Postdoctoral fellows & Research Associates
Jhoana P. Romero-Leiton is a mathematician who completed her Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Antioquia (Colombia) in 2017. She also completed her master's studies in Biomathematics and postgraduate certificates in applied statistics and big data analytics. She was a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Basic and Applied Interdisciplinary Studies. She has experience in teaching, software management for data analysis and visualization, and extensive research experience in problems related to vector-borne diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and dynamical systems applied to health and biodiversity in general.
Ariel Mundo Ortiz is a Fulbright alum that received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Arkansas in 2022, and holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Rafael Landívar in Guatemala. Ariel is interested in studying how to better leverage meta-analyses from preclinical longitudinal studies in oncology to identify time intervals where therapy can be delivered with more efficacy. Related research interests include the temporal analyses of different types of longitudinal biomedical data (epidemiologic, clinical, and medical records, among others), and the development of open science guidelines in biomedical research. In his free time, Ariel enjoys spending time with his family, playing the guitar, or reading a good book. Website: aimundo.rbind.io, Twitter handle: @amundortiz
Kamal is a veterinary epidemiologist with an interest in veterinary public health. He completed his Master’s in Veterinary Public Health from Freie Universität Berlin and Chiang Mai University Thailand in 2011 and completed his PhD in veterinary science from the University of Sydney in 2018. Kamal's principal work interest is in assessing and addressing public health threats that are intricately linked to animal interface.
Mohamed-Hamza Ibrahim is currently a research officer at ESPUM - CReSP at the University of Montreal. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Quebec in Outaouais (UQO). He moreover works as an assistant professor of Artificial Intelligence at Zagazig University (Egypt). In 2015, Hamza received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of Montreal. He previously worked as a research assistant at UQO from 2020 to 2022. In 2016, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Montreal, and at UQO in 2018. He worked as a data scientist at the Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research. His research and teaching activities include Machine/deep learning, Data mining, Formal Concept Analysis and Social Network Analysis. In particular, the use of {probabilistic, relational, graphical} models in tandem with {learning, reasoning, mining} techniques to understand complex domains that involve big data and have large amounts of uncertainty.
Idriss Sekkak develops an integrative framework that explores the impact of public health interventions across a broad spectrum of societal and economic issues. Idriss Sekkak received his Ph.D. degree in stochastic modeling and control strategies in epidemiology from the University of Ibn Tofail, Kénitra, Morocco. Idriss Sekkak holds a Master’s degree in Financial Engineering from the National School of Applied Sciences at Ibn Zohr University. Idriss Sekkak main research interests include dynamical systems, stochastic analysis, stochastic optimization, and their applications.
Ph.D.
Claudia Ximena Robayo Gonzalez has a Master's degree in Toxicology from the National University (Colombia) and is a medical doctor from Military University (Colombia). Claudia Ximena Robayo Gonzalez worked as an academic and research coordinator on a primary care center in Colombia. She has experience in quantitative research related to tobacco and addiction with patients and health care professionals. She also has experience in qualitative research related to education at the graduate level. Claudia Ximena Robayo Gonzalez has supervised undergraduate and graduate students in health sciences during the past six years. Claudia Ximena Robayo Gonzalez is interested in infectious disease research.
Mamadou Yamar Thioub is a Ph.D. candidate in data science at HEC Montreal. Mamadou Yamar Thioub thesis focuses on regime-switching models and dependence modeling with deep learning methods. Mamadou Yamar Thioub holds a master’s degree in Financial Engineering and a Bachelor's degree in economics. Mamadou Yamar Thioub worked on the modeling of COVID-19 using social networks with the PHAC (public health agency of Canada) and since September 2021, Mamadou Yamar Thioub is a lecturer at HEC Montreal and at the University of Montreal.
Admitted to the School of Public Health of the University of Montreal (ESPUM) for his PhD in Epidemiology, AMEGAN Hamondji Nicolas is a Research Engineer in Epidemiology. After his undergraduate studies in Epidemiology at the University of Parakou (Benin), he enrolled in the Doctoral School of Health Sciences of Cotonou where he obtained a master's degree in Epidemiology in 2019. Very passionate about research in health and other related fields, he very quickly embraced a research career since 2016 and is author and co-author of several scientific articles. Member of the supervision team for doctoral theses in medicine (cardiology department, University of Parakou since 2016), he is currently working at the Centre de Traitement des Epidémies (CTE) of Abomey-Calavi in Benin as an Epidemiologist.
Rado Ramasy is a PhD student at the School of Public Health of the University of Montreal (ESPUM).
Passionate about health research, after studying medicine in Madagascar, Rado completed a master's degree in epidemiology at the University of Limoges and another in statistics, modelling, and data sciences in health at the Sorbonne University, France. During his training, Rado was able to work in the health system of Madagascar, particularly in the fight against malaria. But he was able to cover other areas during his master's thesis, including non-communicable diseases, especially neuropsychiatric and neurosurgical pathologies. Outside of his studies, Rado will always have time to share with his friends, whether it's at the gym, at a restaurant, at karaoke, or going to see a movie. Rado also enjoys traveling and discovering new cities and cultures. During his PhD, Rado will be working on the application of advanced statistical methods for causal inference on health big data.
M.Sc.
Rowin Joseph Alfaro earned his Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and Immunology from the Université de Montréal during which he worked on research projects on the clinical epidemiology of infectious diseases. Rowin also worked as an emergency medicine research assistant and department coordinator where he was exposed to many populational health challenges. Wishing to combine his interests in the fields of biomedical sciences and public health, Rowin is now pursuing a Master’s degree in epidemiology at the École de santé publique of the Université de Montréal. Rowin’s master’s thesis will focus on factors varying laboratory reference intervals for hemoglobin markers in a paediatric population.
Elaheh Ghodsi is a master’s student in public health at the University of Montreal. She got her medical doctorate diploma in Iran, where she practiced as a family physician for a few years. Having been visiting many patients with chronic illnesses, she became interested in broadening her understanding of the etiology of diseases which affect social well-being. To pursue her passion, she collaborated on some research projects on cancer at McGill University and eventually joined the research family at ESPUM to have the opportunity of participating in population-based studies. Her fields of interest are cancer epidemiology and biostatistics.
Sika-Rose Coffi holds a bachelor's degree of Science in Biology from York University. She has an interest in epidemiology and biostatistics. Sika-Rose is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health at the University of Montreal.
Stéphanie DONHOUEDE obtained her degree in Statistics and Economics in 2015 from the National School of Statistics and Applied Economics in Côte d'Ivoire. She worked for 3 years in an epidemiology laboratory as a database assistant. In this position, she had the opportunity to participate in many national surveys such as GSHS, STEPS and SONU in Benin. Passionate about public health, after a brief stint in administration at Sollio Grains Quebec, she returned to her first passion, public health, and pursued a master's degree in epidemiology at the School of Public Health of the University of Montreal.
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Rawda Berkat holds a Bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences from the University of Ottawa. Now being a candidate in the Epidemiology Master's program at the University of Montreal, Rawda Berkat's research interests include infectious and chronic diseases, disease prevention, risk factors, environment, global health, and quantitative methods. As her thesis project, she is in the process of conducting a spatio-temporal modeling study on dengue fever in Colombia with environmental covariates.
Elda Laison is a Togolese student who is pursuing a M.Sc. degree in Public Health at the University of Montreal. Elda Laison is a medical doctor who graduated from the University of Havana (Cuba). Her interest lies in the impact of climate change on human health. Elda Laison’s research project is focused on the risk factors of Lyme disease in Quebec. More precisely, she is studying the tendency of the Quebec population’s perceptions of Lyme disease and the proposed adaptive measures before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Graduated
Venkataraman Muthuramalingam; Over 20 years of software engineering, development and management experience across multiple industries, including manufacturing, financial services and consulting, using a variety of technology products and solutions. Currently working for a financial services organization, PNC Bank, and heavily focused on data engineering and data streaming projects to support various channel modernization initiatives, including online and mobile banking solutions. I have an MBA in MIS, and I am also pursuing my Master’s degree in Data Science from Harvard Extension School.
Yijun Yin is a Data Scientist in the healthcare industry in Washington, D.C. She received her bachelor’s degree in economics, and a Master of Public Policy, she is currently pursuing a Master of Liberal Arts in Data Science at Harvard Extension School.
Jack Lee was a Senior Data Scientist Manager at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). During his tenure at HPE, he helped to drive the transformation of a data-driven culture in the Operations organization. He had initiated and architectured many data science or data analytics projects. One of his proudest accomplishments was improving HPE’s office space efficiencies and saving HPE more than ten million dollars, and reducing significant carbon emissions in just the first two years of the project. He has managed multiple successful complex and cross-functional projects. He also holds an MBA degree with more than eight years of business operations experience. So, he is very good at translating business analytics problems into technical approaches that yield actionable recommendations. He is currently pursuing a Master of Liberal Arts in Data Science at Harvard Extension School.
Adrien Saucier is an M.Sc. student in epidemiology and holds a Master’s degree in philosophy. Adrien Saucier is particularly interested in the role of social and environmental determinants of health. His current research focuses on COVID-19 in Montreal’s school population. More precisely, Adrien Saucier examines the effect that non-representative sampling and selection bias may have on estimating the distribution of the disease in that population.
Fatima El-Mousawi holds a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and immunology from the University of Montreal, and an International Baccalaureate certificate in natural sciences from the International Baccalaureate Organization. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in global environmental health under Prof Nasri’s supervision at the University of Montreal Public Health School. Her work consists of exploring the mental health effects of adaptation measures to floods due to climate change through a review of the literature. Fatima is particularly interested in global health and environmental issues.
Srikanth Boligarla is a data engineer/integrations developer at Sherwin Williams company. Srikanth Boligarla holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering. Srikanth Boligarla graduated with a Master's in Data Science at Harvard University - Extension School in May 2022. Srikanth Boligarla is working with Prof Nasri on Twitter data. Srikanth Boligarla loves problem-solving, reading books, and playing chess.
Jiaxin Li is a lecturer at Shenzhen University and she is doing a Master's degree in Data Science, Extension Studies, at Harvard University. Jiaxin Li is working on Improving the Prediction of Lyme Disease Incidence Rate Using Twitter under Prof Nasri's supervision. Jiaxin graduated with a Master's in Data Science at Harvard University - Extension School in May 2022
Raja Mahadevan has more than two decades of experience in the Advanced Data analytics space. In Raja Mahadevan's current role with Verizon, he is responsible for building ML models, to drive better customer experience. Raja Mahadevan pursued his Master's degree in Data Science from Harvard extension school to strengthen his ideas around Machine learning and Statistics. For his final Capstone project, he teamed up with a research team studying the possibility of using Twitter as an early surveillance tool for detecting Lyme disease. On the personal side, he lives with his family in Dallas, TX. Raja graduated with a Master's in Data Science at Harvard University - Extension School in May 2022
Austen Ng is currently developing processes for manufacturing drugs at Intellia Therapeutics. Before that, Austen Ng was at Biogen doing similar work. Applying design-of-experiments (DoE) for process optimization throughout his career made him fascinated with classical statistics/modeling. That fascination eventually led Austen Ng towards the master's degree in data science at Harvard Extension School. For the master's research work under Prof Nasri's guidance, relevant Twitter feeds are being evaluated for their potential to predict Lyme disease incidence rates throughout the US. Austen graduated with a Master's in Data Science at Harvard University - Extension School in May 2022
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Heather Walker (M.Sc. in Epidemiology, at U. Montréal, Oct 2020- Jan 2022)
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Charles Kouakou Amani (M.Sc. in Environmental and Occupational Health at U. Montréal, Sept 2020-Oct 2021).
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Jason Yangming Lin (M.Sc in Data Science, Harvard U, July 2021- Dec 2021).
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Peter Masters (M.Sc in Data Science, Harvard U, July 2021- Dec 2021).
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Gabriel Guilen (M.Sc in Data Science, Harvard U, July 2021- Dec 2021).
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Christiane Toussaint (M.Sc. in Environmental and Occupational Health at U. Montréal, May 2020-May 2021)
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Mamadou Yamar Thioub (M.Sc. in Financial Engineering at HEC Montréal, Sept 2016 - Feb 2019). **Finalist of the Best Master’s Thesis Award. A paper-based in part on his thesis is published in The Canadian Journal of Statistics (https://doi.org/10.1002/cjs.11534) and an R package (HMMcopula) implementing our methodology is available in CRAN.
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Hugo Rossi (M.Sc. in Business Analytics at HEC Montréal, Sept 2016 - Sept 2018).
Undergraduate students
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Rami Ghoudi (Bachelor of Science: Mathematics and Statistics at Queen's U., May 2020-Oct 2020 ), recipient of a scholarship from Fin-ML .
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Ke Ying Zhu (College Marianopolis and McGill University, Jan 2020–Jun 2020).
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Fan Xin Yi (College Marianopolis and McGill University, Jan 2020–Jun 2020).
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Thomas Jiralerspong (College Marianopolis and McGill University, Jan 2020–Jun 2020).