Our Team

Thiviya Selvanathan

Assistant Professor in Department of Pediatrics at UBC
Pediatric Neurologist at BC Children’s Hospital
Investigator at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute

Dr. Selvanathan is a physician scientist with clinical and research training in Neonatal Neurology and Neonatal Neuroscience who is dedicated to understanding the complexities of the developing brain to enhance child health outcomes. With expertise in advanced neuroimaging methods, Dr. Selvanathan, investigates how early-life factors, such as brain injury and neonatal intensive care unit exposures, impact brain maturation in high-risk infants. Dr. Selvanathan’s research aims to fill critical gaps in understanding brain development and to translate findings into improved clinical care and interventions, ultimately promoting brain health and neurodevelopment in vulnerable infants. 

 For a list of publications, please visit Dr. Selvanathan’s bibliography. 

Steven Miller

Professor and Head, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia 
Chief of Pediatric Medicine at BC Children’s Hospital & Sunny Hill Health Centre 
Affiliate Professor, Department of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto 
Adjunct Senior Scientist at SickKids Research Institute

Dr. Miller is a physician scientist with clinical and research expertise in neonatal brain injury and development. Collaborating with a multidisciplinary team, Dr. Miller’s research program focuses on better understanding brain injury and development in newborns. He and his team utilize advanced brain imaging and detailed long-term follow-up to help children who were born early or with conditions that put them at risk of neurological and developmental deficits. Dr. Miller has contributed significantly to our understanding of brain abnormalities caused directly by premature birth, perinatal asphyxia, or indirectly by congenital heart disease. His work aims to improve clinical care and interventions, ultimately promoting brain health and neurodevelopment in vulnerable infants.

For a list of publications, please visit Dr. Miller’s bibliography. 

Dawn Gano

Investigator and Pediatric Neurologist, BC Children’s Hospital
Head, Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia
Professor, Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, UBC

Dr. Gano is a physician scientist with clinical and research expertise in neonatal neurology who is committed to advancing brain health from the prenatal period through early infancy. Her research focuses on understanding the causes and outcomes of neurological conditions that arise before and shortly after birth. With expertise in perinatal brain injury, Dr. Gano investigates modifiable predictors of brain health across the age spectrum spanning 20 weeks of gestation through the first month of life. Her work is shaped by collaboration with families, communities, and interdisciplinary teams, and aims to translate discoveries into strategies that improve long-term neurological outcomes and promote brain health across the lifespan.

Steven Ufkes

Steven completed his Master’s degree in the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto. He performs brain image analysis with a focus on diffusion and functional MRI. He is passionate about high-performance computing, using a range of techniques including deep learning and graph theory analysis.

Isha Sekhon

Isha completed both her MSc in Nutrition and Metabolism and her MPH in Health Equity at Boston University. She is committed to improving health outcomes by addressing inequities and the social factors that shape lifelong wellbeing. Her interests include early life development, maternal-infant health, and the influence of social determinants on neurodevelopment. She currently supports research aimed at improving outcomes for high-risk infants through clinical studies, data collection, and program coordination.

Rochelle Chauhan

Rochelle completed her MSc in Rehabilitation Sciences at UBC, where her thesis focused on how physical and social activities support recovery in youth with concussions. She is now pursuing her PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies at UBC, focusing on interventions to improve recovery following mild traumatic brain injury in children and adolescents. Rochelle is interested in how different experiences shape brain health and development, and she is motivated by research that can improve outcomes for people facing neurological challenges.

Caroline Kim

Caroline is a medical student at UBC and completed her BASc in Applied Mathematics and Computer Engineering at Queen’s. Caroline’s current research focuses on using DTI to understand how critical illness impacts the long-term brain and neurodevelopment of children born preterm. She is interested in employing neuroimaging, machine learning, and advanced statistical techniques in clinical research. She hopes to study how early-life brain injury, critical illness, and surgical interventions impact long-term developmental trajectories.

Victoria Rapos

Victoria recently completed her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of British Columbia. Her dissertation focused on understanding neural activity and behaviours associated with a daily task of collision avoidance in children with and without developmental coordination disorder. Now as a postdoctoral fellow, Victoria’s research focuses on understanding the structural and functional relationship between the cerebellum and cortical regions in preterm-born infants. Specifically, does prematurity and NICU stays impact the structural integrity of the cerebrocerebellum connections; subsequently motor outcomes at 8 years of age.

Buse Bedir

Buse is in the process of completing her PhD in Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Victoria. She is also currently doing a post-doctoral fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at BC Children’s Hospital. Her research interests include understanding the development of executive functioning skills in children and adolescents and promoting the healthy development of such skills. She is also interested in understanding how neurodevelopmental conditions (i.e., ASD, ADHD) impact the development of executive functioning skills in children.

Mia Chen

Mia is a Pediatric Neurology PGY-1 at BC Children’s Hospital. She completed medical school in Montreal and moved to Vancouver for residency. Mia found a particular interest in the neonatal population and thus decided to join Dr. Selvanathan’s research team. Her current research focuses on better understanding neonatal subpial hemorrhages, a rare type of cerebral hemorrhage with significant repercussions on children’s neurodevelopment. Her study aims to fill a critical knowledge gap in neonatal neurology, improving the diagnosis, management, and long-term care of neonates with subpial hemorrhages.

Emma Jin

Emma is a pharmacy student at UBC with a keen interest in neonatal neuroscience and the impact of pharmacological interventions on early brain development. Her research interests center on understanding how early-life exposures, including pharmacological treatments, affect neurodevelopment of the pediatric population. She is passionate about patient-centred care and hopes to apply her pharmacy training to enhance neonatal and pediatric health care through both clinical and research contributions.

Jasmine Badesha

Jasmine is a medical student at UBC with an MSc in Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences. Her research explores white matter connectivity in preterm infants with brain injury, aiming to understand how early lesions affect neurodevelopment and guide interventions. She is interested in integrating neuroimaging, clinical data, and quantitative analysis to identify early biomarkers and inform targeted treatments. She is passionate about bridging scientific research and clinical practice to drive meaningful improvements in patient outcomes.

Anthe Harabaras

Anthe is a bedside nurse in the NICU at BC Women’s Hospital. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Nursing Science from the University of British Columbia. Anthe is currently supporting the HIE Connectome Study by inviting families to participate and with infant monitoring during MRI imaging. She’s interested in how early brain injuries may affect learning and development, and in understanding the factors that support recovery in newborns.

Ciara Ritchie

Ciara is a MSc student in Neuroscience at UBC, with an Honours BSc in Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour from McMaster University. Using a longitudinal cohort, her research focuses on investigating thalamic maturation and white matter injury as predictors of neurocognitive outcomes in adolescents with congenital heart disease. With a strong interest in infant brain development and neuroimaging, Ciara aims to deepen our understanding of how early-life brain changes affect long-term outcomes, with the goal of improving neurodevelopmental outcomes in children.

Mia Kassab

Mia is a medical student at the University of British Columbia. She obtained her BSc in Integrated Sciences from UBC, where she combined her passion for neuroscience, genetics, and public health. She has joined Dr. Miller’s lab as a FLEX student to explore the long-term cognitive outcomes in children born preterm. With an interest in early brain development and neuroplasticity, Mia is curious how early life factors such as medical interventions, social determinants of health, and critical illness shape neurodevelopment in children.

Cynthia Li

Cynthia is a MSc student in Women+ and Children’s Health Sciences at UBC. She recently completed an Honours BSc in Anatomy and Cell Biology at McGill University. Her research interests are focused in neurodevelopment and the application of neuroimaging, with her current project specifically examining how white matter injury influences functional connectivity in preterm infants. By improving our understanding of white matter injuries and their effect on essential brain networks and long-term development, Cynthia aims to contribute to better clinical outcomes and improved quality of care for preterm infants.

Eleanor Brian

Eleanor completed her PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Liverpool, where her research focused on investigating neurological differences across various types of musculoskeletal chronic pain groups compared to healthy controls. Now, as a postdoctoral fellow, her work focuses on white matter development in preterm-born infants, from birth through term-equivalent age and into early childhood, and its relationship to neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Genoise Etman

Genoise is a medical student at the University of British Columbia, where she previously earned her BSc in Biology. Her research explores how socioeconomic factors influence neurodevelopmental outcomes in children with neonatal brain injury, with a focus on whether these effects are mediated by changes in structural connectivity. She is particularly interested in integrating neuroimaging data with measures of social determinants of health to better understand developmental trajectories following neonatal brain injury. By better elucidating the factors that contribute to variability in outcomes, she hopes to help inform interventions that enhance cognitive development and improve the quality of life for at-risk children.

Sofia Di Fluri

Sofia is an undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia, studying cellular and molecular neuroscience. She is currently conducting a scoping review for her capstone project, which will examine the existing literature regarding brain injury in individuals with congenital heart disease, specifically as they transition into adolescence and adulthood. Sofia is excited to explore this space, identify which questions are unanswered, and determine where barriers exist, with the goal of guiding future research. She is interested in the long-term impacts of early-life conditions on the brain and is motivated to improve quality of life, patient care, and neurodevelopmental outcomes as people age.

Kia Anarna

Dr Anarna is a neonatal neurology fellow in BC Women and Children’s Hospital.  Her research interests include improving preterm neurodevelopmental outcomes and characterizing different patterns of injury in infants with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

Phoenix Au-Yeung

Phoenix is a medical student at the University of British Columbia where she also obtained her BSc in Behavioural Neuroscience. Her research interests include comparing the risk factors and neurodevelopmental outcomes in infants with different injury patterns due to hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. With interests in neuroimaging, brain development and recovery, she hopes to help inform clinical trajectories for infants diagnosed with HIE and improve patient outcomes.

Julia Charlton

Clinical Associate Professor in Department of Pediatrics at UBC  
Neonatologist and NICU Medical Director in BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre
Investigator at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute

Dr Charlton is a Clinical Associate Professor at UBC and Senior Medical Director of the Neonatal Program at the BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre in Vancouver. Her clinical and research training is in Neonatal Neurology and Neurodevelopment. Her research is focussed on the impact of fetal and congenital anomalies, and their management, on the developing brain. She is pursuing new knowledge to support implementation of the perfect balance of analgesia and sedation for neonates in the intensive care unit. Her research approach is through multi-disciplinary collaboration between clinical and research teams. 

Jessie van Dyk

Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, UBC 
Neonatologist, BC Women’s Hospital 
Medical Director, Neonatal Follow-up Program, BC Women’s Hospital

Dr. van Dyk is a neonatologist and researcher with expertise in neonatal intensive care and developmental monitoring of high-risk newborns after NICU discharge. Her clinical and research interests include involving families in the care of their newborns, providing developmentally appropriate critical care, and monitoring the medical and developmental well-being of high-risk neonates post-discharge and neurocritical care.

Makabongwe Tshuma Tambo

Fellowship Program Director, Department of Radiology  
Pediatric Neuroradiologist, BC Children’s Hospital  
Clinical Assistant Professor, UBC

Dr. Tambo completed medical education and radiology residency in the UK. She is currently a pediatric neuroradiologist at BC Children’s hospital having done fellowship training in pediatric radiology from BC Children’s Hospital and pediatric neuroradiology at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Through this Maka has developed a keen interest for research in pediatric neurologic diseases and actively participates in various research projects with the clinical teams and trainees. She is also the appointed PGME fellowship program director for pediatric radiology since November 2024 and is actively involved in teaching and mentoring of trainees from medical student through to postgraduate level.