How to SGBA: Lessons Learned on Incorporating Gender into Research

Chantal, MSc, is a second-year PhD student at the University of Calgary, working with Dr. Sofia Ahmed. Her research program is aimed at assessing the cardiovascular implications of gender-affirming hormone therapy in transgender women. Chantal’s work has been recognized by numerous awards, including an Alberta Innovates Patient-Oriented Research (AbSPORU) Graduate Studentship, and was recently awarded first place and Presenters Choice in the internationally-recognized 2021 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) University of Calgary competition for her work.

Dr. Guadagni is a postdoctoral fellow investigating how a six-month aerobic exercise intervention can improve older adults cognitive ability and brain health, and the role of sleep quality as a mediator in this relationship. Dr. Guadagni’s clinical research interests include Neurodegenerative Diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias, Sleep disorders and more recent evaluation of sleep in the ICU.

Parisa is a first-year PhD student in kinesiology under supervision of Dr Jenn Jakobi. She received her BSc and MSc degrees in physiotherapy and Sport physiotherapy, and is now working on sex related differences in force steadiness and motor prosperities.

Jennifer is a PhD candidate at McMaster University in the Vascular Dynamics Lab, supervised by Dr. Maureen MacDonald. Her primary research is focused on the influence of hormonal contraceptives on peripheral arterial function and structure, and underlying mechanisms. Jennifer is also involved in sex and gender research, education and knowledge translation.

Bonnie is a neuroscience PhD student at the University of British Columbia studying with Dr. Liisa Galea in the Laboratory of Behavioural Neuroendocrinology.

Her research is focused on understanding the impacts of motherhood and Alzheimer’s disease risk on the aging brain. In particular, she is interested in how previous parity (pregnancy and motherhood) and presence of the APOE4 allele (a major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s Disease) may interact to affect cognition and neuroplasticity in middle age. Bonnie is also interested in how hormone therapy use history may contribute to this relationship. Her research has implications for the importance of considering reproductive history and genotype in aging and Alzheimer’s disease research.

Hashim is a postdoctoral fellow at UBC Okanagan. His research examines how overactivation of immune cells (i.e., inflammation) contributes to the development of type 2 diabetes. As part of this research, he is interested in the impact of biological sex on immune cell function.

Adelaide is a first-year PhD student in experimental psychology at the University of Ottawa, with a B.A. in psychology from McGill University. Her research is focused on studying the influence of oral contraceptive use on episodic memory and executive functions in young women. She is also very interested in the role of sex hormones on cognition across the female lifespan as well as sex differences in aging and cognitive decline.

Dr. Senthanar is working on a program of research that examines the return to work outcomes/trajectories, following a work injury, of immigrant workers when compared to Canadian-born workers within British Columbia. Sonja completed her doctoral studies in the School of Public Health & Health Systems at the University of Waterloo in 2019. Her dissertation used a qualitative feminist approach to explore the employment integration experiences of refugee women. Her primary research interests include employment outcomes, gender, and work disability relating primarily to immigrant and refugee populations as well as how these relationships change within the context of new forms of work such as precarious employment.

Emilie is a Master’s student in the department of Medical Genetics at UBC. Under the co-supervision of Dr. Jessica Dennis and Dr. Wendy Robinson at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, she is investigating sex differences in the polygenic risk of depression and shared associations with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adults in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) biobank. By conducting a sex-stratified analysis of this “big data” of genetic and health information, inclusive of frequently-omitted X-chromosome data, she is uncovering significantly different associations of disease variables associated with depression and CVD between males and females. She is passionate about advocating for awareness for sex and gender differences in the symptomology, presentation, comorbidity and medical management of depression and CVD.

Valerie is a PhD candidate in Community Health & Humanities at Memorial University of Newfoundland. She holds degrees in sexuality studies, medical anthropology, and public health. She has worked on several qualitative research projects about health, gender, and sexuality, including a study of queer safer sex politics and a study about the impact of sex/gender norms on vulvodynia diagnosis. Valerie’s work can be found in Sexualities, Critical Public Health, Sexual Medicine, Sexuality & Culture, and Porn Studies. She has published on sex research ethics in the journal Forum: Qualitative Social Research, and most recently she appears in the journal Synoptique with a piece from her fieldwork-based dissertation about the politics of occupational health in porn production. You can find her on Twitter @publicpubics.

Saryn (she/they) is a Master’s Student in Community Health Sciences. She does qualitative research with sex and gender minority communities with a focus on disability. She is an IGH Trainee and LIM student with the joint MSc/MD program.