About Our Lab

Madeline McCoy received a Master of Science in Health Sciences from Carleton University and was awarded the SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship - Master's. Her master’s thesis was focused on barriers to and facilitators of access to public and community transportation for older adults in Ottawa and how transportation is a significant factor in reducing social isolation for older adults who are most “at-risk”. Madeline also holds an Honours Bachelor of Science in Health Studies and Psychology from the University of Toronto. Her independent research project resulted in a published scoping review exploring the association between public transportation and social isolation in older adults.

Madeline has been a research assistant since she began volunteering with the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE) in 2017. Since then, she was a research assistant at Carleton University with the “Imagining Age-Friendly ‘communities within communities’: International Promising Practices” project and a Clinical Research Assistant with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. She is currently a Research Coordinator in the Isenberg Lab at Bruyère Health Research Institute. Madeline has experience supporting many qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research projects including assisting with grant applications, research ethics board applications, participant recruitment, data collection, data analysis, and knowledge translation.

For the past few years, Madeline has been passionate about improving quality of life for the aging population and using participatory action research approaches to learn from people who are impacted by research outcomes. These interests have merged into a focus on health care research, specifically in palliative and end-of-life care. Madeline’s research interests include transitions from hospital to home, palliative homecare and home visits, and the integration of arts-based methodologies and health care research.

In her free time, Madeline enjoys many art-related hobbies including painting, drawing, and DIY home projects. She enjoys getting outdoors, especially with her corgi, Perogi, who is always ready for an adventure. Madeline also spends lots of quality time with family and friends.

Dr. Lisa M. Boucher is currently a postdoctoral fellow with the Bruyère Health Research Institute and University of Ottawa. She has a PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health and a Master's in Cognitive Psychology. Her PhD was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Doctoral Research Award, and for this work Lisa won Faculty of Medicine awards for Best PhD Thesis in Epidemiology and for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Champion, Graduate studies.

Lisa's health services research has focused on improving self-management supports for people with chronic conditions, especially those with complex health and social needs. Lisa has expertise in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research, as well as extensive experience conducting community-based participatory research that involves meaningfully engaging and amplifying the voices of people with lived experience. Her work has focused on people living with HIV or hepatitis C, people who use non-prescribed drugs, and people experiencing homelessness. Lisa’s research has contributed to understanding health and social inequities, with particular attention to socioeconomic marginalization, chronicity and multimorbidity, self-care and mutual care, primary and community care, and intersectionality.

Lisa's research interests continue to be centered around reducing health and social inequities for people with complex care needs. She is currently investigating how to better support people with opioid health harms at end of life, including those living in poverty and experiencing homelessness, as well as researching how social factors relate to long COVID.

Outside of work, Lisa enjoys relaxing activities, such as spending time in nature and with animals, yoga and traveling.

Dr. William Hall is a Health Economist trained at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, and Business Administration as well as a Master’s and PhD degree in Health Economics.

Dr. Hall’s experience in economic evaluation spans multiple domains including pharmaceuticals, software, robotics, and care delivery models. He has supported over $2M of successful grants as a co-investigator and co-applicant including a ‘CIHR Catalyst Grant’, a ‘SPOR Rewarding Success Grant’ and an ‘Institute for Health System Transformation and Sustainability (IHSTS) Project Grant’. His PhD research focused on the application of health economic methods to support resource allocation decisions in the domain of home health for seniors.

He is currently working with the Isenberg Lab on the examination of physician and nurse practitioner provided home visits to patients at end of life.

Aria is a health services Research Coordinator in the Isenberg Lab at Bruyère Health Research Institute, supporting mixed methods research and arts-based knowledge translation for end-of-life care. She is also a Master's candidate in Epidemiology at the University of Ottawa, under the co-supervision of Drs. Jess Fiedorowicz and Sarina Isenberg. Aria is passionate about understanding and improving the quality of life and care for marginalized and underserved populations, and bringing research to life in creative ways that resonate, engages, and empowers.

In her free time Aria enjoys volunteering in her community, including with the Ottawa Victims Services, dancing, doing hot yoga, and loving her family & friends.

Taylor Shorting received her Bachelor of Arts (hons.) in psychology, a diploma in social services, and a certificate in addiction studies from Vancouver Island University (VIU). As an honour’s student, she was awarded the VIU REACH grant to carry out her year-long independent research study.

Concurrent with completing her undergraduate degree, Taylor served as a research assistant in the Environmental Psychology Research Lab for over three years. Her research focused on both natural and built settings, ranging from coastal and mountainous communities to hospital environments on Vancouver Island and surrounding areas.

Taylor has since developed a passion for exploring the impacts of built environments on human well-being, specifically how residential environments impact the psychosocial wellbeing of patients and caregivers who transact with the particular space.

In her free time, Taylor works alongside children and families navigating the foster care system, hiking with friends and family, and taking her boxer, Marvel, for adventures.

Kyle Drouillard (they/them/iel) holds an Honours Bachelor of Science with Specialization in Psychology from the University of Ottawa, where they completed an undergraduate thesis focused on US Peace Corps volunteers' experiences with mental illness. Following a three-year sojourn to the Republic of Korea, Kyle returned to the University of Ottawa to complete a Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences for which they wrote an award-nominated thesis exploring sexual and gender diverse people's experiences with intimate partner violence in Ontario.

Kyle is an experienced qualitative researcher, having started as a volunteer with the now-defunct Institute for Population Health at the University of Ottawa in 2014 as a transcriptionist. Since returning to academia in 2020, Kyle has led and supported sexual and reproductive health and rights research in Canadian and international contexts on family planning, gender-based violence, and intimate partner violence. In 2023, Kyle was Coordinator for an international collaborative of sexual and reproductive health researchers and a production assistant for the peer-reviewed journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. Kyle is also an experienced teacher, having guest lectured for courses on the social determinants of health, sexual and reproductive health, human sexuality, health communication, and critical appraisal of health research.

As Research Coordinator for the Isenberg Lab at the Bruyère Health Research Institute, Kyle brings their passion and commitment to health equity, bodily autonomy, and improved health and well-being for vulnerable and systemically marginalized populations to palliative and end-of-life care research. Currently, Kyle is interested in the palliative care experiences of sexual and gender diverse patients and their caregivers and arts-based research methods and knowledge translation.

Kyle is an avid (and well-reviewed!) home cook, and enjoys connecting to loved ones and making memories through food. They can be found plying others with homemade snacks and sweets, searching for new things to ferment, and exploring Danish, Korean, and Mexican cuisine. Kyle also enjoys film and film history, travelling alone or with friends, and hiking and cycling.

Sabah is a Masters candidate in Epidemiology at the University of Ottawa. She completed her Bachelors in Biology with a minor in Applied Ethics from the University of Ottawa in 2022. Since then, she has been working in the Deputy Minister’s Office at Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Sabah volunteered as a Recreational Therapist’s Assistant at Perley Health and worked closely with older adults and veterans with Alzheimer’s and dementia. This experience, among others, solidified her interest in health care and quality of life for older adults.

Sabah works as a research student in the Isenberg Lab. Her research interests include access to end of life care, social determinants of health and health equity.

In her free time, Sabah loves to be active and travel.

Prabasha is a Masters candidate in Epidemiology at the University of Ottawa. He completed his Bachelors of Science in Biomedical Sciences with a minor in Psychology from the University of Ottawa in 2024.

Prabasha has been a research assistant with the Bruyere Health Research Institute for over 3 years, working with the Hsu Lab and focusing on projects around inequities in care for older adults. He has used ICES and CLSA datasets to conduct quantitative analysis on his projects.

Prabasha works as a research student in the Isenberg Lab. His research interests include improving quality of care towards the end-of-life, access to home care, and improving on care for marginalized populations. Prabasha aims to expand on his research skillset by working on a mixed-methods thesis centered around hospital-to-home transitions, gaining invaluable qualitative research experience with this project.

In his free time, Prabasha loves to play basketball and baseball recreationally, as well as taking up running. He also enjoys cooking and learning to cook different cultural foods.

Ladees Al Hafi is a research volunteer with a BSc from the University of Waterloo and a current MSc candidate in Aging and Health at Queen’s university.

Her experience in research is diverse with a background that includes assisting with psychology recruitment studies, exploring the effects of antidepressants on fish behaviour through an independent research project, and currently working as a child mental health research student with SickKids Hospital.

Ladees’s research interests centre around palliative care and the experience of patients and their caregivers during the transition from hospital to home. Her focus is on helping to identify strategies that can optimize the transition process and improve outcomes for patients and caregivers.

In her free time, ladees partakes in painting, exercising, and volunteering with local community organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Sathana is a fourth-year Biomedical Science student at the University of Ottawa with a focus on neuroscience. She is currently completing an honours research project investigating the role of the transcription factor NR4A2 in dopaminergic neurons using zebrafish models. She also volunteers in the Isenberg Lab, where she assists with a variety of ongoing projects and contributes to the lab’s research efforts. She is broadly interested in neuroscience and the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal development, function, and disease, with a particular interest in understanding how genetic pathways influence dopaminergic neurons. Outside of academics, she leads MAS Lifepacks, an initiative that prepares and distributes care packages to members of the local community experiencing homelessness, and enjoys staying active.

Mirabella Marciante is a research volunteer in the Isenberg lab at the Bruyère Health Research Institute. She is a fourth year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, currently completing a double major in Biology and Anthropology. She is interested in pursuing graduate studies in the future.

Mirabella's academic background combines biological and social science perspectives on health. Through her studies, she has explored topics including public health, epidemiology, human biology, and forensic anthropology.

Mirabella’s research interests include health equity, public health, palliative care, epidemiology, mental health disorders and the social factors that influence health outcomes. She is particularly interested in research that improves patient experiences and helps ensure equitable access to high-quality healthcare. Outside of her studies, Mirabella volunteers at a local ESL café, where she supports English language learners and engages with members of diverse communities.

In her free time, Mirabella enjoys traveling, hiking, and reading. She also loves fashion, and exploring new experiences with friends and family.