Research Team

Tracie O. Afifi, PhD

Dr. Tracie Afifi is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Childhood Adversity and Resilience, a Professor inthe Departments of Community Health Sciences and Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba, the Director of the Childhood Adversity and Resilience (CARe) Research team, and a Research Scientist at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. She is also an Associate Editor of Child Abuse & Neglect. Dr. Afifi’s primary research interests are in the areas of child maltreatment and mental health with a focus on resilience, intervention, and prevention.

She has published over 200 peer-reviewed journal publications and has 200 conference presentations at national and international conferences. To date, she has been awarded over $46 million in research funding as Principal or Co-Investigator. Dr. Afifi is an inducted college member of the Royal Society of Canada, the 2018 recipient of the Royal-Mach-Gaensslen Prize for Mental Health Research, the 2019 recipient of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Gold Leaf Award, the 2020 recipient of the Alexander Leighton Award in psychiatric epidemiology, named Canada’s 2021 top 100 most powerful women by the WXN Diversity Council of Canada, and the 2023 recipient of the University of Manitoba Distinguished Alumni Award for Academic Innovation.

Evelyn Stewart, PhD

Dr. Evelyn Stewart is a tenured, academic-track Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia and is the founding director of the Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Clinic and Research Program as well as the Chair of the Child and Youth Mental Health Research at BC Children and Women’s Health Centre. She is a clinical, genetic and neuroscience researcher, as well as a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

Dr. Stewart has authored over 150 original papers, reviews, and chapters on genetic, clinical, and treatment aspects of OCD, Tourette’s Disorder, and related illnesses. She sits on the Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board of the International OCD Foundation and is the vice chair of the Research and Scientific Program Committee for Canadian Academic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Kelly Dean Schwartz, PhD

Dr. Kelly Dean Schwartz is Associate Professor, School and Applied Child Psychology, in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. As a registered psychologist, Dr. Schwartz has been engaged in the study of children, youth, and their families for over 25 years, most notably focusing on the development assets and family strengths contributing to healthy development and thriving. As Director of the Social Development Research Team (SDRT), his lab has received provincial and national grants to study child and youth engagement with social media and technology, international positive youth development, student mental health, and resiliency in first responder and military families.

As a member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education, the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, and the Owerko Centre, Dr. Schwartz also serves on numerous community, provincial, and national boards, advisory committees, and national institutes focused on research and training that informs evidence-based psychological services (prevention and intervention) for children, youth, and families.

Hasina Samji, PhD

Dr. Hasina Samji is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, a Senior Scientist in Population Mental Wellbeing at the BC Centre for Disease Control, and the Director of the Capturing Health and Resilience Trajectories (chartlab.ca) lab. She completed her PhD in infectious disease epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is an expert in youth mental health and well-being, intersectoral collaboration, working with large, linked datasets, and school health.

Dr. Samji leads the Youth Development Instrument (YDI), an interdisciplinary study measuring predictors of positive youth well-being, mental health, and development in high school students. She is also the co-Principal Investigator of the BC Children’s Hospital Personal Impacts of COVID-19 Survey (PICS) study measuring the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, she became a US National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow.

Skye Pamela Barbic, PhD

Dr. Skye Pamela Barbic is an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. She is passionate about youth mental health and health systems reform. She lives on the North Shore, is a parent of two teens, three dogs, and three cats!

Barbara J. Smith

Barbara J. Smith is a Senior Policy Analyst in the Research and Technology Branch at the British Columbia Ministry of Health. The Research and Technology branch in the Strategic Innovation Division serves as the primary contact with researchers, research organizations, research funding agencies and the life sciences industry to provide research-related services for ministry staff. She is currently providing leadership in support of a variety of activities to strengthen the ministry’s overall culture and capacity to use evidence and connect with the research community. 

Caroline Sanders, PhD

Dr. Caroline Sanders is an Associate Professor at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) within the Faculty of Health and Human Sciences. She is an interdisciplinary scholar who specializes in child and youth health, rare conditions, and engagement that is action-oriented and participant-centered. Caroline has a long-term research program in partnership with youth and young adults in the field of intersex variation. Her work focuses on exploring the meaning and impact of living with a rare condition by uncovering the influences that shape gender, wellness, resilience, and long-term health outcomes.

Carly McMorris, PhD

Dr. Carly McMorris has a PhD in Clinical-Developmental Psychology from York University. She completed her clinical internship at The Hospital for Sick Children, and is a Registered Psychologist in Alberta. Her research focuses on improving the health and well-being of children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD), such as autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, and cerebral palsy.

Sam Liu, PhD

Dr Sam Liu’s research focuses on two main areas: 1) developing and evaluating the effectiveness of digital communication technology (e.g. Internet, mobile phones, social media) to help individuals prevent chronic diseases, 2) finding innovative ways to monitor and predict behaviours and health outcomes using big data in order to better target and personalize digital health interventions.

You can find Dr. Liu’s Google Scholar here.

Carlos Sierra Hernandez, PhD

Dr. Sierra Hernandez is a Post-Doctoral Fellow under the supervision of Dr. Megan Ames and Dr. Theone Paterson in the Department of Psychology at the University of Victoria.

His research interests focus on the study of the determinants of health behaviours and mental health among adolescents and young adults.  As part of this interest, he is currently involved in the study of the predictors and underlying mechanisms involved in youth vaccine acceptance. Factors under study include demographic variables, mental health experiences, health-related experiences and behaviours, interpersonal factors, and trust in health systems. 

A secondary line of research associated with his overall research interest is the study of parental and family factors and their influence on youth and young adults’ mental health, and interpersonal functioning. A key factor of interest is how parents’ level of functioning, particularly their mental health, influences the attachment relationship with their children and, in turn, children’s and youth’s functioning. Of particular interest is how father’s mental health experiences influence children’s functioning – an area that deserves increased attention.

Clinically, Carlos provides client-centred, evidence-based services to youth, young adults, and adults in private practice.