Panelist Bios:

Dr. Giulia Kassab, Postdoctoral Researcher, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

• Dr. Giulia Kassab is a post-doctoral researcher at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, part of the University Health Network. She obtained her PhD degree in Biomolecular Physics from the University of Sao Paulo in 2022, and has dedicated her career to the fields of antimicrobial therapies, biophotonics, and drug delivery. Dr. Kassab’s research explores the potential of photodynamic therapy as a selective, localized treatment for infections that achieves successful treatment with minimal side effects.

Dr. Isuru Dharmarathna, Postdoctoral Researcher, UHN Research Institutes

• Dr. Isuru Dharmarathna is a speech-language pathologist with special interest in swallowing disorders in children and adults. She is currently pursuing a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Swallowing Rehabilitation Research Laboratory, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada. Isuru completed her doctorate on objective videofluoroscopic measures of swallowing in children at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 2021. Before moving to Canada, Isuru worked as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka from 2015 to 2022. Isuru is a Commonwealth Scholar a fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK. Her main research interests are to improve the quality of instrumental swallowing assessments, particularly videofluoroscopic swallow study and to improve service provision for children and adults with swallowing disorders in under-resourced settings. Isuru is the Councilor-in-Training of the Dysphagia Research Society (DRS) is the Chair of the Trainee Advisory Council of the DRS from 2024-2026. She is also a Committee Member of the International Pediatric Feeding Disorders Conference since 2021.

Dr. Juma Orach, Postdoctoral Researcher, UHN Research Institutes

• Dr. Juma Orach is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Health Systems and Outcomes at the UHN Research Institutes. He works in Dr. Karen Okrainec’s team to evaluate an integrated care program that supports patients in their care transition from the hospital to home. Juma’s research includes mixed methods analysis of health outcomes, patient and provider experiences, as well as identifying social determinants of health using machine learning. Prior to joining UHN, Juma completed a PhD in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia, where he identified putative concentration-dependent markers of air pollution exposure in a clinical trial. Juma always seeks to translate his research into practice; his journey to UHN has been informed by the opportunity to directly impact patient care and institutional policy.