Postdoctoral Fellows

Dilaram Acharya

Biography: Dilaram Acharya holds a PhD in Preventive Medicine from Dongguk University, South Korea. He also completed a 2.5-year post-doctoral fellowship specializing in transfusion medicine/epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of Montreal, QC, Canada. Today, he serves as a post-doctoral associate in the Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, AB, Canada. His current post-doctoral research is centered on Kidney Health Sciences and Data Sciences, involving pragmatic clinical trials, randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analysis, and health services research, with a significant emphasis on kidney health outcomes and prevention. Dr. Acharya has made several scholarly contributions through peer-reviewed publications, editorial work, and peer-review activities.

Wale Abijoy

Biography: Wale Ajiboye is a CIHR REDI Fellow at MAP Center for Urban Health Solution, St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto. Wale has over 20 years of experience in clinical pharmacy practice and over 10 years of experience in implementation science research; designing, adapting, testing and implementing strategies to increase the adoption of evidence-based tools (HIV PrEP and HIV testing) for HIV prevention among key populations in Black communities in Canada, US and Ghana. He is currently involved in various research projects aimed at reducing the incidence of HIV among key populations in Black communities in Canada, including: Culturally Responsive PrEP services for Black Gay Men; Decision Support Tool to increase PrEP adoption and adherence.; Client-Centered Care Coordination to Increase the Uptake and Use of PrEP among Black Communities in Ontario; and Implementation of Peer-Facilitated Decision-Making and Referral Support Intervention to Increase the Acceptance, Uptake and Use of PrEP for HIV Prevention in Black Communities in Canada.

Omri Braver

Biography: Omri Braver, a cardiologist from Israel, currently undertakes a fellowship at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre Clinical Trials and Translation Unit, University of Toronto. With a focus on intensive cardiac care, heart failure, acute coronary syndrome and preventive cardiology. I am interested in initiatives, innovations, and developments in the field of cardiovascular medicine. I am keen on making meaningful contributions to impactful projects and ultimately leading major trials in the future.

Nick W. Bray

Biography: I am a CIHR-funded Postdoctoral Fellow under the supervision of Dr. Michelle Ploughman in the School of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Before joining Memorial, I completed my PhD in Integrative Biosciences under the supervision of Dr. Manuel Montero-Odasso at Western University. My research program aims to: 1) explore the intersection of cerebrovascular function and frailty in biological (i.e., healthy) and accelerated (i.e., Alzheimer’s disease) aging, with a specific interest in sex and ethnic differences; 2) test the efficacy of multipronged intervention strategies to help older adults age in place; and 3) promote physical activity across the lifespan.

Safia Chatur

Biography: I am a Canadian cardiologist currently in my final year of training as a clinical fellow in advanced echocardiography at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School and an MSc candidate in behavioral economics at the London School of Economics. I completed cardiology fellowship and medical school at the University of Calgary and internal medicine residency at UBC. My research interests center on 1) identifying implementation gaps in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with heart failure; 2) using clinical trial data to inform the use of heart failure goal directed medical therapy in high risk and undertreated populations; and 3) developing and prospectively testing behaviorally informed implementation strategies for patients with cardio-metabolic disease. Concurrent with my fellowship training, I am undertaking a Master of Science in Behavioral Economics through the London School of Economics. I am particularly interested in applying behavioral insights to design and test novel implementation strategies aimed at prompting, nudging and motivating relevant stakeholders including health care teams and patients in an effective, scalable and equitable manner.

Cory Goldstein

Biography: Cory Goldstein is a philosopher specializing in research ethics who currently holds a CIHR postdoctoral fellowship with the Clinical Epidemiology Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Cory’s research focuses on ethical issues raised by the design and conduct of pragmatic and cluster randomized trials. His outputs span ethical analyses, empirical studies, and policy reports, and his publications appear in leading international bioethics and medical journals including American Journal of Kidney Diseases, British Medical Journal, and Journal of Medical Ethics. Cory is currently working with a CIHR-funded international, multidisciplinary team to co-develop and disseminate ethics guidance for cluster randomized trials. He is also an active member of various associations including the International Society of Nephrology, NIA IMPACT Ethics and Regulatory Core, and Society for Clinical Trials.

Stephen Kutcher

Biography: Stephen Kutcher is a postdoctoral fellow within the Clinical Research Unit at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario’s Research Institute. At the University of Ottawa, he completed a bachelor of Health Sciences degree, with a minor in Chemistry, as well as a master of science degree from the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, with research focusing on the genetics of salt sensitive hypertension. Stephen completed his Ph.D. in epidemiology at McGill University where he led a pragmatic, cluster randomized trial investigating the effectiveness of dual-antiplatelet therapies in acute coronary syndrome patients through the McGill University Health Centre. His research interests include causal inference, randomized controlled trials, pharmacoepidemiology, Bayesian analyses, and comparative effectiveness research.

Erica Lau

Biography: Erica Lau is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia's Department of Emergency Medicine. Specializing in implementation science, her work centers on enhancing the impact of health innovations by overcoming barriers and developing context-specific strategies to implement evidence-based interventions in real-world settings. Erica has received recognition for her contributions, including the Health Research BC Trainee Award in 2020 and the CIHR Research Excellence, Diversity, and Independence (REDI) Early Career Transition Award in 2023. If you would like to learn more about my research.

Nicholas Murphy

Biography: Nicholas Murphy is a postdoctoral fellow in bioethics with the departments of medicine and philosophy at Western University, Canada. With a background in philosophy, Nick’s research explores ethical issues at the intersection of organ donation and transplantation research, practice, and innovation. His outputs span ethical and policy analyses, empirical studies, and scientific reviews. Nick’s publications have appeared in leading international bioethics and medical journals including Bioethics, Journal of Medical Ethics, and Transplantation. He is an active contributor to the work of provincial organ donation organizations as well as a member of national and international research collaboratives, including the CIHR-funded research program Neurologic Physiology after Removal of Therapy and The International Donation and Transplantation Legislative and Policy Forum.

Kevin Yau

Biography: Kevin Yau is currently a KRESCENT postdoctoral fellow supported by the Kidney Foundation of Canada and a Glomerulonephritis Fellow at the University of Toronto. He is also completing graduate studies in Clinical Epidemiology & Health Care Research at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto as part of the Clinician Investigator Program and the Eliot Phillipson Clinician-Scientist Training Program. Kevin graduated from medical school at the University of Toronto in 2016 which was followed by Internal Medicine training at Western University. He then completed his Nephrology Fellowship and a Cardiovascular, Renal, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases Fellowship at the University of Toronto. He is interested in pragmatic trials in patients with kidney disease.