
School of Health Policy & Management, York University · Sept 2025 – present
Peel Region — Brampton and Mississauga — welcomes tens of thousands of newcomers every year, yet many go years without a regular family doctor. This scoping review maps what published research says about why. Working with a faculty supervisor, I helped build the database search strategy, screened studies for inclusion, and am now grouping findings into themes: language barriers, unfamiliarity with how OHIP and rostering work, transportation, and the shortage of physicians accepting new patients. The goal is a clear map of what's known, what's assumed, and where the real research gaps are.
My role — Co-developed the search strategy, screening records and drafting the thematic summary.
Microglial Activation After Repeated Mild Head Injury in a Mouse Model
Neurotrauma research lab, Toronto · May – Aug 2025
After a concussion, the brain's resident immune cells — microglia — change shape and behaviour, and those changes may help explain why repeated mild injuries add up. In this 12-week summer studentship, I supported a study of microglial activation in a mouse model of repeated mild head injury. My work was hands-on and specific: preparing and staining brain tissue sections, then scoring microglial morphology from microscope images while blinded to which group each sample came from. I finished the summer with a much more honest sense of how slow, careful, and collaborative basic science really is.
My role — Ran immunohistochemistry protocols and performed blinded image scoring; presented at the lab’s end-of-summer research day.
Who Shows Up? Naloxone Training Uptake and Barriers Among Undergraduate Students
Canadian undergraduate health conference, Kingston, ON · Jan 2026
Our campus harm-reduction group offers free naloxone training, but attendance is uneven — so we asked why. Using a short anonymous survey of undergraduate students, we looked at who had completed training, who intended to but hadn’t, and what stopped them. The common barriers were practical rather than attitudinal: scheduling, not knowing where kits are kept, and uncertainty about legal protections for responders. We presented the findings as a poster and used them directly — moving sessions into residences and adding a five-minute “what the law actually says” segment to every training.
My role — Co-designed the survey, analyzed responses, and co-presented the poster.
Abstract Screening for a Systematic Review of Exercise Interventions in Adolescent Depression
Faculty of Health, York University · Jan – Aug 2025
Can structured exercise programs meaningfully reduce depressive symptoms in adolescents — and if so, what kind, and how much? As a research assistant on a systematic review asking that question, I dual-screened roughly 1,900 titles and abstracts in Covidence against the inclusion criteria, met weekly to resolve screening conflicts, and assisted with full-text review. It was my first real exposure to evidence synthesis — including how much disciplined disagreement it takes for two people to read the same abstract the same way.
My role — Dual-screened ~1,900 titles and abstracts in Covidence and supported full-text review.