CROSH graduate student members are enrolled in a variety of programs, like Human Kinetics, Interdisciplinary Health, Nursing, Indigenous Relations, Engineering Science, Rural and Northern Health, Human Studies and Interdisciplinarity, Biomolecular Science, Materials Science, and more! You can learn how you can become a CROSH graduate student member here and about all of Laurentian University’s graduate programs here.

Dr. Oghenefego Akpomi-Eferakeya, MBBS, MSc
Dr. Oghenefego Akpomi-Eferakeya, MBBS, MScProgram: Master's in Interdisciplinary Health
Dr. Akpomi-Eferakeya is exploring nurses’ perceptions of the usefulness of the Violence Assessment Tool to help decrease the risk of violence in their workplaces. Her supervisor is Dr. Judith Horrigan.
Rachelle Barrette
Rachelle BarretteProgram: PhD in Human Studies and Interdisciplinarity
Victor Benitez
Victor BenitezProgram: Master's in Human Kinetics
Victor’s research is looking to understand the mental and physical state of health care clinicians before and during COVID-19 lockdown in order to develop improvement strategies.
Rebecca Bond
Rebecca BondProgram: Master's in Human Kinetics
Project Title: Mixed Methods Approach for Secondary Data Using Survey Reports from an Exploration Industry Database

Project Description: Rebecca’s project cleaned and coded over 100,000 individual data points from incident reports provided from the mineral exploration field, to create a streamlined survey pool of incident data. A code catalogue that was novel to the industry was created to enhance the existing survey reports and provide consistency for future incident reporting and coding. From there, Leximancer Software was utilized to evaluate the existing survey database of over 6000 incident reports. In addition, a key objective was to compare safety theory methodologies and their relevance when applied to incidents within this field. The general framework within these theories will be compared on the basis of whether or not they add value to or support existing health and safety systems, and allow the researchers to identify where gaps may exist between the inherent OHS system and the incidents that are occurring. This analysis aimed to improve existing health and safety systems by identifying areas of importance, concern and the possibilities of how and why incidents occur. The methods proposed in this work included evaluating the general health and safety of mineral exploration based on the frequency and nature of risk factors identified in the incident reports. Summary materials will be produced to convey the findings to the industry using best practice for knowledge translation efforts.

Christopher Brescacin
Christopher BrescacinProgram: Master of Science in Kinesiology at Lakehead University
Jonah D'Angelo
Jonah D'AngeloProgram: PhD in Human Kinetics
Jonah is looking at health outcomes and outdoor exposure under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Ritchie.
Vanessa De Coppi
Vanessa De Coppi
Alexandre Dionne
Alexandre DionneProgram: Masters of Arts in Applied Psychology
Amy Doan
Amy DoanProgram: PhD in Human Studies
Thesis Title: Medical Device HCI Design Complexities Impacting Nurse Users

Thesis Description: The focus of my research aims to strengthen the connections between human factors and HCI design of medical device interfaces and how their relationship possesses the power to influence how safely and comfortably a medical device can be interacted with. Exploring the current mental models nurse users refer to when interacting with familiar and novel medical devices can give important insight into how future, optimally designed user interfaces should be delineated and specifically what design factors should be taken into account. It is the aim of my research to further explore how the human factors ergonomics aspects of medical device user interface design, advances to user safety, efficiency, and general enjoyment of interacting with these devices are affected. An additional layer of complexity exists when considering healthcare workers situated in Northern Ontario areas who experience additional barriers and burdens in healthcare environments that permeate into the medical device design space.

George Flagler
George FlaglerProgram: MA in Interdisciplinary Health
George is a Masters student in Interdisciplinary Health at Laurentian University, where he also earned a degree in Health Promotion. A graduate student member of CROSH, George’s research interests include harness suspension, occupational exposures in mining, men’s mental health, and factors influencing vaccine hesitancy.

Project Title: A Regional Review of Covid-19 Vaccination Rates and their impact in Ontario Occupational Settings

Project Description: This project has the goal to identify regional trends in vaccination rates in various occupational settings that will help in determining potential barriers due to vaccine rollout or vaccine confidence. These identified regional trends will help sectors identify vaccination and service delivery obstacles and hopefully generate further discussion and research on overall sector impact, delivery, sustainability, and worker absenteeism.

Pranil G C
Pranil G CProgram: Master's in Computational Science
Adam Graham
Adam GrahamProgram: Master's in Human Kinetics
Willa Hladun
Willa HladunProgram: Master's of Human Kinetics
Thesis Title: Motherhood Journeys On and Off the Ice: A Narrative Analysis of Digital Media Stories of Professional Hockey Mothers

Description: I am examining digital news stories covering elite hockey athletes who are also mothers to examine what narratives are present in the mediation surrounding them, how these narratives influence their identity formation, and the psychosocial and cultural implications of such narratives. The sport media is a powerful tool in influencing our own and others perception of elite athletes, which has implications for their psychological wellbeing, as well as influences the cultural landscape of sports. Understanding how certain media narratives can be positive or negative to the psychological wellbeing of athlete mothers and the culture of sports can assist us in fostering a more supportive and inclusive hockey culture, which is a highly popular sport not only in Northern Ontario, but throughout North America.

Haoyu Huang
Haoyu HuangProgram: MSc Computational Sciences
Reza Mehboob, MSc OHS, CRSP, CFIOSH
Reza Mehboob, MSc OHS, CRSP, CFIOSHPhD in Interdisciplinary Studies, University of New Brunswick
Liam Nesbitt
Liam NesbittProgram: PhD in Northern and Rural Health
Thesis Title: Examining Predictors of a Successful Return-to-Work in the Mining Industry

Thesis Description: For my doctoral thesis, I am examining mental and physical health-related factors that could influence a return-to-work. The results of this research could be used to help inform the creation of an assessment that can predict a workers readiness for a successful return-to-work. Results from this study will also be used to assist with informing future health and wellness intervention strategies in the Northern Ontario mining industry.

MacKenzie Portelance
MacKenzie PortelanceProgram: MSc in Interdisciplinary Health
Kate Posluszny
Kate PoslusznyProgram: Ph.D. in Kinesiology (Biomechanics) Candidate at the University of Waterloo
Under the supervision of Dr. Steve Fischer, Kate’s research interests surround using wearable technology to identify and monitor the risk of workplace injuries in first responders.
Kiran Rani
Kiran RaniProgram: Master's in Human Kinetics
Elmira Saffarvarkiani
Elmira Saffarvarkiani Program: Master's in Computational Science
Dr. Leila Vakili Sohroforouzani
Dr. Leila Vakili SohroforouzaniProgram: Master's in Human Kinetics
Solange Marc St Hilaire
Solange Marc St HilaireProgram: PhD in Human Studies and Interdisciplinary Health
Mehdi Tavafi
Mehdi TavafiProgram: Masters of Computational Science
Emily Tetzlaff
Emily TetzlaffProgram: PhD in Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa
Emily Tella
Emily TellaProgram: MSc Kinesiology with a Specialization in Gerontology at Lakehead University
Emily Tella is a recent graduate from Lakehead University, where she earned her Master’s of Science in Kinesiology. Her current research focuses on occupational health and safety within first responder populations, more specifically, the mental health of Indigenous and non-Indigenous police officers working in rural Northwestern Ontario communities.
Disal Wickramasinghe
Disal WickramasingheProgram: Master's in Interdisciplinary Health
Disal is conducting a research study looking at the mental health of registered nurses and registered practical nurses in Northern Ontario during the COVID-19 pandemic. His thesis supervisor is Dr. Judith Horrigan.
Megan Wickie
Megan Wickie Program: Masters in Interdisciplinary Health
Project Title: An overview of diesel particulate in underground mining – the cost of doing nothing

Project Description: The status of various miner health-related issues, such as those involving asbestos, noise, lead, welding fumes, coal dust, silica dust, diesel particulate matter, and skin disorders, as well as research and other initiatives aimed at shielding miners from occupational illnesses and diseases.

Azin Zargham
Azin ZarghamProgram: Master's in Human Kinetics
Project Title: Evaluation of Resting Metabolic Rate after Weight Loss

Project Description: The purpose of my study was to describe the long-term effects of weight loss on resting metabolic rate (RMR). Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is the number of calories body would burn in sleep and rest mode, and is roughly two-thirds of the daily calories burned. Changes in RMR may develop during caloric restriction and contribute to the inability of individuals who have lost weight to maintain their weight loss. Findings of this work allows researchers in Northern Ontario to understand how to better design weight health-promotion programs and better measure health indices in the workplace and have healthier working environment.

Andrew Zarnke
Andrew ZarnkeProgram: PhD in Human Kinetics
Thesis Title: An investigation of the physical and chemical characteristics of McIntyre Powder and the implications for cardiovascular disease risk

Thesis Description: Through this research we aim to better understand how McIntyre Powder exposure contributed to the development of cardiovascular diseases in Ontario mine workers. This can help us better understand how exposures to ultrafine particulates that are present in many Northern Ontario workplaces, such as diesel particulate matter, can cause cardiac and vascular diseases.

Parastou Zerang
Parastou ZerangProgram: PhD in Human Kinetics
Thesis Title: A Weight-loss Health Education Intervention at the workplace with consideration of the effect of Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)

Thesis Description: The northern region is more reliant on public sector employment (including health care and public services (police, fire)), with other important economic bases coming from forestry and mining. Obesity and mental health are relevant problems in these workplaces, which include context-specific examination of contributors to health or safety issues. Compared with those of average body weight, persons with obesity are hired less frequently, get lower salaries and promotions, and are less satisfied with their employment, which can affect their mental health.

The aim of my project is to examine the effect of a prolonged educational weight loss program focusing on forming new nutritional and physical activity habits on physical and mental health and quality of life at the workplace.