Dr. Abhimanyu Sud is Assistant Professor at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine (University of Toronto), Research Chair in Primary Care and Population Health Systems (Humber River Hospital), and Chief Scientific Officer (Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans). His clinical, education, and research work focus primarily on the intersection of chronic pain, mental health, and opioid use. He leads work that uses a variety of research methods to investigate this area including systematic reviews, clinical trials, implementation evaluations, and bibliometric and media analyses. He is particularly interested in developing appropriate and responsive interventions for complex health problems.

Kellia is a researcher conducting an international comparative policy analysis on opioid use disorder treatments in primary care settings. By drawing from key informant interviews and documentary sources, she aims to explore how different health system, cultural, and political factors may influence these models of care. She recently submitted her PhD at The University of Sydney, which examined the development of policies affecting community pharmacy practice, and the role of evidence in policymaking. She holds a BPharm(Hons), is a registered pharmacist in Australia, and has been practicing for the past five years in community pharmacy. When she’s not working, she’s an avid flautist and consumer of news, television, and musical theatre cast recordings.

Kasunka’s role at the Subject Matter Lab is to coordinate a mixed-method study analyzing the citations of a highly influential article on the French experience with primary care-based buprenorphine. Her previous work at the lab includes a qualitative meta-synthesis on the perspectives and experiences of healthcare providers on the extramedical use of buprenorphine.

Kasunka is currently completing a Master of Community Health in Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is an international medical graduate licensed to practice medicine in Sri Lanka. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, playing board games, and traveling.

Tushar’s efforts at the Subject Matter Lab have been supporting a review focused on opioid analgesia in people living with opioid use disorder and chronic pain. He is interested in understanding mental health and addictions at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels. Tushar is also interested in evidence synthesis as it pertains to health and social systems. He holds a BSc from McMaster University and is currently an MD student at the University of Toronto. In his free time, Tushar enjoys trying new foods, spending time with friends and family, baking, and staying active.

Grahanya’s research at the Subject Matter Lab uses realist methods to elaborate on the functions and mechanisms of continuing education for opioid therapy prescribing. She is particularly interested in exploring the intersections between addiction medicine and chronic pain as well as understanding causal factors and policy efforts in the ongoing overdose crisis. Other qualitative research projects she’s involved in relate to sustainable healthcare education, interactional stigma at the clinical level, and clinical guideline use in opioid prescribing. Grahanya is currently working towards her MD at the University of Toronto. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, photography, and doing puzzles.

Tate is a Research Associate with a variety of research projects within the Subject Matter Lab at Humber River Health. Tate’s background is in child population health, with a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Calgary. His work focuses on supporting and leading research related to primary care and health services outcomes, using clinical and administrative data. His interests include identifying environmental interventions to prevent poor health outcomes and health inequities. Outside of the lab, Tate doesn’t have too much free time since he has two young kids who keep him busy. 

Vahid’s role is to coordinate and co-lead systematic reviews and evidence synthesis focused on the use of opioid analgesics for patients with chronic pain and opioid use disorder. He also co-led a rapid review exploring the use of complementary and alternative medicine approaches for veterans with mental health disorders. Vahid is an MD who holds a Master’s and PhD, and he completed two post-doctoral fellowships at McMaster University focused on identifying predictors of chronic pain after knee arthroplasty, and conducting a clinical trial assessing the effect of Cannabidiol on prevention of chronic pain after knee surgery.  As a researcher, Vahid specializes in systematic reviews and evidence synthesis, particularly through conventional and network meta-analysis, with a focus on chronic pain, opioids, and cannabis use. In his free time, Vahid enjoys trying foods from different nations and cultures, spending time with family, and staying active through workouts or running.

Frances coordinates and conducts qualitative health research on lab research projects, including the cross-provincial comparative policy analysis on opioid use disorder treatment in primary care settings and an international comparative policy analysis of pharmacist-administered long-acting injectable buprenorphine. Frances holds a Master of Social Work focused on clinical mental health and is a registered social worker with the College of Social Work and Social Services Workers. She is passionate about mental health, health equity, social justice, and improving policies, health services, and healthcare access for underserved populations. Her past research has involved evaluating healthcare services and patient needs within vulnerable communities in east Toronto as well as further exploring healthcare and social service providers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to domestic trafficking in Canada. During her free time, you can most likely find her at the beach or on a hike with her dog, spending time with her friends and family, rescuing or fostering animals, ice plunging and dancing!

Bibiana is the research coordinator for the SKY PTSD project, a study examining the impact of breathing based meditation on PTSD symptoms in Canadian Veterans. She has a background in biological sciences and health psychology, especially in meditation interventions for clinical populations. She works at the Hennick Bridgepoint Campus under Sinai Health. Bibiana’s passions include knowledge translation and implementation science, the health of older adults, and biopsychosocial approaches to care. In her free time, she enjoys reading and exercise such as running and dancing. 

Sarah’s role at the Subject Matter Lab involves developing grant proposals and preparing funding submissions focused on areas of opioid use, mental health and chronic pain. She also helps with conducting reviews, editing and writing of review papers, supporting different trials/studies, and fulfilling in-lab administrative tasks including managing the lab website and social media. She holds a BSc (Hons) and an MSc in Medical Science, both from the University of Toronto. Her past research involved evaluating sleep disorders within a pediatric population. In her free time, Sarah enjoys hiking, exercising at the gym, and trying out new restaurants. 

Jessica’s role is to coordinate a clinical trial investigating the effectiveness and implementation of a breathing-based meditation intervention called Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) for Canadian Military and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The research study will compare the effects of the virtually delivered SKY (v-SKY) to a waitlist control with changes in PTSD symptoms as the primary outcome. Her work includes recruiting, screening, and completing necessary assessments with the participants. She holds a BSc (Hons) with a Health Research Specialization and a Gerontology minor from the University of Waterloo. In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing sports, and traveling. 

Darren’s main role at the Subject Matter Lab is to coordinate a clinical trial investigating online non-pharmacological programs for treating depression in people with chronic pain. The trial directly recruited from seven healthcare groups across the Greater Toronto Area, including Women’s College Hospital, the Toronto Rehab Institute, and the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. Other work he’s involved in largely focuses on chronic pain and mental health, and includes conducting review papers, creating data visualizations, and fulfilling in-lab design needs. His past research has centred around outcome measures and physical therapy in people after stroke. He holds a BSc (Hons) with a specialization in Neuroscience and an MSc in Rehabilitation Science, both from the University of Toronto. In his free time, you can most likely find him gardening, rock climbing, or knitting.

Find out more about Darren here.