Clinician Scientist Profiles: Graduate Steam
Masoud AhmadzadAsl
I completed my MD and previous psychiatry training back in Iran before pursuing a new life in Canada, which includes redoing my residency. Nothing fills me more with joy than pursuing the unknown. I am interested in learning about the most obvious, yet less known, part of any therapeutic intervention, the placebo. Along with my supervisors/advisor, Drs. Mark Sinyor, Matthew Burke, and Krista Lanctot, in my CSP project I plan to study the mechanisms of placebo effects and their correlates across major psychiatric conditions, which could eventually promote patient care quality. I will start with a systematic review of published RCTs and then may plan to expand my research as an add-on part to RCTs with the placebo arm(s). During my previous life as a psychiatrist in Iran, I also participated in research projects and published in several peer-reviewed journals, including papers on placebo effects in panic disorder and OCD. Outside of professional life, I enjoy poetry, literature, calligraphy, and spending time with my wife and daughter.
Masoud AhmadzadAsl on Research Gate
Erene Stergiopoulos
Erene Stergiopoulos completed her BSc in psychology and MA in history and philosophy of science at the University of Toronto. Her past research includes qualitative work on the experiences of medical students with disabilities, and uses a socio-cultural lens to study the effects of the hidden curriculum on their professional identity formation. Her current research uses mixed methods approaches to study barriers to physician health disclosure. She is completing her PhD at the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (University of Toronto) where her work studies regulation and licensure for physicians with medical conditions.
Co-Supervisors: Dr. Juveria Zaheer & Dr. Tina Martimianakis
David Freedman
David Freedman is a Multiple Sclerosis Neuropsychiatry Fellow who conducts research to better understand and address the neuropsychiatric sequelae of multiple sclerosis (MS). His past work has focused on differences in the neuropsychiatric sequelae across disease duration, the links between depression, anxiety, and cognitive dysfunction, and intimate partner violence among people with MS. His current research explores predictors of neuropsychiatric treatment usage, and age and sex differences in depression, anxiety, and cognitive dysfunction in MS.
Supervisor: Dr. Anthony Feinstein