Present

RESEARCH STAFF

Research Associates and Officers

Rasha El-Kotob, BSc, MSc, PhD

Fun Fact:
I attended a surf camp in Cascais, Portugal.
Favourite Quote:
“If you're always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” – Maya Angelou

Rasha completed her BSc in Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo, MSc in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Toronto, and PhD in Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo.
Rasha has multi-method and mixed method research experience. She joined the Optimizing Healthcare Experiences Lab in March of 2023 as a Research Associate. She is primarily supporting the development of a toolkit intervention to assist with medication self-management in everyday life for persons with a spinal cord injury.

Overall, Rasha is passionate about improving the health of our community. She was a member of the expert panel that was assigned to inform the most recent Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults aged 18–64 years and Adults aged 65 years or older: An Integration of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, and Sleep (2020).

Post-Doctoral Fellows

Arrani Senthinathan, PhD

Arrani Senthinathan is a post-doctoral fellow jointly supervised by Dr. Karen Tu and Dr. Sara Guilcher. Her research currently investigates changes in healthcare utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic using health administrative and electronic medical record (EMR) databases. Arrani completed her PhD at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) at the University of Toronto. Her thesis work focused on outpatient antibiotic prescribing and susceptibility testing in adults with spinal cord injuries. She previously worked at the Sinai Health System - University Health Network Antimicrobial Stewardship Program implementing and evaluating a primary care stewardship program. She also has a Master of Science from the Department of Exercise Science at the University of Toronto.

Graduate Students

Lauren Cadel BSc, MSc, PhD Student

Fun Fact:
I have snorkeled between two tectonic plates.
Favourite Quote:
“It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen” ― Muhammad Ali

Lauren Cadel is a PhD candidate in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. Lauren is supervised by Dr. Sara Guilcher. Her thesis work focuses on co-developing, revising, and evaluating a toolkit intervention that aims to improve medication self-management among adults with spinal cord injury/dysfunction in Canada. Prior to starting her PhD, Lauren completed her Masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Toronto in 2019.

Lauren is also a Research Lead at the Institute for Better Health at Trillium Health Partners, where she supports Dr. Kerry Kuluski’s research portfolio on patient and family centred care. She has a passion for health services research and wants to continually explore ways to improve the delivery of health services and optimize patient experiences and outcomes.

Shenthuraan Tharmarajah, PhD Student

Fun Fact:
I’m actually from New York!
Favourite Quote:
“Today is your opportunity to build the tomorrow you want.” – Ken Poirot

Shenthuraan is a PhD student in the Pharmaceutical Sciences program at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. He is co-supervised by Dr. Mina Tadrous and Dr. Sara Guilcher. Previously, he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at New York University and Master of Science degree in Human Nutrition at Columbia University. Shenthuraan’s research interest lies in better understanding the safety of antirheumatic medications on pregnancy. His work aims to generate real-world evidence that will improve the care of pregnant individuals and optimize maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Undergraduate Students