Meet our Doctoral Student Fellows

Afia Amoako 

Thesis Topic: The Unequal Landscape of COVID-19 in Toronto

Supervisors: David Fisman, University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation; Arjumand Siddiqi, University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Michael Geuenich 

Thesis Topic: Novel data science methods to understand loss of antigen presentation in pancreatic cancer at single-cell resolution

Supervisors: Kieran Campbell, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute; Pamela Ohashi, University Health Network, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Caitlin Harrigan

Caitlin Harrigan

Thesis Topic: Using computational models of the DNA damage response to understand cancer evolution

Supervisors: Keiran Campbell, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute; Hartland Jackson, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute

Gengming He

Thesis Topic: Develop novel statistical methods for analyzing long-read sequencing data to investigate the genetic mechanism of cystic fibrosis

Supervisors: Lisa Strug, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts & Science, Department of Statistical Sciences; Stephen Scherer, The Hospital for Sick Children

Tara Henechowicz

Thesis Topic: Applying and comparing polygenic and polytranscriptomic risk score methods to examine the relationship between music training and the motor sytem

Supervisors: Michael Thaut, University of Toronto, Faculty of Music; Daphne Tan, University of Toronto, Faculty of Music

Sangwook Kim

Thesis Topic: Multi-Task Learning for Developing a Robust AI-based Radiation Treatment Planning

Supervisors: Chris McIntosh, University Health Network, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute; Tom Purdie, University Health Network, Techna Institute

Image of Oreoluwa Kolade.

Oreoluwa Kolade

Thesis Topic: Development of Predictive Models to Optimize Critical Quality Attributes of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells by Manipulating Critical Process Parameters and Donor Heterogeneity

Supervisors: Julie Audet, University of Toronto, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Institute of Biomedical Engineering; Sowmya Viswanathan, University Health Network, Krembil Research Institute

Christie Lau

Thesis Topic: Longitudinal tracking of cancer drug-tolerant persister populations at single-cell resolution

Supervisors: Gregory Schwartz, University Health Network, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; Geoffrey Liu, University Health Network, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Wai Hin Henry Leung 

Thesis Topic: Deep Learning for Galactic Astronomy

Supervisors: Jo Bovy, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science, David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics; Joshua Speagle, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Statistical Sciences

David Dayi Li

Thesis Topic: Advanced Spatial Point Process Modeling for Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy Detection

Supervisors: Gwendolyn Eadie, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science, David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics; Patrick Brown, Unity Health Toronto; Roberto Abraham, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science, David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Image of Salaar Liaqat.

Salaar Liaqat

Thesis Topic: Detection of COPD Exacerbations using Wearable Sensors and Extracted Measures

Supervisors: Eyal de Lara, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts & Science, Department of Computer Science; Robert Wu, University Health Network, Techna Institute for the Advancement of Technology for Health

Zihan Ling

Thesis Topic: Using Architectural Geometric Data for Sustainable and Equitable Built Environment

Supervisors: Alec Jacobson, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Computer Science; Maria Yablonina, University of Toronto, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design

Tianyi Liu

Thesis Topic: An Integrated Single-Cell Data Processing Framework for Autism Spectrum Disorder Analysis

Supervisors: Brendan Frey, University of Toronto, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Stephen Scherer, The Hospital for Sick Children, Genetics & Genome Biology

Image of Christa Orchard.

Christa Orchard

Thesis Topic: Using Data-Driven Population Segmentation to Improve Our Understanding of Patterns of Long-term Mental Healthcare Among Men and Women in Ontario

Supervisors: Laura Rosella, University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School of Public Health; Jessica Gronsbell, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts & Science, Department of Statistical Sciences

Image of Mariame Ouedraogo.

Mariame Ouedraogo

Thesis Topic: Armed conflict and reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health in Mali

Supervisors: Diego Bassani, The Hospital for Sick Children, Child Health Evaluative Sciences; Erjia Ge, University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Aarya Patil

Thesis Topic: Decoding the Evolutionary History of the Milky Way Galaxy

Supervisors: Jo Bovy, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts & Science, David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics; Gwendolyn Eadie, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts & Science, Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Image of Delaram Pouyabahar.

Delaram Pouyabahar

Thesis Topic: Factor Decomposition and Relevance Scoring Using Scalable Linear Mixed Models for Interpretable Single-Cell Transciptonomics Data Analysis

Supervisors: Gary Bader, University of Toronto, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research; Sonya MacParland, University Health Network, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute

Henry Quach

Thesis Topic: Application of Bottom-Up Mathematic Modelling to Statistically Describe the Trajectory of CFTR Expressing Cells in Human Lung Development

Supervisors: Amy Wong, The Hospital for Sick Children; Sidhartha Goyal, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts & Science, Department of Physics

Image of David Veitch.

David Veitch

Thesis Topic: Investigating Dynamic Functional Connectivity Networks of the Brain via Nonstationary Time Series Analysis

Supervisors: Zhou Zhou, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts & Science, Department of Statistical Sciences; Jun Young Park, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts & Science, Department of Statistical Sciences

Image of Chengxin Yu.

Chengxin Yu

Thesis Topic: Data science approaches to quantify the reproducibility and significance of hypoxia signatures in pancreatic cancer patient cohorts

Supervisors: Keiran Campbell, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute; Alison McGuigan, University of Toronto, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry

Rongqian Zhang

Thesis Topic: Mitigating inter-scanner biases in high-dimensional neuroimaging data via spatial Gaussian process

Supervisors: Jun Young, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Statistical Sciences; Elena Tuzhilina, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Statistical Sciences