Alumni

The Behavioural Medicine lab prides itself on training highly qualified personnel for future careers in research and clinical practice. Our alumni are employed in a diverse range of positions. See what our successful graduates are up to today!

  • Gerald Giesbrecht, PhD, R.Psych.,

    Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, University of Calgary

    Lauren Drogos, PhD,

    Team Lead of Mental Health Projects and Initiatives, Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction at CIHR

  • Tamara Williamson, PhD

    For her dissertation research, Tamara investigated a behavioural weight loss treatment, delivered during cardiac rehabilitation, to promote weight loss and improve symptom burden among patients with atrial fibrillation and obesity. Tamara is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Regina.

    ResearchGate | LinkedIn

    Chelsea Moran, PhD

    Chelsea is currently a clinical psychologist at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.

    ResearchGate | LinkedIn | Twitter

    Michelle Flynn, PhD

    As a part of the Behavioural Medicine Lab, Michelle collaborated with Dr. Linda Carlson to investigate cognitive function following an online mindfulness intervention for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Michelle is currently a resident psychologist at the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC).

    Research Gate | LinkedIn

    Kirsti Toivonen, PhD

    Kirsti earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Calgary under the supervision of Dr. Linda Carlson and Dr. Tavis Campbell. Kirsti completed her clinical residency at the Northern Ontario Psychology Internship Consortium in her hometown of Thunder Bay.

    Research Gate

    Jenna Thomas, PhD

    Jenna earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Calgary in the Behavioural Medicine Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Campbell. Jenna completed her clinical residency at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, focused on pediatric health psychology.

    Research Gate | LinkedIn

    Josh Rash, PhD, Assistant Professor, Memorial University of Newfoundland

    Josh is a former doctoral student of the Behavioural Medicine Laboratory and completed his clinical residency at The Ottawa Hospital. Josh is currently an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Josh has a diverse range of interests, including adherence, clinical inertia, cardiovascular psychophysiology, motivating healthy lifestyle behaviours, and pain management. His time at the Behavioural Medicine Laboratory was focused on four lines of investigation: 1) designing and evaluating the Index of Facial Pain Expression (IFPE) – an online environment designed to train healthcare providers to reliably code for facial pain expression; 2) evaluating the use of intranasal oxytocin as a novel adjuvant treatment for the management of acute and chronic pain; 3) modelling the influence that the prenatal milieu has on the development of the fetal/infant stress response systems; and 4) improving patient adherence to complex medical regimens through the use of motivational interviewing.

    Research Focus: Pain management, patient adherence, cardiovascular psychophysiology

    Funding: University of Calgary Clinical Research Fund, CIHR (Doctoral), University of Calgary University Research Grants Committee, Alberta Innovates Health Solutions, Killam Pre-Doctoral Scholarship, and Canadian Pain Society (Trainee Research Award).

    Research Gate | LinkedIn

    Codie Rouleau, PhD, R.Psych

    Codie Rouleau is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of Calgary and a clinical health psychologist at TotalCardiology Rehabilitation. She also shares an adjunct appointment with the University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Physical Therapy where she routinely contributes to the Healthspan Advisory Board and teaches behaviour change counselling to graduate students in health-related fields. Her doctoral research was completed under the supervision of Dr. Campbell and focused on the evaluation of a novel motivational intervention to promote adherence to cardiac rehabilitation exercise training. In her current role as chair of the TotalCardiology Research Network, Dr. Rouleau maintains a program of clinical research focused on biopsychosocial aspects of cardiovascular disease as well as the optimization of behavioural interventions for chronic disease management.

    Research focus: Cardiac rehabilitation, health behaviour change, cardiac psychology

    Research Gate | LinkedIn

    Jillian Johnson, PhD, Assistant Research Professor, Penn State University

    Jill completed her BSc (Hons; 2010), MSc (2013), and PhD (2016) in Psychology at the University of Calgary under the mentorship of Dr. Tavis Campbell and Dr. Linda Carlson. For her doctoral dissertation, Jillian conducted a randomized controlled trial of light therapy for cancer-related fatigue, called The LITE Study. After completing her dissertation in September 2016, Jillian accepted a post-doctoral scholar position in the Stress, Health, and Daily Experiences Laboratory in the Department of Biobehavioral Health at the Pennsylvania State University, where in 2018 she became an Assistant Research Professor.

    Research focus: Stress, psychological factors, well-being

    Funding: AIHS, CIHR (Masters), Killam Fellowship, the Alberta Cancer Foundation, and the Lloyd and Florence Cooper Memorial Scholarship

    Research Gate | Lab Website

    Kristin Zernicke, PhD, R.Psych., AHS, Calgary

    Dr. Zernicke works in the Shared Mental Health Care program with Alberta Health Services, clinically focused on primary care. She completed her pre-doctoral residency with Alberta Health Services through the Edmonton Consortium. As an MSc and PhD student, her research interests included health psychology and behavioural medicine, mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cancer recovery programs, irritable bowel syndrome, motivational interviewing, behaviour change, and online therapies and interventions.

    Her dissertation involved a randomized wait-list controlled trial entitled: The eCALM Study: An Online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program for Individuals Living with Cancer in Alberta. Dr. Zernicke completed her undergraduate honours degree in Psychological and Brain Sciences, Minor in Human Development and Family Studies, at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

    Sandra N. Young, PhD, R.Psych., Clinical Psychologist

    Sheila Garland, PhD, R.Psych., Assistant Professor, Memorial University of Newfoundland

    Laura Labelle, PhD, R.Psych., Clinical Psychologist, Tom Baker Cancer Centre

    Brenda Key, PhD, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University

    Andrea Stevenson, MSc, R.Psych., Clinical Psychologist

    F. Routeledge, PhD, Assistant Professor, Emory University

  • Anna Pedersen, BSc (Hons), 2024

    Samia Shaikh, BSc (Hons), 2023

    Sara Bounor, BA (Hons), 2022

    Brooklynn Snodgrass, BSc (Hons), 2022

    Katrina Schillaci, BSc (Hons), 2021

    Ashley Felske, BA (Hons), 2019

    Jamie Rasmussen, BA (Hons), 2016

    Cara Bally, BA (Hons), 2015

    Crystal Hare, BA (Hons), 2015

    Christina Sisson, BA (Hons), 2015

    Kristin Horsley, BA (Hons), 2013

    Tiffany Haig, BA (Hons), 2013

    A. Mehri, BA (Hons), 2013

    T. Haig, BA (Hons), 2013

    Geoffrey Szuszkiewicz, BA (Hons), 2012

    M. Luu, BA (Hons), 2012

    S. Bruce, BA (Hons), 2009

    K. Elliot, BA (Hons), 2009

    Linette Lawlor, BA (Hons), 2009

    L. Kurilova, BA (Hons), 2009

    K. Irwin, BA (Hons), 2008

    Kirsten. Fiest, BSc (Hons), 2008

    Kara Ross, BSc (Hons), 2008

    T. Jacobs, BSc (Hons), 2006

    S. Hyde, BA (Hons), 2006

    B. Reilly, BSc (Hons), 2005

    F. Jakulj, BSc (Hons), 2005