Postdoctoral Awards
2026
Institution: Douglas Research Centre
Supervisor: Dr. Mahsa Dadar
Personal Bio: Eve-Marie Frigon is a FRQS postdoctoral fellow with expertise in neuroanatomy and histology assessment, who completed her PhD studies funded by NSERC at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR). UQTR is hosting one of the largest anatomy laboratories in Canada, where she used the brains to develop histology and structural MRI registration protocols of ex vivo brains. She will now use these to investigate the underlying neuropathology of white matter hyperintensities of brains obtained from the Aging and Neurodegeneration cohort of the Douglas-Brain-Bank. This will allow her to better understand vascular changes across different brain diseases, and how they might contribute to the development of dementia.
Institution: University of Montreal
Supervisor: Dr. Walter Wittich
Personal Bio: Elena Guseva is a clinical art therapist and PhD candidate in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University. She holds a BA in Fine Arts, and a Master’s degree in Art Therapy. Her research focuses on non-pharmacological interventions to address neuropsychiatric symptoms in people living with dementia. In particular, she examines the therapeutic role of art therapy and the potential of wearable sensor technologies to detect and monitor behavioral symptoms in clinical and long-term care settings. Her work aims to advance evidence-based, person-centered approaches that support brain health and improve quality of life for people living with dementia and their caregivers.
2025
Project Title: Dementia Caregivers Skills Training Through Virtual Reality Simulation (VR-SIM Carers)
Institution: Ontario Tech University
Supervisor: Dr. Mary Chiu, Dr. Amer Burhan
Personal Bio: Andrei Torres is a Brazilian researcher, developer, and educator specializing in virtual reality, experiential learning, and immersive simulations. As a member of the VR-SIM Carers initiative at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, he focuses on developing immersive virtual reality scenarios for mental health education. Andrei holds a PhD in Computer Science from Ontario Tech University, along with a Master’s in Teleinformatics Engineering and a Bachelor’s in Architecture and Urban Planning. His research interests include virtual reality, learning management systems, serious games, immersive simulations, and gamification, with a strong emphasis on user-centered and educational applications in the healthcare domain.
Project Title: Refining Dementia Risk Scores
Institution: Western University
Supervisor: Manuel Montero-Odasso, Sylvie Belleville
Personal Bio:
Project Title: The effects of demographics and vascular risk factors on cerebrovascular pathology and dementia
Institution: McGill University
Supervisor: Dr. Mahsa Dadar
Personal Bio: I completed my PhD in experimental psychology with a specialization in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Ottawa. I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University/Douglas Mental Health University Institute, and I use MRI data, advanced statistical modeling, and machine learning techniques to identify cognitive and mental health biomarkers of cerebrovascular disease and neurodegeneration in both cognitively healthy older adults and in those with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), with a particular focus on racially diverse and minoritized populations.