UHN Postdoc Association (UHNPA)
Mission: Officially founded in 2021, the UHN Postdoc Association (UHNPA) is run by a group of current UHN postdoctoral researchers advocating on behalf of all UHN postdoc members. The UHNPA has five sub-committees which create initiatives and programming around communications, health and wellness, mentorship, professional development and social events.
Vision: The vision of the UHNPA is to create a more interactive and inclusive postdoc community, and help its members benefit and succeed during their training at UHN.
Connect with the UHNPA
Upcoming and Recent Events
Interested in joining the UHN Postdoc Association?
Join an information session to learn more about opportunities to get involved with the UHNPA Leadership Committee.
More information here.
On November 2, 2023 the UHNPA hosted a successful academic-industry networking event!
Bridging the Gap: Academic-Industry Networking Event offered a unique opportunity for Postdoctoral Researchers and Graduate Students at UHN to foster meaningful connections and facilitate knowledge exchange between academia and industry professionals in Biotech and Pharma, Medical and Regulatory Affairs, R&D/Clinical Research, and Data Science!
Learn more here.
On September 19th, 2023, the UHN Postdoc Association held the inaugural UHN Postdoc Symposium. The event Celebrated Postdoc Excellence by:
- Celebrating the accomplishments of UHN postdocs and appreciating the important roles that postdocs play in our community.
- Providing opportunities for UHN postdocs to share their research and network with their peers.
- Facilitating community building through games and activities at the breaks, with opportunities to win prizes.
- Sharing insights from leading UHN experts on how technology can impact healthcare research.
Learn more here.
UHN is proud to celebrate National Postdoc Appreciation week every September! To appreciate and support UHN postdoctoral researchers, the UHN Postdoc Association and Office of Research Trainees host a series of events and initiatives.
Learn about the 2023 Postdoc Appreciation week events here.
UHNPA Executive Team
Co-Chair
Daniel Louie studies how laser scattering can be used to detect and evaluate cancer. He completed his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia in May 2023, and started his postdoctoral research at UHN in September 2023.Daniel Louie, Co-Chair
Email: Daniel.Louie@uhn.ca
Co-Chair
Kasinan Suthiwanich received his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2020, and joined RIKEN - the Japanese National Research and Development Agency - as a postdoctoral researcher until 2023. Kasinan is continuing his postdoctoral position at the Vasconcelos Lab for Cardiovascular Research and Regeneration at Toronto General Hospital Research Institute in pursuit of developing vascularized heart pumps for regenerative transplantation.Kasinan Suthiwanich, Co-Chair
Email: Kasinan.Suthiwanich@uhn.ca
Treasurer
Bio coming soon!Arghavan Ashouri, Treasurer
Email: Arghavan.Ashouri@uhn.ca
Secretary
Rabia Anwar, a passionate postdoctoral scientist at TGHRI, specializes in researching the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on human pregnancy. Holding a Ph.D. from Humboldt University of Berlin, she actively promotes the health of pregnant women. Rabia is an active member of the UHN Postdoctoral Association, committed to fostering a supportive community, and enjoys Zumba, exploring novel destinations, and building connections with diverse individuals.Rabia Anwar, Secretary
Email: Rabia.Nust@gmail.ca
Co-Vice Chair, Professional Development
Massimo is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Toronto General Hospital, working in Dr. David Cherney’s Renal Physiology Laboratory and Dr. John Floras’ Clinical Cardiovascular Physiology Laboratory. Massimo’s research uses a variety of data analytical and human integrative physiological approaches to investigate the neural control of the circulation in the setting of cardio-renal-metabolic disease.Massimo Nardone, Co-Vice Chair, Professional Development
Email: Massimo.Nardone@uhn.ca
Co-Vice Chair, Professional Development
Dr. Oro Uchenunu completed his PhD in Experimental Medicine from McGill University at the Lady Davis Institute in Montreal. His doctoral thesis involved investigating perturbations in energy metabolism to identify targetable metabolic vulnerabilities in cancer. Dr. Uchenunu joined Dr. Rottapel’s lab in 2023 as a postdoctoral researcher to elucidate the role of GCN2 in High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer under nutritional and chemotherapeutic stress.Oro Uchenunu, Co-Vice Chair, Professional Development
Email: Oro.Uchenunu@uhn.ca
Vice Chair, Mentorship & Peer Support
I completed Ph.D. in Safed, Israel at the laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Cancer Biology in Dr. Michael Blank’s Lab. During Ph.D. training, I investigated on the role of E3 ubiquitin ligase SMURF2 in human normal and cancer cell biology. Currently I’m working as Post-Doctoral Researcher (2019-Present) at the Princess Margaret Cancer Research Centre in Steven M Chan Lab.Dhanoop Manikoth Ayyathan, Vice Chair, Mentorship & Peer Support
Email: Dhanoop.ManikothAyyathan@uhn.ca
Co-Vice Chair, Social & Wellness
Sonia Taib did her PhD at College de France in Paris and her thesis was on peripheral nerve vascularization from development to disease. Now she is a post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Dr Sara Vasconcelos at TGHRI. Her project addresses fundamental and challenging issues related to vascularization in regenerative medicine, using microvessels derived from adipose tissue.Sonia Taib, Co-Vice Chair, Social & Wellness
Email: Sonia.Taib@uhn.ca
Co-Vice Chair, Social & Wellness
After graduating as a speech therapist specialized in voice therapy at Liège University, I did my PhD at the Toulouse Institute for Research in Computer Science, where I investigated acoustic measures of speech. I am currently working on speech acoustics in patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis as a postdoctoral researcher at the Sunnybrook Research Institute, also affiliated with the University of Toronto and UHN.Timothy Pommeé, Co-Vice Chair, Social & Wellness
Email: Timothy_Pommee@hotmail.com
Vice Chair, Communications
Dr. Jiaoyi Chen received her PhD in Medical Sciences from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research involved dry-lab programming in R/Bioconductor-based single-cell bioinformatics and wet-lab experimental techniques in transgenic murine modelling, cellular gene editing, and molecular biology. Jiaoyi joined UHN as a Postdoctoral Fellow in September 2023, aiming to uncover novel genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying cancer development.Jiaoyi Chen, Vice Chair, Communications
Email: Jiaoyi.chen@uhn.ca
Vice Chair External, Communications
Diandra earned her Ph.D. in Biotechnology, focusing on exploring the impact of atorvastatin on reducing cisplatin chemoresistance in triple-negative breast cancer cells through the modulation of cholesterol metabolism. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Penn lab, specializing in the metabolic mevalonate pathway and statin drugs as anti-cancer agents for prostate cancer.Diandra Zipinotti Dos Santos, Vice Chair External, Communications
Email: Diandra.Zipinottidossantos@uhn.ca