Home institution: University of Limerick, Ireland
Mentor and host institution: Annie Ginty, Baylor University, USA
Email: ailbhe.dempsey@ul.ie

Project Outline: Ailbhe Dempsey is a PhD student in health psychology at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Her research focuses on disentangling the effects of religiosity and spirituality on cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress. Cardiovascular reactions to acute stress are one of the proposed pathways that link religiosity and spirituality to lower incidence of cardiovascular disease. Ailbhe’s research will be the first of its kinds to test whether it is religiosity or spiritualty that is most important for cardiovascular reactivity. The HBIC award will allow Ailbhe to collaborate with Dr. Annie Ginty at Baylor University, Texas. Through this award, Ailbhe will acquire state of the art training in obtaining and scoring impedance cardiography in the laboratory, along with analysing data on religiosity and stressor evoked responses.

Home institution: University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria
Mentor and host institution: Barbara Anderson, Ohio State University, USA
Email: christiana.onyedibe@unn.edu.ng

Project Outline: Dr. Maria Chidi C Onyedibe is a clinical/health psychology researcher and senior lecturer at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. Holding a PhD in Clinical Psychology with a focus on psycho-oncology, Dr. Onyedibe is dedicated to enhancing psycho-oncological care for cancer patients, especially in low-middle income countries where patients may have high cancer burdens in addition to health care inadequacies. With a fervent passion for the psychological well-being of cancer patients, her research aims to improve health-related quality of life and psychological well-being in persons with cancer. This award supports collaboration with Dr. Barbara L. Andersen, an expert in the field of biobehavioral aspects of cancer. With this HIBC award, Dr. Onyedibe will study financial toxicity (FT) and its association with health-related quality of life among breast cancer patients from Nigeria.  A mixed-method study is proposed: a) qualitative methods will be used to understand the lived experiences of women with breast cancer coping with FT; b) breast cancer patients will complete measures of emotional distress, cancer-related fatigue, and social support to test as mediators in the FT and health related quality of life (HRQoL) association. The study’s findings will 1) inform the tailoring of interventions to alleviate FT and improve HRQoL outcomes for breast cancer patients, and 2) provide data for communicating to policymakers the challenges Nigerian patients face in coping with FT.

Home institution: University of Vienna, Austria
Mentor and host institution: Christiane Hoppmann – University of British Columbia, Canada
Email: hannah.tschenett@univie.ac.at

Project Outline: Hannah Tschenett is a PhD student in Clinical and Health Psychology at the University of Vienna, Austria, interested in exploring different ways to cope with stress in everyday life. The HBIC award will allow her to collaborate with Prof. Christiane Hoppmann and visit the Health and Adult Development Lab at the University of British Columbia, Canada. As part of their collaborative project, they will investigate the interrelation of mindfulness and daily stress in individuals living with the effects of a stroke and their partners in a dyadic ecological momentary assessment study. The findings may provide valuable insights into including both partners in stress-management interventions and using ecological momentary interventions within this population.

Home institution: University of Toronto, Canada
Mentor and host institution: Sabra Katz-Wise, Harvard University, United States
Email: monica.ghabrial@mail.utoronto.ca

Project Outline: Dr. Monica Ghabrial (she/her) is a health psychologist, working as a CIHR-funded Postdoctoral Fellow in public health, epidemiology, and biostatistics. Within an intersectional framework, Monica’s research primarily examines stress, health, and resilience among LGBTQA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, asexual, and other sexual and gender minority) Black people, Indigenous people, and people of Color (BIPOC) – with additional focus on issues specifically concerning LGBTQA+ populations identifying as immigrants, trans and non-binary, or bisexual/plurisexual. Although the literature on LGBTQA+ health and healthcare access is advancing, medical education is limited and inconsistent, resulting in structural barriers and healthcare that is unsafe and ineffectual. Many healthcare trainees and professionals are unaware of health inequities and lack vital knowledge in LGBTQA+ stress and health. Based on the existing literature and their combined research and knowledge translation experience, Monica and her mentor, Dr. Sabra Katz-Wise, will develop and evaluate educational healthcare materials in cross-cultural, competent care for diverse LGBTQA+ groups – especially those who are bisexual, transgender, non-binary, immigrants, and/or people of color. You can read more about Monica’s research and follow this project at www.monicaghabrial.com.

Home institution: Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Mentor and host institution: Afton Koball, Mayo Clinic USA
Email: liisa.tolvanen@ki.se

Project: Dr. Liisa Tolvanen is a postdoctoral researcher and registered dietitian with specialist competence in adult obesity. The HBIC award will allow Dr. Tolvanen to travel to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, United States, to collaborate with her international mentor, Dr. Koball. Dr. Koball is a health psychologist and a leading expert on psychological factors related to patient outcomes following metabolic and bariatric surgery. This international collaboration is a natural extension of Dr. Tolvanen’s prior research on patients’ experiences with weight recurrence after metabolic and bariatric surgery. The primary purpose and anticipated benefit of the international collaboration between Dr. Koball and Dr. Tolvanen is to collaborate on a series of studies exploring, through qualitative interviews and quantitative surveying of providers in the United States and Sweden, provider perspectives on follow-up care and intervention for patients who have experienced weight recurrence following metabolic and bariatric surgery.

Home institution: University of British Columbia, Canada
Mentor and host institution: Claudio Nigg – University of Bern, Switzerland
Email: gui.moraesbalbim@ubc.ca

Project Outline: Dr. Guilherme M. Balbim is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia, Canada. At the core of Dr. Balbim’s research pursuits is promoting brain and cognitive health through lifestyle behavioural interventions tailored to older adults at greater risk of dementia. Dr. Balbim investigates the dynamic relationships between physical activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep, and brain and cognitive health in older adults with mild cognitive impairment, a preclinical stage of dementia. Through the HBIC award, Dr. Balbim will learn how to apply theoretical frameworks in designing a multiple health behaviour change intervention of 24-hour activity cycle (24-HAC) behaviours (i.e., physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep) in older adults with mild cognitive impairment. This collaboration will foster Dr. Balbim’s knowledge of the theoretical and empirical basis of designing multiple behaviour change interventions.