People

Dr. Javeria Ali Hashmi (Lab Director)

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Dr. Hashmi holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in pain. She is the Director of Brain Networks and Neurophysiology Lab, which focuses on applying computational methods to understand the role of brain activity and connectivity in pain perception and cognition. She aims to generate ideas and tools from brain imaging that can impact clinical management of chronic pain and brain-related disorders.

She received her PhD from the University of Toronto and completed her postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard Medical School and Northwestern University, Chicago.

At Dalhousie University, she holds the following positions:

·      Tenured Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesia, Pain Management and Perioperative Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

·      Cross Appointments: Department of Medical Neuroscience, Department of Physics & Atmospheric Science, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience

For Dr. Hashmi's scientific lineage see neurotree

 

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Jason Robertson (Research Associate)

Jason joined the Netphys Lab in 2020 after completing a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of New Brunswick. Previously, he completed a M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering and a B.Sc. in Biomechanics from the University of Calgary, and a B.Sc. in Electronics Engineering Technology from DeVry Institute of Technology. His research interest is in using technology in novel ways to improve patient quality of life. He is currently working on a variety of data analysis projects related to both diffusion and functional MRI.

Jennika Veinot (Graduate Student)

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Jennika is a PhD student. Her research investigates the neurobiological mechanisms that link chronic pain with cognitive decline.

 

 

 

 

Adam Sunavsky (MSc student)

screen-shot-2020-11-15-at-12-50-51-pmDepicted here is Adam trying to look calm and collected, but in reality, he is worried about ways his research protocol can go wrong (in research speak, ‘catastrophizing’). To cope with this, Adam finds himself spending lots of time outside by rowing, cycling and listening to birds.
Adam completed his undergrad in Psychology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and decided to change the scenery by undertaking a Master’s in Halifax. He studies the neural underpinnings of different painful stimuli and the striatal circuits involved in pain expectations.

Retage Al-Bader (Honors student)

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Retage is an honors students and MITAC researcher. She is interested in the role of suggestion in mediating placebo effects.

 

 

 

 

 

Krishshain Nathan (Honors student)

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Krishshain is an honours student completing his BSc in Medical Sciences at Dalhousie University. He has completed a summer studentship in the NetPhys lab through the Faye Sobey research award. He is currently investigating the role of amygdalar nuclei in the processing of generating responses to heat experienced under different levels of pain threat.

 

 

Amita Goyal (Part-Time Research Assistant)

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Amita Goyal has spearheaded data collection for our neuroimaging studies. Her research interests are in brain mechanisms of expectation and pain modulation.  

 

 

 

Guillermo Aristi Suarez (Part-Time Research Assistant)

0Guillermo Aristi joined the NetPhys lab after completing a Bachelors in electrical engineering at Dalhousie University (2018). Medical imaging and the application of both engineering and mathematics in the health sciences are his key interests. Guillermo has developed diffusion MRI (dMRI), Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and tractography analysis pipelines for multiple projects in the lab.

 

 

Lab alumni

Sean Wang (Honors student)

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Sean Wang is currently a medical student at DalMed. He completed his BSc in Medical Sciences at Dalhousie University. For his honors project, he studied the properties of the brainstem pathways and investigated their role in pain modulation. He received a summer NSERC NSRA award. A first author publication based on his undergraduate research will be available online soon.

 

 

 Manyoel Lim (Postdoctoral fellow)

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Marzie Saghayi (Research Assistant)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are hiring!

We are in the process of building the Brain Networks and Neurophysiology (NetPhys) Lab. During this and the next term we will be be looking for research assistants and graduate students.

The NetPhys Lab will promote a multidisciplinary culture that goes beyond boundaries and will support unconventional integration of neuroscience, neurophilosophy, neuropsychology, physics, mathematics and computer science. Our team will be engaged in the mission of developing better and more accurate models of brain function.

If you are curious, motivated, resilient and the problem solving type, and interested in undergraduate or graduate level research in neuroscience, send us an email.

We are actively looking for a post doc (see careers tab) and graduate student/research assistant.

In addition, we seek a part time research assistant to help with lab operations.

Contact  Javeria.Hashmi@dal.ca