People

Stefanie Blain-Moraes, Ph.D., P.Eng

Associate Professor, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University

Stefanie Blain-Moraes is a biomedical engineer and the Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Consciousness and Personhood Technologies. Her formal training in engineering and neuroscience have enabled her to contribute to the development of EEG methods at a high international level. She has over 60 journal publications; her research has been credited with over 1700 citations and an h-index of 22 (source: Google Scholar – 08/2022). Her work was recognized with McGill University’s Principal’s Prize for Outstanding Emerging Researcher in 2022. In addition to her multidisciplinary background in biomedical engineering (Ph.D., University of Toronto, Canada) and rehabilitation sciences (University of Michigan), her research interests have been fostered by postdoctoral fellowships in anesthesiology and neuroscience (University of Michigan). Stefanie also has an ARCT in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Raphaël Lavoie

Lab manager

Raphaël Lavoie is the Lab Manager and research coordinator at the BIAPT lab. He completed his Master’s degree in Neurosciences at Université de Montréal. His background is in animal physiology and  fundamental neurosciences. He previously worked on multiple subjects, from astrocyte networks and rhythmogenesis, to hypoxia in neonates, sleep, spatial memory and navigation. He has a method-development oriented mind and previously worked with a wide range of techniques such as: patch clamp, whole-body plethysmography, EEG, MRI, and both in vitro and in vivo calcium imaging. He is really happy about his move to clinical research, the human interaction with the clinical population and the impact of the group’s research program. 

Naila Kuhlmann

Postdoctoral fellow

Naila Kuhlmann is a post-doctoral fellow in the BIAPT lab, and an associated researcher with the Center for Circus Arts Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer (CRITAC). After completing a PhD in neuroscience at the University of British Columbia, in which she studied the neurobiology of Parkinson’s disease, Naila reoriented herself to explore how the arts can serve as a link between scientific research and the lived experience of illness. She began her postdoc in 2020 by leading Piece of Mind, an arts-based knowledge translation project in which neuroscientists, performing artists, and people affected by neurodegenerative conditions came together to co-create performances on Parkinson’s disease and dementia. Her current participatory research investigates how lived and felt (e.g. embodied) experiences can be conveyed through the combination of arts and immersive technologies. 

Beatrice Pelletier-De Koninck

Ph.D. Candidate

Beatrice completed her Master’s degree in Psychology at the University of Montreal. Her previous work focused on optimization of key parameters of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to modulate brain activity among healthy participants. This Master’s project was essential for her current PhD project as she will now study the effects of these optimized tACS’ parameters on patients suffering from disorders of consciousness, in the hopes of improving clinical interventions among this population via new therapeutic technologies.

Jackie Girgis

Ph.D. Candidate 

 CareFor the last 10+ years, Jackie has worked in the healthcare industry as a registered nurse (in the hospital) and a project manager (in both the hospital and in industry). Jackie is returning to graduate school to learn how to apply machine learning to the healthcare issues she has been working on patients with both directly and indirectly. In the lab, she will be focusing on the bio-music project and specifically how machine learning can be used to automate classification of emotions for non-communicative children to improve their quality of life, as well as that of their caregivers.

Antara Banerji, MD

Visiting Ph.D. Student 

I am a PhD student at Professor Jamie Sleigh’s lab at the University of Auckland and an anesthetist by training. I am interested in the process of return of consciousness following anesthesia, the emergence period, and how anesthesia during this period can be optimized to promote a better cognitive outcome for patients. During my internship at BIAPT, I hope to learn more about high-density EEG analysis, functional connectivity, and microstate complexity. I intend to apply these new techniques to improve my understanding of the neurobiology underlying this chemically induced state of altered consciousness, their amenability to interventions, and their clinical implications.

Naomi Askenazi 

M.Sc. candidate

Naomi graduated from McGill University with an honors degree in Cognitive Science. For her thesis, she reviewed the methodologies of collection and analysis in the field of dream research, and experimented with more personalized methods of recording Dreams. Naomi will be continuing her education at McGill University as a master’s student in Experimental Medicine. With the support of the BIAPT lab, Naomi will explore the use of biomusic in a palliative care setting, working with non-communicative individuals and their caregivers to assess and tailor this technology.

Derek Newman

M.Sc. candidate

Derek earned his Bachelor’s degree in Behavioural Neuroscience from Concordia University in 2023, where he focused on multimodal neuroimaging techniques to investigate the functional dynamics of the brain. Derek’s research interests include computational and cognitive neuroscience, machine learning, consciousness studies, and the philosophy of mind. For his Master’s project, Derek will explore fractal properties and critical dynamics of brain networks to develop a diagnostic and prognostic tool for unresponsive patients in coma and individuals with disorders of consciousness. This research will leverage high-density EEG technology to study the dynamics of general anesthesia and disorders of consciousness to understand brain function and improve patient care in critical medical contexts.

Paige Whitehead

M.Sc. candidate

Paige Whitehead is a Master’s student in Rehabilitation Science in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy at McGill University. Before entering academia, she trained professionally as a dancer at Arts Umbrella’s School of Dance. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Systems from the University of British Columbia, where her research used dance improvisation as a way to explore the relationship between measures of interpersonal movement coordination and the subjective experience of those interacting. Through this research, she became interested in how dance can support the relational and agential capacities of minimally communicative individuals. Her Master’s project aims to capture evidence of an embodied memory effect in persons living with advanced dementia as they participate in Mouvement de Passage, a dance-based practice focused on fostering connection.

Marlo Naish

Undergraduate summer research assistant

Marlo is an undergraduate student studying neuroscience at McGill University. She is interested in clinical neuroimaging and the neurological basis of varying levels of consciousness. Her 4-month summer research project will focus on the electrophysiological correlates of consciousness in brain-injured pediatric patients under anesthesia. This research will include the acquisition, processing, and analysis of EEG data in a Python environment. She is excited to explore the responses of an injured brain under anesthesia, and the clinical applications of analyzing consciousness with neuroimaging techniques.