Eleven Douglas students awarded 2024 HBHL Fellowships

August 22, 2024

Launched in January 2024, the 10th edition of the HBHL (Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives) Graduate Fellowships program awarded 31 fellowships. The central vision of the HBHL initiative is to create a global centre for excellence, establish a hub for neuroinformatics and big data analysis, and accelerate translational discoveries that will improve brain health in Canada and around the world.

Master’s students receive $10,000 for one year, and doctoral students $15,000 for one year.


We are delighted to welcome 11 Douglas Research Centre students among the 31 winners:

  • Aliza Brzezinski Rittner, PhD, team of Yashar Zeighami
    Project title : Modeling sex-specific brain aging trajectories in health and neurodegenerative disorders
  • Je Sern (Zac) Yeap, PhD, équipe de Rachel Rabin
    Project title : Investigating the Interactive Effects of Cannabis and Tobacco Co-Use on Episodic Memory and its Associated Brain Activity
  • Megan Davies, PhD, équipe de Manuela Ferrari
    Project title : Video Games, Emotions & Well-Being: Understanding Video Game Streaming in Young People
  • Refilwe Mpai, PhD, équipe de Naguib Mechawar
    Project title : Characterizing perineuronal nets in the human cerebellum: are these structures impacted by child abuse?
  • Reine Khoury, PhD, équipe de Corina Nagy
    Project title : Running from Stress: Investigating Exercise-Induced Small Extracellular Vesicles and their Potential in Alleviating Major Depressive Disorder
  • Alice Mukora, Master’s, équipe de Mallar Chakravarty
    Project title : Investigation of the relationship between menopause and other lifestyle risk factors on the aging brain
  • Farida Zaher, Master’s, équipe de Lena Palaniyappan
    Project title : Natural Language Processing to Detect Mental State Effects of Ketamine in Depression
  • Gabriella Malamud, Master’s, équipe de Rachel Rabin
    Project title : Investigating Sex Differences in the Cannabis Withdrawal Trajectory During 28 Days of Cannabis Abstinence
  • Ishana Rue, Master’s, équipe de Simon Ducharme
    Project title : Longitudinal Neurofilament light as a clinical tool to differentiate frontotemporal dementia from primary psychiatric disorders
  • Jiaxuan Deng, Master’s, équipe de Katie Lavigne
    Project title : From brain connectivity to social functioning in at-risk-youth: A multiscale approach to understanding neuropsychosocial pathways of severe mental illness
  • Lina Sifi, Master’s, équipe de Mallar Chakravarty
    Project title : The influence of long-term hormone suppression on brain structure and function

Congratulations to the winners!

Discover the list of 31 winners