Postdocs & Students

Hani Abushomar, BScPhm, MS, PhD candidate

Hani is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the program of health research methodology. He has a B.Sc. degree in pharmaceutical sciences, and he received a Fulbright Scholarship in 2001 to study for Master's of Science degree in Epidemiology at The State University of New York. After finishing his Master’s degree, He worked as a research specialist in the department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the State University of New York.

Program: Health Research Methodology, Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Supervisor: Dr. Mitchell Levine

Research interests: patient adherence to medical visits and medications, detection of adverse drug events using computerized methods, surrogate outcomes, pharmacoepidemiology, drug-utilization studies

Awards:

Awarded the CIHR graduate research scholarship in pharmacology (2006)
CIHR Health Informatics PhD/Postdoc Strategic Training Fellowship (2005-2006)
Received a Fulbright Scholarship to study for M.Sc. in Epidemiology (2001)

Tel: 905-522-1155 ext. 35267
E-mail: shomarht@yahoo.com

Janine Arkinson

Janine received her B.Sc from the Biology and Pharmacology Co-op program at McMaster University. Co-op placements included the Meakins-Christie Laboratory at McGill University, The Centre for Gene Therapeutics at McMaster University, and the Therapeutic Products Directorate at Health Canada. She is currently a second-year MSc. candidate at McMaster University.

Program: Health Research Methodology, Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Supervisor: Anne Holbrook

Research Interests: Physician-Pharmaceutical Industry Interactions, Conflict of Interest, Pharmaceutical Policy, Survey Methodology

Tel: 905-522-1155 ext. 34310
E-mail: arkinsjl@mcmaster.ca

Ilia Ferrusi

Ilia comes from a background in pharmacology and the pharmaceutical regulatory environment to her graduate studies at McMaster. She received her undergraduate degree in Biology & Pharmacology at McMaster University (2004), where she completed 3 co-op terms spanning academic and industry research environments. Ilia carried out physiology research at the University of Calgary (2002), followed by diagnostics development work at Syn-X Pharma Inc, now Nanogen (2003). Subsequently, she completed her last co-op term with Hoffmann-La Roche Canada Inc in Health Outcomes. Following the completion of her degree, Ilia worked for 2 years in the pharmaceutical pricing and regulatory environment with Palmer D’Angelo Consulting Inc, now part of RTI Health Solutions (2004-2006). Ilia is entering her second year in her MSc candidacy at McMaster, and works part-time as Research Assistant at the Program for Assessment of Technology in Health (PATH).

Program: Health Research Methodology (Health Technology Assessment specialization), Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Supervisor: Dr. Deborah Marshall

Research interests: health economics, pharmacoeconomics, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis, patient preferences measurement methods, utilities measurement, cost model development

Recent Awards:

Ontario Council of Graduate Studies (OCGS) Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Award, 2007-2008
Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), 2007-2008 (declined)
Dr. John Thomas Bursary, 2007
Canadian Association for Technology in Health (CADTH) Student Travel Grant, 2007

Tel: 905-522-1155 ext. 33826
E-mail: ferrusil@mcmaster.ca

Kathy K. Li

Kathy received her B.Sc. degree in Health Studies (Co-op) at the University of Waterloo. Her co-op placements included the Rapid Response Radiation Program at the Toronto Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre (TSRCC) and Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program at the University of Waterloo. In her capacity as a clinical research assistant at TSRCC, she was involved with various projects and publications in the area of pain management in cancer patients with bone metastases. She is currently a second-year MSc. candidate at McMaster University.

Program: Health Research Methodology, Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Supervisor: Dr. Anne Holbrook

Research Interests: minimal clinically important difference, methodology of complex interventions, pain management of bone metastases

Recent Awards:

Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), 2007-2008

Tel: 905-522-1155 ext. 34907
E-mail: likk2@mcmaster.ca

Kalpana Nair, MSc, PhD(c)

Kalpana is currently completing a PhD in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University. Her dissertation is focused on developing a framework for evaluation of interdisciplinary research. Kalpana is also a research coordinator at the Centre for Evaluation of Medicines.

Program: Health Research Methodology Program, Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University

Supervisor: Dr. Lisa Dolovich

Research Interests: Health Services Research; Chronic Disease Management; Program Evaluation; Qualitative Research Methods; Survey Development; Inclusion of Patient Perspective in Research; Mixed Methods Research; Meta-synthesis; Interdisciplinarity

Recent Awards:

CIHR Summer Program in Aging (Trainee), 2007
CIHR Doctoral Award, 2006-2008
Centre for Evaluation of Medicines Annual Research Day – 1st Place, 2006
TUTOR-PHC (CIHR Strategic Training Fellow), 2005

Tel: 905-522-1155 ext. 34919
E-mail: nairk@mcmaster.ca

Jennifer Pereira

Jennifer is a PhD student in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Toronto, working under the supervision of Dr. Anne Holbrook. Additionally, she is a trainee in the collaborative program in Health Services and Policy Research through the University of Toronto and the Ontario Training Centre.

Jennifer's PhD project involves an examination of individualized benefits and risks of drug therapies, using warfarin as the primary example. Correlations of risks and benefits will be examined using individualized patient data from an atrial fibrillation database. The main objectives of this project are:

To develop and validate an individualized benefit:harm prediction rule for warfarin
To investigate whether patients change their preferences whether to take warfarin when presented with their individualized benefit:harm prediction compared to the currently used population-based data.

Jennifer currently holds a Doctoral studentship with funding from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada/Canadian Stroke Network/ CIHR Rx&D Program together with AstraZeneca Inc.

Tel: 905-522-1155 ext. 34907
E-mail: jenniferpereira1978@hotmail.com

Ivan Y. Shcherbatykh, MD, MPH, PhD(c)

Ivan is an internationally-trained physician with the background in general surgery (Russia, 2001). He received a Master degree in Public Health in 2004, majoring in epidemiology and biostatistics (Albany, New York). He is currently a third-year PhD candidate at Master University. He works part-time as a Research Assistant at the Department of Family Medicine, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. Ivan has been working with the COMPETE staff at CEM since September 2004.

Program: Health Research Methodology, Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Supervisor: Dr. Anne Holbrook

Research interests: methodology of clinical trials in health informatics, primary care health informatics, complex interventions, electronic medical records, clinical decision-support systems, cardiovascular epidemiology

Recent awards:

Father Sean O’Sullivan Research Centre Studentship Award, 2005-2008
CIHR/MSFHR Health Informatics PhD/Postdoc Fellowship, 2004-2006
GSA Travel Grant, McMaster University, 2005

Tel: 905-522-1155 ext. 34907
E-mail: shcheriy@mcmaster.ca