Ms. Sara Assadian, Clinical Research Manager
Sara Assadian provides leadership for all PROOF Centre biomarker programs from a clinical research perspective. She is accountable for the execution of study protocols and provides guidance and direction to ensure successful achievement of study requirements and GCP guidelines. Sara is responsible for contributing to the development and finalization of biomarker program patient enrollment protocols. She manages and facilitates Canadian and International trial sites including start up activities such as REB submission, implementation, and maintenance of the studies to close out. Sara worked for BC Transplant as a clinical research coordinator for 3.5 years prior to joining the PROOF Centre.
She coordinated several Industry funded studies researching the effects of Immunosuppressive medications on solid organ transplant patients. She also coordinated the PROOF Center’s Biomarkers in Transplantation study. Sara obtained her Bachelor’s of Clinical Psychology from the University of British Colombia in 2006. Throughout her under graduate studies, she worked in research in several clinical laboratories including the Behavioural Cardiology Lab at UBC and the SFU Faculty of Health Sciences.
Ms. Halimah Basrael, Administrative and Communications Coordinator
Halimah Basrael joined the PROOF Centre as an Administrative & Communications Coordinator in March 2011. She is responsible for providing internal and external communications support to the Centre. Her understanding of the importance of progressive health research and her love for writing has led her to the PROOF Centre, where she works to support its collaborative efforts of developing solutions to manage patients better.
Her initial working years were spent as a general research assistant with the ACTION for Health Project based at Simon Fraser University and as a Communication Officer with the BC Alliance on Telehealth Policy and Research.
She holds a BA in Communications and a BA in English from Simon Fraser University. In her spare time, she enjoys swimming, running and biking.
Ms. Jolina Carson, Research Assistant
Jolina Carson is a Research Assistant for the PROOF Centre’s Subject Enrollment Team. She is responsible for the completion of study CRFs and database entry. Jolina’s role also involves patient enrollment and follow-up, collecting biological samples, and completing other study procedures. Although Jolina is involved in all research programs, the main program she will be involved with is the Chronic Heart Failure Study, which will be starting in the very near future.
Jolina is a recent graduate of the Joint Honours Biotechnology Degree Program at UBC and BCIT. As an undergraduate, she gained previous research experience in three Co-op positions: 1) Cardiovascular surgery research at St. Paul’s Hospital studying artificial heart valves, 2) Pulmonary research at iCAPTURE studying the lung function of Argentinian residents living at high altitudes, and 3) Orthopaedics research at the Foot and Ankle Clinic at St. Paul’s. Jolina’s spare time is spent training the new love of her life, Munkibear, a chiweenie with a feisty attitude, and spending time with family and friends.
Ms. Martha Casey-Knight, Administration and Events Coordinator
Martha Casey-Knight is the Administrative and Events Coordinator for the PROOF Centre of Excellence. Martha was the Biomarkers in Transplantation Project Coordinator from 2004 to 2008. Although trained as a secondary school teacher, Martha has spent most of her working life as an administrator. Prior to moving to Vancouver in 2004, Martha worked in administration at the international resort casino in Perth, Western Australia. Martha also brings experience in interpersonal relationship management to the position, having been the first female bouncer in Perth. Martha graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Education (Secondary Teaching) and a Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism from Footsgray Institute of Technology.
Ms. Virginia Chen, Data Mining Analyst
Ms. Virginia Chen is currently a Data Mining Analyst at the PROOF Centre of Excellence. She is part of the computation team and has been working on the Biomarkers in Transplantation (BiT) project since mid-2009. Virginia graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science in Combined Honours Computer Science and Statistics. Following this, she completed a Master of Arts in Biostatistics at the University of California, Berkeley in 2009.
Ms. Breanne Crouch, Research Coordinator
Breanne Crouch is a Research Coordinator for the PROOF Centre’s programs in the development of biomarkers for heart and kidney failure. In her current role as a Clinical Research Coordinator, Breanne consents patients for enrollment into the trial and ensures that all biological samples are collected in along with the patient’s clinical appointments.
The highlight of Breanne’s role in the PROOF Centre is interacting with the patients and monitoring their progress through the study. Breanne has a Bachelor in Environmental Geography from Simon Fraser University. In Breanne’s spare time, she enjoys long runs as part of her training for her upcoming Half Marathon competition.
Dr. Gabriela Cohen Freue, Research Associate, Statistician
Dr. Gabriela Cohen Freue has an undergraduate degree in Mathematics, with specialization in Mathematics Education, from the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina). Gabriela finished her Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics at the University of Maryland at College Park (US) followed by two years of Postdoctoral experience in Biostatistics and Bioinformatics through her participation in the Biomarkers in Transplantation (BiT) project.
In the last 2 years she has been working as a Research Associate in the Department of Statistics at UBC continuing her participation in BiT. In particular, her work is focused on the analysis of plasma proteomics data, acquiring expertise on the characteristics and challenges associated with plasma proteomics studies. Her research interests are in robust estimation and extensions of linear models with applications to statistical genomics and proteomics.
Ms. Rosemary Cvitanovic, Clinical Research Coordinator
For the past 5 years Rosemary has been coordinator for the PROOF Centre’s Biomarkers in Transplantation Project at BC Transplant. She is responsible for implementation of study protocol including patient enrollment and follow-up and Ethics CREB-UBC submissions at the BC Transplant/ Vancouver Costal Health site. She is also responsible for VCHRI (Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute) request for approval to conduct research at Vancouver General Hospital.
At BC Transplant Rosemary also coordinates industry funded studies researching the effects of immunosuppressive medications on solid organ transplant patients. Prior to working at BC Transplant Rosemary was Data Manager at the Syreon Corporation, CRO (Clinical Research Organization) working on development of study specific CRF’s, Protocol, development and maintain study specific data edit checks, data validation and discrepancy management. She also coordinated data management with over 100 sites study management according to ICH/GCP guidelines. In 2006 Rosemary obtained SoCRA Certificate (Re-Certification 2009 -2012). Rosemary graduated from School of Nursing in her native Croatia. Since then has worked as a scrub nurse in OR, and as a dialysis and post-transplant nurse at Vancouver General Hospital, obtaining surgical and therapeutic area experience in transplantation, trauma, dialysis, urology, and nephrology.
Dr. Oliver Günther, Mathematical Modeler
Dr. Günther is a member of the PROOF Centres computational team. In his current role as Mathematical Modeler he implements algorithms for predictive, diagnostic and prognostic biomarker development in respect to organ failure. A main focus of his work is on compilation of analytical pipelines based on a variety of pre-processing-, univariate- and multivariate methods, including statistical learning algorithms for classification. In support of biological interpretation and validation of statistical analysis results, Dr. Günther applies network-theoretical approaches to internal and publicly available data sets. Another aspect of his role includes working with clinicians, biologists, data administrators, statisticians, clinical coordinators and technicians to translate scientific questions into numerical procedures, interpretable results and visualizations. Dr. Günther received his Ph.D. in physics in 1998 after a 3-year research visit at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre in California where he co-invented novel ways of controlling smart matter, resulting in 3 awarded patents. He moved to Vancouver, BC, in 2003 after working in the high-tech and biotech field in the San Francisco Bay Area for 4 years. Before transitioning to PROOF in 2008, Dr. Günther worked for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UBC and the UBC Centre for Disease Control.
View Dr. Günther’s publications, patents and contact information here.
Ms. Zsuzsanna Hollander, Data and Informatics Manager
Ms. Zsuzsanna Hollander is presently the Data and Informatics Manager for the PROOF Centre of Excellence. In her current position, she is a senior data analyst and, in addition, covers roles in data management, software evaluation and informatics management. She represented the PROOF Centre at international, national and local scientific meetings and has been involved in writing scientific manuscripts. Zsuzsanna also worked as a Data Mining Analyst for the Biomarkers in Transplantation project where she analyzed genomic, proteomic, metabolomic and clinical data sets as well as provided querying expertise in mining the data from the project’s complex database. Before joining the BiT team, she gained experience with data back-up procedures for university wide servers and databases; monitoring of on- and off-campus networks; managing the operation of multiple company branches located in different cities; negotiation of contracts of product sales and purchases; and preparing of statistical and financial reports.
Zsuzsanna obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economical Informatics at the Academy of Economical Studies in Romania and pursued a Bachelor of Science degree followed by a Master of Science in Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. Recently, she also obtained the Project Management Professional status from the Project Management Institute. Zsuzsanna enjoys expanding her technical skills and hence is currently pursuing a PhD in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UBC.
Ms. Debbie Langstaff, Data Ambassador
Ms. Debbie Langstaff is the Data Ambassador for the PROOF Centre. Debbie is responsible for directing and managing the implementation of the IO Informatics system (www.io-informatics.com) to assemble, search, and analyze the range of data available in the PROOF Centre. She provides training, guidance and support for the system to all PROOF Centre investigators and collaborators. Using her strong analytical and training skills she is focused on ensuring investigators can easily use IO Informatics to help them find answers to their research questions.
After graduating from B.C.I.T in 1992 with a Diploma of Technology in Computer Systems, Debbie worked in the software industry concentrating on development and training. In the last 13 years she her work focused on Business Intelligence reporting, computer-based techniques used in spotting, digging out and analyzing business data. During the past three years Debbie took a hiatus from city work life and became the owner/operator of The Bit Ranch Bed and Breakfast in Princeton, BC.
Ms. Sijia Lun, Technician Assistant
Ms. Sijia Lun is a Research Technician for the Biomarkers in Transplantation initiative. Based primarily at the Vancouver General Hospital site, she is responsible for the day to day tasks in the Biomarkers BioLibrary including receiving and processing clinical specimens and documenting and maintaining an organized database of all clinical follow-ups of study patients enrolled in the project. Sijia recently graduated from University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in May 2010.
Ms. Tima Mohammadi, Health Economist
Ms. Mohammadi is a Research Analyst at the Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) at UBC.
She holds an MA in Economics from Simon Fraser University and an MSc in Socioeconomic Systems Engineering from the Institute for Management and Planning Studies (IMPS). Tima worked with IMPS as a researcher and instructor for seven years and has conducted several research projects in economics evaluation and statistical analysis.
Her research interests are focused on decision analytical modeling, statistical analysis and health economic evaluation.
Ms. Maureen Mooney, Clinical Research Coordinator
Maureen Mooney started in dialysis and transplantation at VGH in 1979 following a move from Montreal where I was born and raised. In 1982 until 1984 I traveled the province of BC visiting all the home dialysis patients, which was a fantastic experience, and returned once again to VGH as the head nurse of the Nephrology Unit. I worked with pre and post operative kidney transplant patients as well as patients requiring peritoneal dialysis. In 1990 I left the nephrology world and began a new nursing career at BC Children’s in the NICU. In November, 2010 I joined BC Transplant as a research coordinator and am thrilled to be a part of transplantation once again
Ms. Julie Pauwles, Clinical Research Coordinator
Ms. Julie Pauwles is a Clinical Research Coordinator for the PROOF Centre’s Biomarkers in Transplantation initiative. She is responsible for implementation of study protocols including patient enrollment and follow-up and REB submissions at the St. Paul’s Hospital site. At BC Transplant, Julie also coordinates industry funded-studies researching the effects of immunosuppressive medications on solid organ transplant patients.
Prior to working at BC Transplant, Julie was a research coordinator for over 3 years at the Developmental Neurosciences and Child Health, where she was involved in infant behavioural and clinical research studies. Julie obtained a Bachelor’s of Clinical Psychology from the University of British Colombia in 2007. As an undergraduate, she worked in research at several clinical laboratories investigating topics such as chronic pain management.
Ms. Jaimmie Que, Research Technician
Ms. Jaimmie Que is a Research Technician and is responsible for laboratory duties including sample processing and running experiments. Previously, Jaimmie worked on the CanPreddict study on chronic kidney disease, and as a bioinformatics curator for InnateDB, an interactions database of the innate immune system. In graduate school, her research focused on determining protein-protein interactions at tricellular junctions of the model organism, Drosophila. Jaimmie received a Master’s of Science degree in Zoology from the University Of British Columbia in 2007, a Diploma of Technology in Biotechnology from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in 2002, and a Bachelor of Science in Cell Biology and Genetics from the University of British Columbia in 1999.
Mr. Jian Ruan, Technician
Mr. Jian Ruan has been working as a research technical assistant in Dr. Scott Tebbutt’s laboratory located in the Institute for Heart + Lung Health in St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC since 2003. They are working on genetic association study in patients with pulmonary diseases using microarray genotyping and gene expression technologies. Jian obtained his Master’s degree in Molecular Biology from Paris VII University. He was trained as genetic experimental biologist. He joined PROOF Centre in July 2010. His major duty for PROOF is to perform experiments on DNA, RNA and protein samples isolated from the patients’ specimens. Jian likes planting, weight training and travelling in his spare time.
Ms. Mandeep Takhar, Statistical Analyst
Ms. Mandeep Takhar was born and raised in Vernon, BC. A move to Vancouver was prompted by her decision to start her BSc in Biology at UBC. After the completion of this she began a Bachelor of Computer science which was completed in December 2008. During her second degree Mandeep worked as a co-op student for the Biomarkers in Transplantation project in 2007, and after her graduation she began working as a statistical analyst for the PROOF Centre in February 2009.
Her work with the PROOF Centre focuses on the analysis of proteomics data. Mandeep’s spare time is spent taking part in various outdoor activities and spending time with her family.
Ms. Kessie Xu, Research Assistant
Kessie Xu is a Research Assistant for the PROOF Centre’s program in the development of biomarkers for heart failure. In her current role as a ‘Coordinator on Wheels’, Kessie is responsible for scheduling home visits with the study patients and transferring the collected data effectively for analysis. Aside from being a part of a team that is working towards improving patient care; Kessie’s favorite part of the job is getting to know the patients throughout her visits. Kessie obtained her Bachelor of Science from the University of British Columbia with a double major in Biology and Psychology. In her spare time Kessie loves baking and trying out new recipes. She also enjoys reading, hot yoga and traveling.
Ms. Kerri Zaine, Research Assistant
Kerri Zaine is a Research Assistant for the PROOF Centre’s program in the development of biomarkers for heart failure. In her current role as a ‘Coordinator on Wheels’, Kerri schedules home visits with the patients enrolled in the study and ensures that the data is collected and brought in for analysis in a timely and effective manner. As a graduate from UBC in the Urban Studies program she focused extensively on sustainable living and building healthy communities for future generations. Part of building a healthy community is to ensure that the people who live within it remain vibrant, active and healthy. Kerri especially enjoys visiting with her patients to track them throughout the study as this beneficial research will make a positive impact in creating healthier communities. Kerri is an avid field hockey player, enjoys yoga, running, reading and traveling.
