Dr. Jeff Brubacher
Program Lead
Dr. Jeff Brubacher is a scientist at the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation, Associate Professor in the University of British Columbia Department of Emergency Medicine, and Director of Emergency Medicine Research Program at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. He practices clinically as an Emergency Physician at Vancouver General Hospital and has training as a clinical toxicologist. Jeff holds a scholar award and Health Professional Investigator award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. His research interest focuses broadly on injury prevention with a special interest in road safety, traffic policy evaluation and drug impaired driving.
Dr. John Staples
Researcher
Dr. John Staples is an academic general internist and Clinical Assistant Professor at University of British Columbia. After graduating from medical school at the University of Alberta he completed a residency and fellowship in general internal medicine (UBC), a Masters of Public Health (Harvard University), a New England Journal of Medicine Editorial Fellowship, and a Health Services Research Fellowship (Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto). His research interests include traffic safety and medical risk factors for injury.
Ariel Cheung
Research Assistant
Ariel is a research assistant working on the Active Transportation Injuries Circumstances and Outcome Study. She completed her BA (Hons.) in Psychology with a minor in Criminology at Simon Fraser University. Her research interests include executive functions, neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., ADHD, autism), health behaviours, and health promotion. In her free time, she enjoys Thai boxing, cooking, and volunteering.
Bianca Boicu
Research Coordinator
Bianca is a research coordinator working with Dr. Jeff Brubacher at the Department of Emergency Medicine. She has a Master of Science in psychological research from KU Leuven, specializing in decision making. Her research interests include fatigue- and cannabis-impaired driving. In her spare time, she enjoys painting, hiking, and exploring new cities.
Dr. Herbert Chan
Research Associate
Dr. Herbert Chan is a research associate with Dr. Jeff Brubacher at the Department of Emergency Medicine and an associate member of the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation. His research interests include emergency department visits, road traffic trauma surveillance, and alcohol/drug impaired driving.
Lina Jae
Research Coordinator
Lina is a research coordinator with the Department of Emergency Medicine. She graduated with a Master of Science in Public Health from McGill University. Lina is currently working on the Active Transportation Injuries Circumstances and Outcomes Study. She is interested in building a safe environment for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclist. She enjoys hiking in the summer and snowboarding in winter.
Lulu Pei
Statistical Analyst
Lulu is a statistical analyst with the Department of Emergency Medicine. She recently graduated with a Master of Biostatistics from UBC, primarily investigating statistical applications to the field of human nutrition. Lulu is currently working on a project investigating the association between cycling infrastructure and risk of cyclist collision with a motor vehicle, using spatial analysis techniques. She also assists with the National Drug Impaired Driving Study and the Road Trauma Outcome Study.
Mai Hayashi
Research Nurse
Mai completed a Bachelor of Science in nursing at Thompson Rivers University and worked as a registered nurse and a research coordinator at Interior Health. Currently she is working as a research nurse at the Vancouver General Hospital Emergency Department under Dr. Jeff Brubacher. She coordinates and works with different Emergency Department research teams at VGH. She is a lead coordinator for the RAFF4 study, which compares two medications to treat acute atrial fibrillation in emergency departments.
Mayesha Khan
Research Coordinator
Mayesha manages the Crash Risk after Cardioverter-defibrillator Implantation (MVC-ICD) study led by Dr. John Staples. This study uses health and driving records to examine crash risk among ICD patients in BC. She has a Master’s degree in Experimental Psychology from Concordia University, specializing in substance use in young adults. Some of her research interests include risk factors associated with trauma and addictive behaviours.
Dr. Michael Branion-Calles
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr. Michael Branion-Calles is a postdoctoral research fellow in the UBC Department of Emergency Medicine. He received his PhD in Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University in 2020. His research interests lie at the intersection between transportation, health, and safety. Dr. Branion-Calles is the lead data analyst on a study investigating the safety of active transport users in British Columbia using a large, linked data set.
Natali Ochoa
GIS Research Assistant
Natali Ochoa is a dedicated GIS Research Assistant working with Michael Branion on the study of pedestrian and cyclist accidents. With a Master’s degree in Information and Communications Sciences, Geographic Information Sciences, and Cartography, Natali specializes in managing spatial databases to ensure data accuracy and integrity. She has expertise in ArcGIS Pro, PostgreSQL, QGIS, Jupiter notebooks, and Spatial Analysis. Beyond her professional work, Natali enjoys pursuing her hobbies of photography, reading, and engaging in outdoor activities such as hiking and cycling.
Renmart Buhay
Research Assistant
Renmart is a research assistant working on the Active Transportation Injuries Circumstances and Outcomes Study led by Dr. Jeff Brubacher. He recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Physiology from Simon Fraser University. His research interests include implementation science, health promotion and addictions research. In his spare time, he likes exercising, longboarding and volunteering.
Dr. Sarah Simmons
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr. Sarah Simmons is a postdoctoral research fellow in the UBC Department of Emergency Medicine. She received a PhD in psychology from the University of Calgary in 2020. Her research interests are in transportation human factors, including topics such as drug- and alcohol-impaired driving, distraction, and vulnerable road user safety. In her free time, she enjoys knitting, cooking, gardening, computer programming, board games and motorcycling.
Shannon Erdelyi
Statistical Analyst
Shannon is a statistical analyst in the UBC Department of Emergency Medicine. She works primarily on road safety research, including road trauma surveillance, evaluations of new traffic policy, and crash risk associated with impairing substances.
Sneha Yadav
Research Coordinator
Sneha Yadav is a Clinical Research Coordinator working under National Drug Driving Study led by Dr. Jeff Brubacher at the Department of Emergency Medicine Research at Vancouver General Hospital. She is a Certified Clinical Research Professional with a Master’s in Biotechnology from Nottingham Trent University, UK where her project involved use of Nanotechnology in the detection of Cancer. Her past research projects involved therapeutic areas like Oncology, Metabolism and Endocrinology and Biopharmaceuticals. She is passionate about continuously conducting researches which aims to help people live longer, healthier and have better lives by improving healthcare and well-being of individuals and families.
Dr. Somayeh Momenyan
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr. Somayeh Momenyan is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the UBC. She brings extensive expertise in longitudinal, survival, and spatial data analysis to her role. Currently, Dr. Momenyan serves as the lead data analyst for studies investigating recovery outcomes following injury, utilizing data from the Road Trauma Outcome Study and the Active Transportation Injury Circumstances and Outcomes Study.
Ella Lowe-Ng
Co-op Student Research Assistant
Ella is a UBC Co-op student currently working as a research assistant on the driving simulator studies. She is in her third year studying Cognitive Systems and Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests focus on how impairment affects driver behavior, performance, and safety outcomes, as well as how technology can be used to improve healthcare. In her free time, she enjoys playing soccer and squash, hiking local trails, and baking.
Alumni
- Daniel Daly Grafstein, Statistical Analyst
- Alex Jiang, Statistical Analyst
- Durr Al-Hakim, Research Assistant (National Drug Driving Study, NDID)
- Yue Yuan, Research Coordinator (National Drug Driving Study, Provincial Cannabis Policy Evaluation Study)
- Kate Merchant, Research Coordinator
- Leona Shum, Research Coordinator (Road Trauma Outcome Study, RTOS)
- Manal Masud, Research Coordinator (National Drug Driving Study)
- Louise Meddings, Research Assistant (RTOS)
- Nicole Hu, Data Analyst (Drug Overdose after Discharge against Medical Advice)
- Ying (Daisy) Yu, Data Analyst (Drug Overdose after Discharge against Medical Advice)
- Dylan Stephanian, M.Sc.
- Vahid Mehrnoush, M.Sc.
- Wency Chan, Research Assistant & UBC Science Co-op Student (RTOS)
- Anmol Sangha, Research Assistant (RTOS) and UBC Science Co-op Student
- Jennifer Park, Research Assistant (Road Trauma Study, RTOS; Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Angela Peng, UBC Science Co-op Student
- Candace Yip, UBC Science Co-op Student
- Sasha Mohsenian, UBC Science Co-op Student
- Jocelyn Cheng, UBC Science Co-op Student
- Rebecka Lee, UBC Science Co-op Student
- Sera Bao, UBC Science Co-op Student
- Manish Toofany, UBC Science Co-op Student
- Christine Seo, UBC Science Co-op Student
- Bernice Huynh, UBC Science Co-op Student
- Katherine Lam, UBC Science Co-op Student
- Amir Hosseini, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Masih Golbidi, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Anahita Seraji, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Catherine Xu, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Kyle Fernandez, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Parvin Malhi, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Jessica Siu, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Isaac Robinson, UBC Science Co-op Student (Crash Risk, MVC-ICD)
- Jacob Park, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Lily Gu, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Nazanin Sadoughian, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Ray Fort, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Stephanie Chow, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Vivian Nguyen, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Sean Dang, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Sarissa Chew, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Roxanna Akhtary, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- King Ying Lau, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Jessica Chan, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Janice Xu, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)
- Brian Tang, UBC Science Co-op Student (Active Transportation Study, ATICO)