Research Staff

Shalvi Chirmade, M.Binf.
Shalvi Chirmade, M.Binf.Bioinformatician
Shalvi Chirmade completed her Master of Bioinformatics at the University of Guelph and obtained her BSc in Biology (Molecular Genetics) at the University of Waterloo. She is passionate about the world of human genetic disease and hopes to combine this knowledge with programming to aid in advancing healthcare. In her spare time, Shalvi enjoys reading, photography, watercolor and calligraphy!
Mohsen Esmaeili, PhD
Mohsen Esmaeili, PhDResearch Associate
Dr. Mohsen Esmaeili earned his B.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of Isfahan and M.Sc. in Human Genetics at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences. He completed his PhD in Human Molecular Genetics at the Institute of Human Genetics, Jena University Hospital in Germany. After a post-doctoral research at Institute of Human Genetics in Jena, Mohsen joined Dr. Strug’s lab as a post-doctoral fellow to study how modifier genes contribute to Cystic Fibrosis disease. He currently holds the position of Research Associate and contributes to drug discovery and development for ion channels.
Katherine Keenan, HB.Sc.
Katherine Keenan, HB.Sc.Clinical Research Project Manager
Katie Keenan completed her HB.Sc. in Human Biology and Psychology at the University of Toronto. She began working at SickKids in her final year of studies and has since been involved in several different research projects. She currently functions as a project manager for international newborn screening and genetic modifier studies in cystic fibrosis.
Fan Lin, M.Sc.
Fan Lin, M.Sc.Research Technologist II
Fan Lin completed her Bachelor of Science and Master of Genetic Toxicology degrees in China. She has been working on the Cystic Fibrosis Gene Modifier Study for over 12 years. Lin has much expertise in preparing samples for high-throughput technologies, and contributes to genotyping and gene expression analyses for both our cystic fibrosis and epilepsy studies.
Scott Mastromatteo, M.Sc.
Scott Mastromatteo, M.Sc.Senior Bioinformatician
Scott Mastromatteo completed his M.Sc. in Applied Computing at the University of Toronto and his B.Sc. at the University of British Columbia in Computer Science and Molecular Biology. Scott is a data scientist with a particular infatuation for genetics. He has experience with all levels of the informatics pipeline from data storage to processing and analysis.
Delnaz Roshandel, PhD
Delnaz Roshandel, PhDSenior Research Associate
Dr. Delnaz Roshandel got her MD from Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. She also has an MSc in bioinformatics and a PhD in genetics both from The University of Manchester, UK. She joined SickKids in 2014. Her main focus of research is on genetics and epigenetics of common human diseases.
Cheng Wang
Cheng WangBiostatistical Analyst

Graduate Students

Gengming He, PhD Candidate
Gengming He, PhD Candidate
Gengming He completed his first M.Sc. in Physics at McMaster University investigating the magnetic properties of ultra-thin metal films. He then pursued another M.Sc. in Biostatistics and joined the lab as a practicum student. He enjoyed his statistical genetics training in the Strug lab and he joined the lab as a Biostatistical Analyst and for his PhD studies, to study the role of gene modifiers in cystic fibrosis lung disease.
Boxi Lin, PhD Candidate
Boxi Lin, PhD Candidate
Boxi Lin is a PhD candidate in Biostatistics at the University of Toronto. He is working with Dr. Strug and Dr. Sun to study the role of gene modifiers in timing of Pa infection in cystic fibrosis. Before coming to Toronto, he completed his M.Math in Statistics, and B.Math in Statistics and Computational Mathematics at the University of Waterloo.
Yu-Chung (Jerry) Lin, PhD Candidate
Yu-Chung (Jerry) Lin, PhD Candidate
Jerry completed his B.ASc in Electrical Engineering and M.Sc in Statistics at the University of Toronto before enrolling in PhD program in Biostatistics at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. He joined the lab as a Practicum student in Fall 2017. Under the supervision of Dr. Strug, he is currently building predictive models for Cystic Fibrosis Related Diabetes (CFRD) and severity of CF Lung Disease using sequencing data from Canadian patients.
Henry Lu, PhD Candidate
Henry Lu, PhD Candidate
Henry completed his BSc in Statistics and MSc in Biostatistics at the University of Toronto. Currently, he is a PhD student in Biostatistics jointly supervised by Dr. Lisa Strug and Dr. Rae Yeung. His research emphasizes on the genetic contributions to multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).
Fesobi Oluwamuyiwa, PhD Candidate
Fesobi Oluwamuyiwa, PhD Candidate
Fesobi completed is BSc in Microbiology from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta(FUNAAB), and a MSc in Bioinformatics from Covenant University, Nigeria. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dr Strug, where he will be working with state of the art long read genomic sequences from cystic fibrosis patients across Canada.
Eric Sanders, PhD Candidate
Eric Sanders, PhD Candidate
Eric Sanders completed his B.Sc. in Statistics at Queen’s University, and completed his M.Sc. in Biostatistics at the University of British Columbia. He joined the lab as a practicum student while studying for a PhD in Biostatics at the University of Toronto, and for his current research he is working with Dr. Strug to identify genetic contributors to the incidence of absence seizures among people diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.
Lehang Zhong, PhD Candidate
Lehang Zhong, PhD Candidate
Lehang Zhong completed his HB.Sc in Statistics, M.Sc. in Biostatistics and is currently a PhD student in Biostatistics at the University of Toronto. He is interested in theories of statistical evidence, and his research project focuses on the method for differential gene expression analysis to RNA-seq data from patients with Cystic Fibrosis.

The Centre for Applied Genomics Statistical Genetics Team

Jingjing Cao, M.Sc.
Jingjing Cao, M.Sc.Clinical Research Project Coordinator
Liz Li, PhD
Liz Li, PhDManager

STAGE Trainees

Elham Khodayari Moez , PhD
Elham Khodayari Moez , PhDPostdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Elham Khodayari Moez received her Master’s in Biostatistics from Tarbiat Modares University, Iran, and PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Alberta, Canada in 2018. She is currently pursuing her postdoctoral fellowship in molecular epidemiology, investigating the genetic mechanisms of human diseases and traits via development and application of advanced bioinformatics tools.

Alumni

Liz Li, Biostatistician
2007-2011
Now works full time as Service Manager for TCAG at SickKids

Andreea Cojocaru, Biostatistician
2009-2010

Xin Li, Biostatistician
2010-2011

Dong Su, Biostatistician
2011-2012

Lizhen Xu, Statistical Geneticist (TCAG)
2015-2017
Now working at Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University

Bowei Xiao
2015-2019
Now pursuing his PhD studies at McGill University

Gengming He
2015-2018
Now pursuing his PhD studies in our lab

Adele Chan
2020-2022
Now working at Zymeworks

Angela Chen
2019 – 2022
Now working at Recursion as a Data Scientist

Zeynep Baskurt
2008-2022
Now working at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Naim Panjwani
2014-2022
Now working at RBC

Jiafen Gong
2012-2022
Now working at TD

Anat Halevy
2020-2023
Now working for Dr. Diane Wherrett

Melissa Miller, PhD
2012-2015
Now manager at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals

Christie Burton
2013-2015
Currently Senior Research Associate at The Hospital for Sick Children

Elizabeth Corfield
2017-2018
Currently Research Scientist, Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Yanyan Zhao
2017-2021
Currently Assistant Professor at Heath and Medical Research Institute, Shandong University

Zeynep Baskurt, PhD
2009-2014
Now working as research associate in our lab

Fouad Yousif, Practicum student
2009-2010
Currently at Yelp and Seneca College, founded the Coding Hive

Xin Li
2009-2019
Presently a Statistician at Scotiabank

Liz Li, PhD
2010-2015
Now working as Service Manager for TCAG at SickKids

Naim Panjwani, Practicum student
2012-2013
Now working at RBC

David Soave, PhD
2012-2016
Now faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University

Lauren Erdman, Practicum student
2013-2014
Now faculty at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati

Simon Czajkowski, Practicum student
2013-2015

Gengming He, Practicum student
2014-2015
Now pursuing his PhD in our lab

Bowei Xiao, Practicum student
2014-2015
Now PhD Candidate at McGill University

Sangook Kim
2015-2023

Gemini Lam, Practicum student
2015-2016

Yue Yin, Practicum student
2016-2017

Cheng Wang
2017-2018
Now a Biostatistician in our lab

Fan Wang
2017-2022
Presently Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University

Angela Chen
2019 – 2022
Now working at Recursion as a Data Scientist

Lin Zhang
2018-2021
Presently employed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics & Actuarial Science at Simon Fraser University

Wendi Qu, Practicum Student

2023-2024

Liz Li
2010-2015
Now working as Service Manager for TCAG at SickKids

David Soave
2011-2016
Now faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University

Jessica Dennis
2011-2016
Now Investigator at BC Children’s Hospital and Assistant Professor at University of British Columbia

Melissa Miller
2012-2015
Now manager at Pfizer

Yue Jiang
2012-2014

Christie Burton
2013-2015
Now Senior Research Associate at SickKids

Talisa Silzer
2021

Angelina Pesevski
Summer 2015

Benjamin Dekoven
Summer 2017

Adam Eisen
Summer 2017

Allen Bao
Summer 2018

Benjamin Dekoven
Summer 2018

Allen Bao
Summer 2019

Clodagh Curran
Summer 2019

Yifan Duan
Summer 2021

Oluwanifemi Adeoye
Summer 2021 and 2022

Ruisi Rachel Li
2022