Our Team

Principal Investigator

Dr. Nichole Fairbrother, PhD, RPsych

Director, Perinatal Anxiety Research Lab
Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, UBC

Nichole Fairbrother is the director of the Perinatal Anxiety Research Lab at the Queen Alexandra Centre for Children’s Health. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of British Columbia in 2002. She subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship in women’s reproductive health through the Child and Family Research Institute and the UBC Department of Health Care and Epidemiology. Dr. Fairbrother is currently a Clinical Associate Professor professor in the University of British Columbia’s Department of Psychiatry, and a member of the Women’s Health Research Institute at B.C. Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Fairbrother’s research is in the area of reproductive mental health with a focus on anxiety disorders that affect pregnant and postpartum women. Her research projects include a study of maternal thoughts of harm related to the newborn, a theoretical model of postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder, a pilot study of the prevalence of anxiety disorders among pregnant and postpartum women, and several surveys of reproductive-aged women’s knowledge and attitudes pertaining to reproduction, childbirth and infant feeding.

Please click here to view Dr. Fairbrother’s CV (updated Feb 2022).

Cora Keeney

Lab Manager

Meet Cora, our Lab Manager! Cora has a background in Health Psychology and Positive Health. Before joining the PAR Lab Cora worked in various research roles, gaining experience in topics ranging from public health to pharmacoepidemiology to positive psychology. When not at work, Cora volunteers for organizations around Vancouver and enjoys snowboarding and hiking.

Fanie Collardeau, MSc

Graduate Student

Fanie coordinates multiple projects in the lab. She joined the lab as an interviewer on the New Mothers’ Thoughts of Harm Study and has been working for the Perinatal Anxiety Lab for approximately four years. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Victoria under the supervision of Dr. Woodin. Her own research explores how the expression and emotion regulation of shame differs across cultural contexts.

Bryn Stagg

Graduate Student

Bryn is a graduate student in Women+ and Children’s Health Sciences at UBC. After completing her undergrad at the University of Calgary in Cellular, Molecular and Microbial Biology, she worked for a non-profit coordinating assistance programs for pregnant/postpartum people and new families facing adverse situations or crisis. This led to her advocacy for increased research, understanding and support in the field of perinatal mental health, specifically in vulnerable populations. She loves reading, a good DIY project and iced coffee year-round.

Dr. Salina Kung, BSc, MD

Family Medicine Resident

Salina is a second-year resident physician (family medicine) who has been with the UBC PARLab for over 4 years. She is passionate about advocating for families and improving maternity/newborn care in BC. Her current project is focused on understanding the relationship between postpartum OCD and separation anxiety. She is excited to become a full-fledged family physician who provides longitudinal care for her patients and community.

Keni Hervie

FLEX Student

I am a second year medical student at UBC interested in all things Women’s Health, but particularly in pregnancy and the postpartum period. I was excited to join the PARLAb to learn more about perinatal mental health and how healthcare professionals can help address some of the needs in this field. It has been an honor to contribute to the great research being done in the lab and I look forward to taking what I am learning with me into future practice.

Kara Dalton, MPH

Research Assistant

Kara joined the lab as a volunteer working on the consensual non-monogamy project. Since graduating with her Honours BA in Bioethics and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto and recently completing her Master of Public Health at Simon Fraser University, she aspires to expand public health promotion for perinatal mental disorders. Kara’s expertise in studying social determinants of health foregrounds her passion for person-centred health promotion projects and aims to highlight how individuals experience health disparities within aggregate-level data. In her free time, Kara is a dedicated yogi who loves outdoor sports and spending time in nature.

Chasity Leong

Research Assistant

Chassy recently graduated from UBC with an honors bachelor’s degree in psychology. They initially joined the lab as an SSRP student and decided to stay on as a research assistant. They help with the lab’s various research projects. In their free time, they enjoy crocheting and reading.

Puloma Gupta

Research Assistant

Puloma holds a BA in Psychology with a minor in Sociology and is working towards a career in clinical psychology. Her research interests focus on the role of cognitive-affective processes in the development and maintenance of depression. Puloma joined the PARLab to gain experience in perinatal mental health research and to explore how early parent psychopathologies impact children’s health outcomes. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music and taking long walks to recharge.

Stephanie Chow

Undergraduate Student

Stephanie is a Behavioural Neuroscience and Kinesiology student at UBC. She is interested in gaining a background in psychology research to implement research-based programs that improve well-being. At the PAR lab, she is currently helping with the lab website. Stephanie loves cats, rock climbing, and piano.

Ming Zhang

Undergraduate Student

Ming is studying neuroscience as an undergraduate student at UBC. She is looking forward to expanding her lab experiences in psychology and has a particular interest in anxiety-related studies. Ming loves anything art-related, and she is involved in content creations aimed at the general public for the PAR lab.

Saray Membreno

Undergraduate Student

Saray is a third-year honours student at UBC, who is interested in clinical research regarding anxiety disorders, depression, and eating disorders in children and youth. For her third-year thesis project, she joined the PAR Lab to investigate the role of unwanted intrusive thoughts of infant-related harm in the postpartum period. In her free time, she loves to go cafe hopping, read a good book, and bake up some new recipes.