Idris Akseer is an Honors graduate from Brock University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Sciences. He also went on to obtain a diploma in Police Foundations from Niagara College. Idris has done various volunteering and internships abroad. He completed a summer internship in Kabul, Afghanistan, at The American University of Afghanistan where he worked within each department to understand and gain knowledge regarding the functioning and difficulties of a western funded university in extreme conflict zones. Idris has also completed an internship with The Asia Foundation, Kabul chapter, where he assisted in the development, implementation and interpretation of survey results from their National Disability Survey for Afghanistan. His goal is to be part of the force that helps restructure conflict nations to achieve a more sustainable level of security, gender equality and healthcare as we’ve achieved here, in western nations.
In his spare time, Idris enjoys spending time with his nieces and nephews, going on nature filled excursions and going to amusement parks.
Neethu Pavithran recently graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Science and will be pursuing a Masters in Science with a focus on eHealth and digital health informatics at McMaster university. Neethu's research interests heavily lie within public health work and addressing disparities in healthcare. In the past, Neethu has worked on developing a multivariate regression model to analyze COVID-19 spread across several African, South American and Middle Eastern countries. She also received a conference award for her original research in exploring causal factors for vaccine hesitancy in Canadian Indigenous communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Neethu has developed two successful and international research-based fellowship programs with the URNCST Journal. These fellowship programs provide undergraduate science students with an in-depth opportunity to learn about methodologies used in scientific research, the scientific publishing process and the chance to meaningfully contribute to research literature under the guidance of a researcher in their field.
Outside of work, Neethu enjoys going on obscenely long walks with her friends, solving puzzle games, and trying out new recipes she finds online.
Sahil Gambhir is a resourceful, motivated, and detail-oriented Research Specialist with an advanced academic background in Environmental Biology. Sahil graduated from York university with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Biology and graduated with a Masters of Science degree from The University of Western Ontario in Environment and Sustainability. He has over 10 years of experience coordinating team members, conducting biological inventories, and driving research projects for leading public institutions. Sahil is recognized as a talented researcher who consolidates findings into high-impact reports and presentations. He has proven history in contributing to all aspects of research project development – initial design, planning, execution and evaluation. He is a confident and multilingual communicator who builds strong working relationships, translates complicated information into meaningful terms, and effectively collaborates with diverse stakeholders on a daily basis.
Outside of work, Sahil spends most of his time hiking with his dog, reading as many fantasy/sci-fi novels he can get his hands on, caring way too much about his sports teams and playing competitive video games on his PC into the late hours of the night.
Adebisi Akande recently graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biology, Immunology & Disease and Mental Health Studies at the University of Toronto. Throughout his undergraduate studies, Adebisi embarked on a wide range of research projects within the fields of public and global health. Such projects include exploring community based-participatory research within the HIV/AIDS community; working with UofT’s BRICS and G7 research groups to analyze global health commitments made by various countries; developing agent-based models to measure the efficacy of COVID-19 social-distancing policies; assessing Canada’s initial response to COVID-19; and exploring COVID-19’s effects on HIV care delivery in both high-income countries (HICs) and low and middle-income countries (LMICs). In addition, Adebisi dedicated a considerable amount of his time to exploring the factors influencing vaccine hesitancy amongst healthcare providers – an endeavour that led to the publication of two manuscripts and one that is currently under review.
Adebisi enjoys watching soccer, boxing, MMA, and going out for an occasional jog in his spare time.