Members
Michel Bédard, Ph.D.
Michel Bédard is a Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Lakehead University, where he is also the Director of the Centre for Research on Safe Driving. He is also a Professor in the Human Sciences Division of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and is the Scientific Director of the Centre for Applied Health Research (CAHR) at St. Joseph’s Care Group, a large health care organization providing services in the areas of complex care and physical rehabilitation, long-term care, and mental health and addictions. The author or co-author of more than 150 peer-reviewed articles, Dr. Bédard’s main research focus is on aging, with a particular interest regarding automobile driving, family care giving, and mental illness.
Neelam Khaper, Ph.D.
Neelam Khaper is an Associate Professor of Physiology in the Medical Sciences Division at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Lakehead University. She obtained her M.Sc and Ph.D at the University of Manitoba. She carried her post-doctoral training at the University of Toronto. The major directions of Dr. Khaper’s research are to understand the role of oxidative stress and inflammation in the pathogenesis of cardiac dysfunction. She has authored and co-authored 50 peer reviewed articles and contributed to 11 book chapters.
Rupert Klein, Ph.D.
Dr. Rupert Klein is an Associate Professor of Personality and Health psychology at Lakehead University. His primary research interest focuses on applying theories of personality and individual differences to maladaptive decisions that negatively affect one's health and well-being. His current work on safe driving explores the risks and decisions made by older motorcycle riders.
Simon Lees, Ph.D.
Simon Lees is an Associate Professor of Physiology in the Medical Sciences Division at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Lakehead University. He obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. at Virginia Tech. He carried out his post-doctoral training at the University of Missouri in Biomedical Sciences. The major directions of Dr. Lees' research are to understand the role of aging in skeletal muscle function and the impaired ability to repair muscle in aged individuals. His research program ranges from the study of skeletal muscle stem cells to clinical research involving the elderly.
Dwight Mazmanian, Ph.D.
Dwight Mazmanian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, and an Internal Adjunct Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Lakehead University, as well as a Consultant Psychologist for St. Joseph’s Care Group. He teaches an undergraduate course on psychological testing and measurement (Introduction to Psychometric Theory), and several graduate courses (Mood Disorders, Clinical Psychopharmacology, and Advanced Assessment Techniques). Research interests in the domain of driver safety include the effects of anxiety and mood disturbances, the effects of psychotropic medication and other substances, the role of cognitive factors (e.g., attention, memory, distraction), and the effects of environmental stimuli.
Nadia Mullen, Ph.D.
Nadia Mullen is a Research Associate at the Centre for Research on Safe Driving. She completed her Ph.D. (Psychology) at University of Otago, New Zealand. Her many research interests include simulator validity, increasing safe driving using applied behaviour analysis, examining the effect of drugs (e.g., cannabis) on driving performance, and examining the process of older adults' driving cessation.
Christopher Mushquash, Ph.D
Christopher Mushquash, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Lakehead University, and the Division of Human Sciences at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Health Sciences. He is also a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Mental Health and Addiction. Dr. Mushquash's research and clinical work focuses on culturally appropriate addiction and mental health assessment and intervention for First Nations people through partnership with First Nation communities and organizations. His work at the Centre for Research on Safe Driving has been supported by a grant from the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation and recently been published in the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine.
Ian Newhouse, Ph.D.
Ian Newhouse, BPE, M.Sc, Ph.D. is a Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Director of Lakehead University’s Centre for Research and Education on Aging & Health (CERAH). His principal teaching and research interests are in the area of exercise physiology. In particular, Ian has done research in mineral metabolism and the effects of supplementation (i.e. iron and magnesium) on human performance and health. In more recent years Ian has focused hisenergies on interprofessional education and care. This has been a natural extension of serving as Dean of the Faculty of Professional Schools (Social Work, Nursing, Kinesiology, Gerontology, Public Health, and Outdoor Recreation Parks and Tourism) from 2001-2008.
Juan C. Pernia, Ph.D
Juan C. Pernia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Lakehead University. His main research areas are highway safety, traffic operations and pavement performance. A primary interest in his research is related to intersection safety. He is currently the faculty advisor for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) Student Chapters.
Tom Potter, Ph.D.
Tom Potter, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism. He has been involved in the field of outdoor adventure education for over 30 years. His teaching and research interests blend to include pedagogy of outdoor education, outdoor leadership, risk management, transportation, and nature-based therapy. His current transportation related research investigates driver, vehicle, and crash comparisons between 15-passenger vans, cars, buses, and minivans as well as the application of the Risk Assessment and Safety Management Model to 15-passenger van crashes. Dr. Potter has strong interests in analyzing risk factors in both outdoor education and transportation related contexts.
Sophie M. Regalado, MISt, MA
For the past two decades, Sophie M. Regalado, MISt, MA has worked as a professional librarian in both the academic and hospital library settings. Presently, she is the Research & Scholarly Communications Librarian at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s (NOSM) Health Sciences Library, in Thunder Bay, Ontario. As a search expert, Sophie actively collaborates with NOSM faculty, staff, and learners in their research and educational activities. Sophie actively pursues opportunities to grow and improve as a librarian, while contributing to the profession; she is a Distinguished Member of the Medical Library Association’s Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP), has served as both a peer reviewer and Assistant Editor of the Journal of the Medical Library Association and was a member of the Canadian Health Libraries Association’s Board of Directors. Sophie is currently pursuing a PhD in Education at Lakehead University.
Brian Ross, Ph.D.
Brian Ross has a PhD in Molecular Pharmacology and Biochemistry from Glasgow University. Post-doctoral training at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, was followed by a faculty appointment at the University of Toronto in the Department of Psychiatry and the Institute of Medical Science. He subsequently served as the research director at a psychiatry research unit within the University of the Highlands and Islands in Inverness, UK. In 2004, Dr. Ross moved to Thunder Bay to become a founding faculty member of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, where he is a Professor. His research interests span basic to clinical sciences in the fields of pharmacology, nutrition and mental health. He is also a member of Lakehead University’s Centre for Place & Sustainability Studies.
Zacharias Suntres, Ph.D.
Zach Suntres is a Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. Also, he holds adjunct positions with the Departments of Biology and Health Sciences at Lakehead University and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Laurentian University. His research interests focus on the development of nanoscale drug delivery devices (liposomes) for the treatment of organ and tissue injuries induced following exposure to infections, toxins, and herbicides/chemotherapeutic drugs. He is also involved in the investigation of the health effects of chemicals, heavy metals and trace metals in biological systems. He has authored numerous research papers in peer-reviewed journals and has received several academic honors and awards.
Bruce Weaver, M.Sc.
After completing a Master’s degree in Experimental Psychology in 1989, Bruce Weaver worked with Professor Steven Tipper doing research on mechanisms of selective attention. From 1998-2004, he worked in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics at McMaster University, first as a Research Biostatistician (with Drs. Gordon Guyatt, Deborah Cook, and Maureen Meade) and later as a Research Associate with (Dr. Geoff Norman). In 2004, he moved to Lakehead University to become a Research Associate of Dr. Michel Bédard. He is also an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics in the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. Current research projects focus on aging, attention and driving. More information, including a list of publications, is available on Bruce’s personal website.
Carlos Zerpa, Ph.D.
Carlos Zerpa, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the School of Kinesiology at Lakehead University. He teaches biomechanics; measurement theory and practice in Kinesiology. His research work focuses on the development of instrumentation and measurement techniques to assess human cognitive and physical performance. His work at the Center for Research on Safe Driving relates to the development of a testing protocol to assess when a person can return to safe driving after suffering from a traumatic brain injury using item response theory and brain injury simulation models.