Professional Activities

This page summarizes my science-policy work, public scholarship, media coverage, professional service, open-science activities, hackathon participation, invited presentations, teaching contributions, mentorship, and selected public-facing work.

Science policy research, opinions, and perspectives

Year Title Source
2020 Healthwiser: Monitoring and evaluation of surgical outcomes Human Health and Services Library at the BC Ministry of Health, BC-Gov
2020 Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars’ Year in Review at Annual General Meeting CAPS-ACSP
2020 Boosting the volume and speed of genetic sequencing comes with challenges iPolitics
2020 Coronavirus shining a spotlight on homo sapiens Canadian Science Policy Centre, Editorial
2020 Limiting the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canadian postdoctoral scholars Canadian Science Policy Centre, Editorial
2020 The Frontiers of DNA Regulation: Developing a National Policy Framework Encouraging Transparency, Security, and Cost-efficiency of Genetic Technology and Data Policy Memo, Journal of Science Policy & Governance

Public writing and blog posts

Year Title Source
2022 On the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran The Conversation
2020 Initiating an experiment in the public service Booklet
2020 To code or not to code Data Driven Investor
2019 Hacking Disease and Death Medium
2019 From messy to tidy: the case for a data science workflow Data Driven Investor
2018 Disruption by Design Data Driven Investor
2018 Technical Considerations for Longitudinal Data Analyses Data Driven Investor
2018 Menu for preparing data & serving it cold Data Driven Investor
2018 Metacognition in the Data Age Data Driven Investor
2018 Data Renaissance: Creating Data-driven Cultures Data Driven Investor
2014 Many Career Paths for PhDs UCSF Synapse
2014 The Legend of Gilgamesh Medium
2014 The Legend of Gilgamesh Ancient Origins
2008–2017 Blog elephile
n.d. Photoblog elephile

Media coverage and interviews

Year Title Source
2021 Best of the WWEST podcast SFU
2020 AI powered Healthcare Solutions Against COVID19 Women in Big Data
2020 CO-SOL video for Zurich hackathon YouTube
2019 New research suggests immunotherapy could help nearly 50 per cent of patients with rare mesothelioma Terry Fox News
2018 Postdoc Careers Panel at Research Day UBC
2017 Supporting Rare Disease Research with BeHeard Technology Award Addgene Blog
2008 Bone cells space out The Star

Evaluation, advisory, and committee work

Date Role / Activity Organization / Location
2019–2022 Advisor Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars (CAPS-ASCP)
2021 Participating member International Consortium of Research Staff Associations
2020–2021 Expert assessor of funding applications, reviewing scientific methodology and merit Health Canada
2020–2021 Experimentation Works advisor Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
2020 Vice Chair of Survey and Data; contributed to analytics, methodology development, and partnerships Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars (CAPS)
2020 Fellowship adjudication committee member; evaluated Canadian Science Policy Fellowship applications Mitacs Inc.
2018–2020 Evaluation and Survey committee member Canadian Science Policy Centre
2019 Participant and session facilitator Chief Information Officer’s BC Connect conference, Victoria, BC
2019 Facilitator Policy Community of Practice, Making it Real: Putting Policy into Practice, Victoria, BC
2018–2020 Data and privacy analyst Institute of Public Administration of Canada New Professionals, Victoria, BC
2018–2019 Hackseq hackathon organizing committee member and team lead University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2018 Career panel participant, discussing postdoctoral roles in academia and industry University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Science outreach, mentorship, and community engagement

Date Role / Activity Organization / Location
2021–2022 Visiting Research Associate/Scientist Vancouver Prostate Centre
2020 Lead data scientist for COVID-19 hackathon projects, including Devpost Build for COVID and Biohackathon Online / hackathon community
2015–2020 Volunteer and mentor Canada Learning Code, Vancouver/Victoria, BC
2018 Mentor Victoria Health Hackathon, Victoria, BC
2016 3-Minute Thesis presentation University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2014 Science mentor Phillip and Sala Burton Academic High School, San Francisco, CA
2013–2014 Curriculum developer City College of San Francisco Biotechnology Program, San Francisco, CA
2013–2014 Co-founder and consultant Cybelle Biosciences, San Francisco, CA
2013 Lean Launchpad competitor Onestart America, San Francisco, CA
2012 Consulting club participant UCSF Mission Bay Consulting Club, San Francisco, CA
2007 Graduate Student Association Co-President University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON
2006–2011 Volunteer member Let’s Talk Science, Toronto, ON
2006–2009 Coach and mentor Landmark Education, Toronto, ON
2003–2005 Co-founder Debating Club, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON
2001–2005 Volunteer Best Buddies, Toronto, ON

Teaching and learning development

Date Activity Organization / Location
2021 Workshop on reproducible workflows in the public service Experimentation Works, Government of Canada
2020 Workshop on experimentation in the public service Experimentation Works, Government of Canada
2020 Workshop on performing and reporting a systematic literature search Experimentation Works, Government of Canada
2019 Workshop on administrative data linkage to evaluate programs and policies Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria, BC
2018 Science judge Biomedical Engineering Entrepreneurship & Partnership Day, University of Victoria
2018 Completed teaching-development modules: Teaching as Research, Evidence-Based Teaching in STEM Education, and Implicit Bias in STEM Education Centre for Integrated Teaching and Learning
2015–2018 Science judge Science Fair, University of British Columbia
2017–2019 Community volunteer Canada Learning Code and Ladies Learning Code
2014 Science mentor for four students preparing an arthritis poster for Fairposium Burton High School, San Francisco, CA
2014 Science outreach facilitator Bay Area Science Festival, San Francisco, CA
2014 Technical and scientific content writer/editor Science Exchange, San Francisco, CA
2014 Curriculum development and hands-on laboratory teaching City College of San Francisco Biotechnology Program, UCSF/USF Partnership for Teaching
2013–2015 Contributing writer and editor Postdoctoral Journal
2009–2010 Science fair judge for high-school student posters University of Toronto
2008–2011 Co-supervised co-op and undergraduate students supporting bone differentiation research University of Toronto
2008–2011 Co-President and Assistant Secretary, Graduate Students’ Association University of Toronto Scarborough
2007–2011 Volunteer member Let’s Talk Science Partnership Program
2002–2004 Community outreach volunteer Best Buddies Canada

Invited conference presentations

Year Presentation Event / Location
2024 Experimental Evidence of Biological Dark Energy and Transfer of Information The Science of Consciousness, Tucson, AZ
2021 Long-Term Impacts of the Enhanced Recovery Collaborative on Colorectal Surgical Site Infections BC Quality Forum
2021 Variation in Rates of Dispensing of Opioids After Surgery: Opportunities for Therapeutics Stewardship BC Quality Forum
2020 Rapid Evaluation of Clinical Interventions: Lessons Learned and Thoughts for the Future BC Ministry of Health Knowledge Exchange
2020 Adapting to a New Normal: The Effect of COVID-19 on the Next Generation of Scientists Canadian Science Policy Conference, Virtual
2020 Pandemics and Postdocs: COVID Survey Findings Postdoc Appreciation Week, Virtual
2020 CAPS Survey Findings Related to COVID-19 National meeting on postdoctoral affairs organized by the University of Western Ontario, Virtual
2020 Reproducible Analytic Workflows in the Public Service Data and Analytics Conference, Vancouver, BC
2020 Health Systems Administrative Data Integration to Support Data-Driven Decision Making Ministry of Health Knowledge Exchange Talk Series, Government of BC, Victoria, BC
2020 Using Administrative Data to Evaluate Programs and Services Public Service Agency, Victoria, BC
2020 Delivering Bundles of Care Through Deciphering Government Programs and Services Academic Health Science Network, Victoria, BC
2019 Open Source Data and Data Science to Enable Integrated Data Projects Island Health, Victoria, BC
2019 Implementing Reproducible Analytic Workflows in the Public Service University of Victoria, Victoria, BC
2019 From Messy to Tidy: Reproducible Analytic Workflows for Data Analysis BCDev Exchange, Victoria, BC
2018 Healing Old Wounds Institute of Public Administration of Canada Policy Pitch, Victoria, BC
2018 Expression and Regulation of Chondroitin Sulfate in Prostate Cancer American Association for Cancer Research, Chicago, IL
2018 BAP1 Creates a Potential Therapeutic Vulnerability in Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma International Mesothelioma Interest Group, Ottawa, ON
2017 Comprehensive Molecular Characterization of Peritoneal Mesothelioma Vancouver Prostate Centre Friday Seminar, Vancouver, BC
2014 Cytochrome P450 Degradation in Hepatocytes and Implications in Drug Metabolism UCSF Postdoctoral Symposium, San Francisco, CA
2012–2013 SIRT2’s Role in Stem Cell Biology Berkeley Stem Cell Center Retreat, Asilomar, CA
2010 Rab-3 Mediated Collagen Trafficking in Differentiating Osteoblasts 16th Canadian Connective Tissue Conference, Toronto, ON
2009 Delineating Collagen Trafficking Pathway in Differentiating Osteoblasts 15th Canadian Connective Tissue Conference, Calgary, AB
2008 Cytoskeleton and Adhesion Alteration in Osteoblasts in Microgravity Environment 14th Canadian Connective Tissue Conference, Montreal, QC
2007 Osteoblast Differentiation in Microgravity Environments 14th Canadian Connective Tissue Conference, Halifax, NS
2006 Lysosome Dispersion in Osteoblasts Accommodates Enhanced Collagen Production During Differentiation 13th Canadian Connective Tissue Conference, Toronto, ON

Invited conference posters

Year Poster Event / Location
2024 Alternative Molecular Models of Mind The Science of Consciousness, Tucson, AZ
2020/2022 Alleviative Effects of Meta-Therapy Consciousness Field on Triticum aestivum L. Under Salinity Stress The Science of Consciousness
2020 Evaluation of Depression, Anxiety, Stress and Headache Indices in Migraine Patients During Conventional Therapies Under Influence of Consciousness Fields The Science of Consciousness
2018 BAP1 Creates a Potential Therapeutic Vulnerability in Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma 12th Lorne D. Sullivan Lectureship and Research Day, Vancouver, BC
2018 Expression and Regulation of Chondroitin Sulfate in Prostate Cancer Vancouver General Hospital, BC
2017 Oncofetal Glycosaminoglycan Signature Provides Therapeutic Potential for Malignant Mesothelioma Cell Death, Cell Stress and Metabolism Conference, Vancouver, BC
2017 Comprehensive Multi-omics Characterization of Rare Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma 11th Lorne D. Sullivan Lectureship and Research Day, Vancouver, BC
2017 An Oncofetal Glycosaminoglycan Modification Provides Therapeutic Access to Mesothelioma Cell Death, Cell Stress and Metabolism Conference, Cancun, Mexico
2016 Characterization of Intertumor Heterogeneity of Malignant Mesotheliomas International Mesothelioma Interest Group, Birmingham, UK
2015–2016 Molecular Landscape of Pleural Mesothelioma 10th Lorne D. Sullivan Lectureship and Research Day, Vancouver, BC
2013 Cytochrome P450 Degradation in Hepatocytes UCSF Postdoctoral Symposium, San Francisco, CA
2010 Rab-Mediated Collagen Trafficking in Differentiating Osteoblasts 50th American Society for Cell Biology Conference, Philadelphia, PA
2009 Rab-1 Mediated Collagen Trafficking in Differentiating Osteoblasts 49th American Society for Cell Biology Conference, San Diego, CA
2009 In Vitro Osteoclast Differentiation in Arthritis Project: Osteoclastogenesis as a Marker of Presence and Activity of Disease in Arthritis Canadian Annual Scientific Conference, Vancouver, BC
2009 Mechanism of Collagen Trafficking in Bone Cells Canadian Society of Zoologists Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON
2008 Cytoskeleton and Adhesion Alteration in Osteoblasts in Microgravity Environment ASBMR Annual Meeting, Montreal, QC
2008 Compromised Adhesion of Osteoblasts in Microgravity Environment COSPAR Conference, Montreal, QC
2007 Modulation of the Osteoblast Cytoskeleton in Microgravity Environment 47th American Society for Cell Biology Conference, Washington, DC
2007 Lysosome Secretion by Bone Cells Under Normal and Pathological Conditions Including Rheumatoid and Osteoarthritis Canadian Arthritis Network Annual Scientific Conference, Halifax, NS
2006 Cellular Trafficking of Lysosomes in Osteoblasts 46th American Society for Cell Biology Conference, San Francisco, CA

Open science, hackathons, and public-sector data activities

Area Description
Hackathons, open data, and public-sector projects Participated in health, COVID-19, public-sector, and biomedical hackathon projects, including CO-SOL, TAPA-Champions, Anatomy of Morbidity, and related open-data initiatives. These projects are listed in detail on the Software page.

Community-level volunteering

Date Activity Location
2018–2026 Victoria Jazz Festival Victoria, BC
2022–2026 Harbour Blues ‘n’ Roots Victoria, BC
2018–2023 Fringe Theatre Festival Victoria, BC
2018 Vancouver Opera Festival Vancouver, BC
2015–2018 Vancouver International Film Festival Vancouver, BC
2015–2018 International Performing Arts Festival, PuSh Vancouver, BC
2015–2018 Vancouver Jazz Festival Vancouver, BC
2015–2018 Fringe Theatre Festival Vancouver, BC
2016–2017 Vancouver Writers Fest Vancouver, BC
2015–2019 Caravan World Rhythms Vancouver/Victoria, BC
2008 Tirgan Festival, Publishing Committee Toronto, ON