Alex Krug-Mushey
Master's student Graduate Research Assistant
Alex is a graduate student in Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, working under the supervision of Dr. Devon Greyson at the VEC. Their thesis research is examining the role of trust in vaccine attitudes and uptake for pregnant people during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are joining the VEC on a project examining the potential role of educational modules in school vaccination requirements, with the goal of using qualitative methods to evaluate these interventions and their potential role in vaccine requirements.
Bernice Ramos
PhD Student
Bernice is a graduate student in the Microbiology and Immunology program at the University of British Columbia, working under the supervision of Dr. Manish Sadarangani at the VEC. Her project focuses on describing the epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease and the effects of new generation conjugate vaccines.
Brynn McMillan
PhD Student
Brynn McMillan is a PhD student in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia, where she is supervised by Dr. Agatha Jassem at the BC Centre for Disease Control and Dr. Manish Sadarangani at the VEC. Brynn’s research focuses on SARS-CoV-2 humoral immune responses in the context of infection and vaccine-elicited immunity.
Emily Mason
PhD Student
Emily Mason is a PhD student in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia, studying under the supervision of Dr. Manish Sadarangani. She has been involved with the VEC since 2020, researching vaccine-preventable disease incidence in Canadian children. Her current work involves the development of a vaccine against Klebsiella pneumoniae and other antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Dr. Gabrielle Gaultier
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Gabrielle completed her PhD in the Biotechnology program at Lakehead University in October 2020. Her PhD projects investigated B-cell and antibody responses to the 13-valent pneumococcal protein-polysaccharide conjugate vaccine in adults with severe chronic kidney disease (CKD), natural immunity against Haemophilus influenzae type a and B-cell subpopulations in adults with CKD, as well as antibodies specific for Streptococcus pneumoniae in Indigenous and Non-Indigenous adults. Gabrielle joined Dr. Sadarangani’s lab group in April 2021 where her research focuses on the immunological analysis of infectious diseases for the purpose of vaccine development and evaluation, with a particular emphasis on SARS-CoV-2.
Guadalein Tanunliong
Graduate Student
Gurleen Nirwal
INSPIRE Student
Gurleen is working under Dr. Michael Hawkes at the VEC. She holds a BSc in Biology, and her research at the VEC focuses on biomarkers related to dengue fever. Her research interests include arboviral diseases, sensory neuroscience, and diabetes mellitus.
Isabelle Hadad
Summer Student
Jonah Hall
PhD Student
Jonah Hall is an immunology Ph.D. student in the University of British Columbia Microbiology department with Manish Sadarangani at the VEC and Daniel Coombs of the Mathematics department as his supervisors. His research is mainly focused on the recreation and optimization of the dynamics of maternal and neonatal vaccination strategies against pertussis (whooping cough).
Jung-Bahadur Singh Kandola
Masters Student in Experimental Medicine
Jung-Bahadur Singh Kandola is a graduate student in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia, working under the supervision of Dr. Julie Bettinger at the VEC. His research interests include understanding and addressing vaccine hesitancy in the South Asian population, with an emphasis on the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. He aims to translate knowledge into more effective and approachable interventions to address vaccine hesitancy in the information age.
Kaitlin Winter
Postdoctoral Fellow
Kaitlin completed her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University in June 2022. For her PhD, she developed a vaccine targeting Clostridioides difficile using Salmonella Typhimurium as a live, attenuated vaccine vector. Kaitlin joined Dr. Sadarangani's group in October 2022. She is currently working on the development of a vaccine against Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Kevin Meesters
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Kevin is a pediatrician from Belgium, currently completing his fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at BC Children’s Hospital. His doctoral research centered on the pharmacology of antimicrobials and strategies to investigate antibiotic use in children. At present, he holds a postdoc appointment in the research groups of Dr. Bettinger and Dr. Sadarangani. His current research focuses on the epidemiology and outcomes of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Liam Mullins
Graduate Student
Liam is a graduate student in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia, working under the supervision of Dr. Manish Sadarangani in the VEC since 2022. He is part of the team researching the development of vaccines for Klebsiella pneumoniae as a strategy to combat antibiotic resistance. Liam completed his B.Sc. (Hons) in Microbiology at the University of Guelph, studying E. coli efflux pumps. Outside of the lab, he is passionate about health equity and climate justice.
Lisa Zhang
UBC Med FLEX Student
Lisa Zhang is a medical student at the University of British Columbia. She completed her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience and Child Development at Vanderbilt University. This year, she joined the VEC as a FLEX student, working with Dr. Manish Sadarangani on a project exploring the epidemiology of Haemophilus influenzae in the pediatric population in Canada. Before medical school, Lisa worked as a clinical research coordinator in pediatric gastroenterology, where her projects focused on Clostridioides difficile and inflammatory bowel disease.
Natalie Wilks
Graduate Student
Dr. Phyu Mar Soe
PhD Student
Phyu Mar is a graduate student at the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH), University of British Columbia. She joined Dr.Bettinger’s research team in July 2021 after completing her Master of Science in International Health at University of Heidelberg. Prior to joining SPPH and VEC, she was involved in research on antimicrobial resistance, HIV disease epidemiology and behavioral surveillance system at both the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS). Her research interests include child health, vaccine effectiveness and safety, disease surveillance, and infectious disease epidemiology. Her current research is on COVID-19 vaccine safety among high-risk populations.
Ryan Vethanayagam
Medical Student
Ryan is a medical student at the University of Limerick Graduate Medical School. He holds a B.Sc. in Biology (Major) and Microbiology and Immunology (Minor) from the University of British Columbia. He is working at the VEC under the supervision of Dr Manish Sadarangani. Ryan has also worked at AbCellera, a biotech company specializing in antibody-based therapeutics. Beyond academics, Ryan is passionate about community outreach, healthy equity, and advancing vaccine literacy.
Ty Sounthong
Graduate Research Assistant
Selina Park
Summer Student
Selina is an undergraduate student in Health Sciences at Queen’s University. This summer, she joined the VEC as a BCCHR summer student, and she is working under the supervision of Dr. Julie Bettinger to explore factors influencing HPV vaccine uptake. She is passionate about improving public health through preventive care and health education.
Winnie Fu
Pediatric Resident
Winnie is a pediatrics resident at UBC in the research track. She is working at the VEC under the supervision of Dr Manish Sadarangani. Her current work involves evaluating vaccination trends at the Family Immunization Clinic. Her research interests include health advocacy and prevention.
Alumni
Continued learning is one of the Vaccine Evaluation Center’s core values. We welcome and appreciate the work of our students and trainees, including undergraduate, medical and graduate students as well as postdoctoral and clinical research fellows.
Graduate Students
Avani Lamba, MSc
2022-2024 with Dr. Julie Bettinger
Susmita Chakma, Graduate Research Assistant
2023-2024 with Dr. Devon Greyson
Maria Mulder, Graduate Student Researcher
2023-2024 with Dr Julie Bettinger and Dr. Devon Greyson
Marian Orhierhor, MSc
2021-2023 with Dr. Julie Bettinger
Madalief Ozephius, MSc
2022-2023 with Dr. Julie Bettinger
Natalie Cavalin, MSc Klebsiella pneumoniae
2021-2022 with Dr. Julie Bettinger
Jimmy Lopez, MSc Population and Public Health
2019-2021 with Dr. Julie Bettinger
Aaron Liu, PhD Experimental Medicine
2018-2021 with Dr. Soren Gantt
Rana Minab, MSc Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
2018-2021 with Dr. Soren Gantt
Bahaa Abu Raya, PhD Experimental Medicine
2017-2021 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Catherine Byrne, PhD Microbiology and Immunology
2016-Present with Dr. Soren Gantt
May Abdel-Hamid Ahmed, MSc Population and Public Health
2016-2018 with Dr. Julie Bettinger
Jessica Tuengel, PhD Experimental Medicine
2014-2021 with Dr. Soren Gantt
Adriana Cabrera, PhD Student
2019-2022 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Medical Residents and Fellows
Gabriel Blank, Pediatric Resident
2021-2024 with Dr. Julie Bettinger, Dr. Hana Mitchell and Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Mahin Delara, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
2020-2024 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Kyle Amaral, Medical Student
2021-2023 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Eve Nakebembe, Clinical Research Doctoral Fellow
2023 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Anne (Tinta) Deasy, General Pediatrics Fellow
2021-2022 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Diana Bark, Public Health Resident
2020-Present with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
James Zlosnik, Research Associate
2016 - 2021 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Sarah Silverberg, Pediatrics Resident
2020-Present with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Abdulwahed Zainel, Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellow
2020-2022 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Dalal Mohammad, Pediatric Resident
2019-2021 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Stephan Saad, Adult Infectious Disease Fellow
2019-2021 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Nassr Nama, Pediatrics Resident
2019-2021 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Te-Yu Hung, Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellow
2019-2020 with Dr. Julie Bettinger
Rabab Al-Ghaithi, Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellow
2018-2020 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Alastair McAlpine. Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellow
2018-2020 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani
James Toft, Pediatric Resident
2018-2020 with Dr. Julie Bettinger
Hana (Mijovic) Mitchell, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellow
2017-2018 with Dr. Julie Bettinger
Bahaa Abu Raya, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellow
2015-2017 with Dr. Tobi Kollmann
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Nirma Khatri Vadlamudi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Feb 2022- Aug 2024 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani (Co-supervised by Dr. Julie Bettinger)
Wendy Pringle, Postdoctoral Fellow
2019 -2022 with Dr. Julie Bettinger
Jennifer Gillis, Postdoctoral Fellow
2021-2022 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani (Co-supervised by Dr. Gina Ogilvie)
Elisabeth McClymont, Postdoctoral Fellow
2020-Present with Dr. Soren Gantt (Co-supervised by Dr. Manish Sadarangani)
Citlali Marquez, Postdoctoral Fellow
2019-2021 with Dr. Soren Gantt
Robine Donken, Postdoctoral Fellow
2017-2020 with Dr. Manish Sadarangani (Co-supervised by Dr. Gina Ogilvie)
Clara Rubincam, Postdoctoral Fellow
2015-Present with Dr. Julie Bettinger
Raidan Alyazidi, Postdoctoral Fellow
2015-2018 with Dr. Soren Gantt
Devon Greyson, Postdoctoral Fellow
2015-2018 with Dr. Julie Bettinger