WHO ARE WE?
The British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute
Dr. Mariana Brussoni
Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia | Scientist with the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the BC Injury Research & Prevention Unit
Dr. Mariana Brussoni is a developmental child psychologist who has investigated child injury prevention and children’s outdoor play for 20 years.
Her research focuses on investigating and promoting the importance of outdoor risky play for children’s healthy development and well-being, and measuring the physical, psychosocial and financial impacts of injuries on children, their families and the health care system to better understand injuries in children and youth.
Dr. Brussoni and her interdisciplinary research team work closely with key stakeholders, knowledge users, and community members to promote children’s healthy, active and risky outdoor play. Her work and research findings were featured in over 300 national and international media outlets.
Websites:
Advisory Roles:
Dr. Brussoni is available for speaking engagements such as plenary presentations, lectures, workshops, conferences, interviews, and podcasts. Please provide a minimum of two months notice prior to your event.
Christina Han
Research Coordinator
Christina Han is a social science researcher working with Dr. Brussoni as Research Coordinator. She oversees the implementation, management, and data analyses of several research studies in the Brussoni lab, including Playability, ECO, and ECO-RCT. Christina has 10+ years of qualitative research experience and authored over 20 peer-refereed articles (link). She is currently interested in the role of children’s sense of agency and autonomy in their development and well-being.
Dawn Mount
Research Coordinator
Dawn Mount is coordinating the PROmoting Early Childhood Outside (PRO-ECO) project in partnership with the YMCA. She has over 10 years of experience working in pediatric research, focusing on prevention and clinical practice improvements. Dawn’s background is in early childhood education and psychology. She is passionate about community-oriented initiatives that empower children and families to live their best lives.
Julia Zhu
Research Assistant
Julia Zhu is a student from the University of British Columbia, majoring in Human Geography and minoring in Urban Studies. She also has a background in communication design and a passion for urban planning. She is interested in ways children interact with outdoor space and how play interventions can help facilitate and enhance such interactions.
Megan Zeni
Graduate Student
Megan Zeni is a PhD student in the Faculty of Education at UBC. Her research interests include developing professional learning communities with in-service teachers to bridge emerging theories with teaching practices that include unstructured outdoor play as a pedagogical approach. Megan has over 20 years of experiences as a professional educator, and currently teaches in a public school outdoor and garden classroom. To learn more about her work, visit: www.meganzeni.com.
Michelle O’Kane
Graduate Student
Michelle O’Kane is a social worker with experience working with children and families in Scotland, England and British Columbia. She is currently working on her PhD at the School of Social Work at UBC, in examining jurisdictional differences in child welfare processes with infants. She is involved in the Playability study where she interviewed children and their parents, and analysed their interviews.
Rachel Ramsden
Graduate Student
Rachel Ramsden is a PhD student in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC. She is interested in understanding the movements and behaviors that occur when children partake in unstructured play in order to examine the design of outdoor environments. Rachel is also the Child Care Planner at the City of Richmond, where she facilitates the design of indoor and outdoor municipal early child development settings.
Breann Corcoran
Graduate Student
Breann Corcoran is a PhD student in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC. She has 15 years of experience working with local health authorities in BC in community development and community engagement roles. She currently works part-time with BC Cancer’s Screening & Prevention team and is particularly interested in neighbourhood design to support healthy child development. More recently Breann’s work has focused on the use of shade as a design tool for skin cancer prevention in early childhood settings.
Ivana Lexa-French
Graduate Student
Ivana Lexa-French is a graduate student at UBC’s Department of Landscape Architecture. Raised by American artists in Denmark, she grew up valuing multiculturalism and creativity. She completed her undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, and thereafter spent ten years teaching in Laos before moving to Vancouver. Ivana’s current focus is on playscapes and designing with Indigenous ways of knowing.
Anchal Kataria
Work Learn Student
Anchal Kataria is an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Chemistry, Life Science, and Earth Science at UBC. She is currently a work learn student at the Brussoni Lab and working on the Pro-ECO project. She is interested in studying the development of pediatric populations and pursuing a career in pediatric healthcare.
Emily Fox
Research Assistant
Emily Fox is an undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia, double majoring in psychology and sociology. She is also a Work Learn Student for the Early Childhood Outside RCT project. She is interested in further understanding the implications reframing risk has on early childhood educators’ comfortability with outdoor play.
Hannah Coo
Work Learn Student
Hannah Coo is a M.Sc. student at the University of British Columbia with the School of Audiology and Speech Sciences. She is involved with the PRO-ECO project. She is interested in researching early childhood educators’ and parental attitudes towards outdoor risky play for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Hebah Hussaina
Research Assistant
Hebah Hussaina is a recent graduate from the Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia, completing her BSc. degree in the interdisciplinary studies of neurobiology, psychology, public health and anthropology. She is a Work Learn student on the PRO-ECO project. Hebah’s interests lie in supporting early child development through collaboration, and understanding adult perspectives to further promote healthy child development.
Tina Cheng
Volunteer
Tina Cheng joined the Brussoni lab in May 2019 and has been working on the ECO study as a volunteer.
Willow Leahy
Volunteer
Willow Leahy is a fourth-year undergraduate student studying Kinesiology at Queen’s University. She is also pursuing a certificate in business and has directed her research interests toward the study of disabilities and physical activity intervention. Willow is aiding Dr. Brussoni and her research team in the investigation of the importance of risky play for the positive development of children with exceptionalities.
Past Team Members
Allison Ezzat
Graduate Student
Physical Activity Participation and Health-Related Outcomes in Adolescent Females following Sport-Related Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury: A Mixed Methods Study
Amalie Lambert
Graduate Student
Playability Study (PLAY)
Amy Schneeberg
Graduate Student
Burden of Injury Study (BOI)
Andrew Wilson
Research Assistant
Playability Study (PLAY)
Erica Zallen
Research Assistant
Burden of Injury Study (BOI)
Fritha Munday
Graduate Student
Early Childhood Outside Study (ECO)
Genevieve Creighton
Graduate Student
Father’s Injury Prevention (FIP)
George Ko
Medical Student
Burden of Injury Study (BOI)
Grace Chan
Medical Student
Child Home Safety Study and Mothers’ Risk Engagement and Protection Study (REPS)
Hannah Zimmering
Volunteer
Burden of Injury Study (BOI)
Janae Vlaar
Graduate Student
Playability Study (PLAY)
Jaspreet Dhillon
Work Learn Student
Playability Study and Go Play Outside Study (GPO)
Jessica Flores
Graduate Student
The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and ED Injuries’ Psychological Dimensions Study
Kathryn Soo
Work Learn Student
Playability Study (PLAY), Go Play Outside Study (GPO), Early Childhood Outside (ECO), and Early Childhood Outside RCT (ECO-RCT)y
Keeva Lupton
Medical Student
Burden of Injury Study (BOI)
Kendra Wong
Work Learn Student
Child Home Safety Study, Fathers’ Risks Engagement and Protection Study (REPS), and Burden of Injury Study (BOI)
Kerry Walker
Medical Student
Validity and Reliability of the EQ5D among a Paediatric Injury Population Study and Burden of Injury Study (BOI)
Lise Olsen
Graduate Student
Burden of Injury Study (BOI) & Father’s Injury Prevention (FIP)
Matthew Hanna
Work Learn Student
Aging Road Warriors: An Emerging Public Health Concern
Morgan Yates
Graduate Student
Playability Study (PLAY)
Nelson Luk
Volunteer
Burden of Injury Study (BOI) and Fathers on Child’s Play Masculinities in Rural and Urban Canada
Ricky Zhang
Volunteer
Examining Childhood Risk Appraisal Measurements using Electroencephalography
Sami Kruse
Research Coordinator
Burden of Injury Study (BOI)
Sara Brunelle
Graduate Student
Play worth remembering I
Sarah Foster
Medical Student
Urban Versus Rural Fathers’ Ideas of Risk and Risk Prevention
Tak Ishikawa
Graduate Student
Go Play Outside! Study (GPO)
Vincent Li
Work Learn Student
Playability Study (PLAY)
Yingyi Lin
Research Assistant
Playability Study (PLAY) & Go Play Outside! Study (GPO)
Become a Graduate Student
Dr. Brussoni supervises graduate students through the UBC School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) and the Experimental Medicine Program. If you are interested in pursuing graduate studies, you can check program requirements through SPPH or Experimental Medicine.
Become a Work Study Student or Volunteer
Work/Learn is a program at the University of British Columbia that provides students with opportunities to gain professional skills. At the Brussoni lab, Dr. Brussoni and the research team place a strong emphasis on students’ learning experience. Many students have had the opportunity to gain research experience through working or volunteering in the Brussoni lab.
If you would like to work or volunteer at the Brussoni lab, please contact the research coordinator at playoutside@bcchr.ca, visit the Work/Learn program website, and/or apply for a position in UBC Career Services Online.