May 2, 2025
The results of the Triagency Fellowship and Scholarship programs have been announced! We are pleased to present the list of Douglas Research Centre students who have been awarded in the various categories.
The Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS) program at the doctoral level is designed to promote the ongoing excellence of Canadian research by rewarding and retaining high-calibre students enrolled in a doctoral program at a Canadian institution. By providing support to enable students to benefit from a high-quality research training experience, the program aims to foster spin-offs in the research community and beyond.
We are proud to report that Zaki Alasmar (Drs. Y. Zeighami and M. Dadar labs) has been awarded this highly competitive scholarship! Congratulations!
The Postdoctoral Fellowships (PDF) program provides support to a small number of talented researchers who are at a turning point in their careers. Postdoctoral Fellowships are designed to ensure a supply of highly qualified Canadians with leading-edge science and research skills for use in Canadian industry, government and educational institutions.
Here are the students who received awards in this category:
- Tovah Cowan (Drs. S. Iyer and M. Ferrari labs)
Tovah Cowan, PhD has been awarded a CIHR postdoctoral fellowship for three years. This competitive award will provide salary support as well as a research allowance supporting her project, titled “Identifying factors affecting patient participation in learning health systems to create improvements: a mixed methods study of learning health systems for early psychosis in Québec and USA.” Governments here in Canada and abroad have been investing in learning health systems, networks stakeholders and health services which use data from a variety of sources to improve quality of care and individualize treatment. This project is designed to ensure that these systems are maximally effective by increasing patient participation and utility of these services to patients. Tovah Cowan will complete this project as part of the Youth Mental Health Collective and the Ludic Mind Studio, under the supervision of Drs. Srividya Iyer and Manuela Ferrari.
- Randriely Merscher Sobreira de Lima (Dr. M. Meaney Lab)
Randriely Mersher Sobreira De Lima, PhD, has been awarded a CIHR postdoctoral fellowship for 3 years. This competitive award will provide salary support as well as a research allowance supporting her project, titled “Sex Differences in the Molecular and Neural Circuits Underlying Stress Resilience.” The project explores the biological mechanisms that underlie resilience to depression following stress exposure. Using the learned helplessness model, Dr. De Lima will investigate transcriptional profiles associated with resilient versus helpless phenotypes in mice. By integrating gene expression and bioinformatics analyses with postmortem human brain data from individuals diagnosed with depression, the study aims to uncover sex-specific molecular pathways linked to resilience. Dr. De Lima will conduct this research within the Meaney Lab, under the supervision of Dr. Michael Meaney.
- Angela Marcela Jaramillo Ospina (Dr. P. Silveira Lab)
Angela Marcela Jaramillo Ospina, PhD, has been awarded a CIHR postdoctoral fellowship for 3 years. This competitive award will provide salary support as well as a research allowance supporting her project, titled “Health impact of prenatal adversity and subsequent caloric abundance: exploring sex-specific adipose tissue gene expression”. This study uses an animal model to explore how prenatal adversity and high-fat/high-sugar diet exposure influence gene expression in visceral and subcutaneous fat, aiming to identify sex-specific molecular signatures that drive obesity and cardiometabolic disease risk and inform targeted interventions. Angela Marcela Jaramillo Ospina will complete this project as part of the Silveira Lab, under the supervision of Dr. Patricia Pelufo Silveira.