UNews - research assistant

C-CRAFT ushers in new era of fluorine research

trevor.kenney — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 22:25:24 +0000

Advanced research experiments, state-of-the-art laboratories, guidance from a top expert in the field - these are the exclusive benefits enjoyed by chemistry students studying fluorine at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, home of the new Canadian Centre for Research in Advanced Fluorine Technologies, or C-CRAFT.

Doug Turnbull, left, and Nathan Kostiuk have taken advantage of the practical learning opportunities provided them by Dr. Michael Gerken.

Over the last several years, the U of L has evolved into one of Canada’s premier institutions for studying the chemistry and physical properties of compounds containing fluorine, a versatile and highly reactive element used in a wide range of industrial and commercial processes and products. Playing a key role in that evolution has been Dr. Michael Gerken, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry with 12 years of experience, and an internationally distinguished fluorine chemist.

By launching C-CRAFT, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ will be able to serve as a hub for fluorine scientists and industry researchers worldwide to study and develop useful applications for this reactive element, which can be useful for everything from developing plastics, to performing medical imaging, to promoting cleaner oil production. It will also further enhance the department’s ability to provide high-quality, hands-on research opportunities to undergraduate and graduate chemistry students.

The new C-CRAFT institute, led by this stellar group of faculty members, creates a hub for fluorine research at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Among the students who have enjoyed those practical learning experiences is Nathan Kostiuk, a fourth-year chemistry student who has completed multiple for-credit independent study projects with Gerken, and who also worked for two summers as his research assistant. Helping facilitate Kostiuk’s investigations into fluorine has been his extensive access to the labs’ sophisticated research equipment, which include two nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, a Raman spectrometer and an x-ray diffractometer.

“Being able to use these machines to conduct hands-on research is a huge advantage,” Kostiuk says. “Some things you can learn in a textbook, but it’s different when you can apply what you learn in a lab. What I do in the lab enhances what I learn in the classroom, and vice versa.”

Recently, Kostiuk and a graduate student in the Gerken lab analyzed sulfur tetrafluoride, or SF₄, a chemical compound that can be useful to processes for the pharmaceutical and specialty chemical industries. Using the x-ray diffractometer, a machine for studying the structure of molecules in great detail, he was able to discern the molecule’s behaviour in solid form. It was the first time that this insight had ever been made in science, and his findings were published last June in the prestigious international scientific journal, Angewandte Chemie (German for: Applied Chemistry), published by the German Chemical Society. The accomplishment was rare, since at most universities, undergraduates have less access to leading-edge research equipment.

“I was really happy with that achievement, especially since I was just a third-year student at the time,” says Kostiuk, who is planning to pursue a master’s degree in chemistry after graduating. “Now, other researchers around the world can use it to help their own research.”

Another student who has been actively putting his classroom skills to use in the fluorine labs is Doug Turnbull, a third-year chemistry undergraduate. Turnbull came to the U of L with a budding interest in chemistry he had developed in high school, and was delighted to learn about the high-calibre expertise and facilities available in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

"I had been interested in fluorine at a superficial level, because it's the most reactive element, but at Lethbridge I was given the unique opportunity to gain a real-world idea of what fluorine chemistry is,” Turnbull says.

Turnbull has been conducting experiments involving fluorine and rhenium, another chemical element in the periodic table, to study how various reactions affect the geometry of rhenium compounds. He says Gerken’s insights and encouragement have made the lab learning exciting, and provided him with the confidence to continue exploring.

“This can be a challenging type of chemistry and the learning curve can be daunting. Michael makes it such a comfortable experience that you don’t have those worries anymore,” Turnbull says. “As far as his knowledge and communication style go, he is an outstanding supervisor.”

Master's studies gain insight into tragedy

trevor.kenney — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 21:27:35 +0000

As news reports filtered out of fire-ravaged Slave Lake, Alta., recently, tales of heroism and perseverance in the midst of personal tragedy riveted the public. The stories took on even more meaning to ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge master's student Ainslee Kimmel, who is completing her thesis by studying the effects of wildfire and the resiliency of people who experience its wrath.

Kimmel's study focus is on the 2009 West Kelowna fire but she couldn't help but draw similarities to the stories she hears about the residents of Slave Lake.

Master's student Ainslee Kimmel pursues a Master in Education degree while working with noted health sciences researcher Dr. Judith Kulig.

"I think a big thing I see that's similar between the two is the factor of the unknown," she says. "A lot of people said the most stressful thing about the fire was the act of being evacuated, and then hearing reports on what parts of town were and were not affected by the fire, not knowing if they had or had not lost everything."

Kimmel, a Calgary native, came to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ with a bachelor of psychology degree from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Victoria. Her goal is to eventually become a registered psychologist, which might seem contrary to her master's work (MEd in the Faculty of Education) at first glance, but it's all by design. She chose the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge over other graduate programs because it is allowing her a more hands-on, practical approach to her vocation.

"The other schools I was accepted to were more research oriented and I wanted to finish my master's with a practical skillset, and I found that here," she says. "It allows me to focus more on counselling as opposed to a master's in health psychology, which puts you in the stream for studying a PhD and possibly teaching."

Working with supervisor Dr. Judith Kulig, an expert in wildfire research and community resiliency from a health sciences perspective, Kimmel sees the practical potential of her findings.

"I just want to know how people cope after something like a wildfire event," she says. "Wildfires in Canada are increasingly a big issue and if we can determine how people cope, hopefully we can develop strategies to help people function better after a wildfire."

Kimmel actually worked with Kulig as a research assistant for a year prior to the beginning of her thesis. Despite the fact that she's pursuing a master's of education degree, she was given special dispensation to have Kulig as her supervisor. She travelled with Kulig to conduct interviews and acquire data following a wildfire event in Barriere, B.C., and is using that experience to guide her through her study of the West Kelowna event.

"Through the work I did with Dr. Kulig, we saw people in Barriere who made it through the fire without losing their homes and yet they had lingering symptoms of depression, while some of those who lost their homes were able to bounce back quicker," says Kimmel. "Understanding how that works and how we can help these people on various levels is the ultimate goal."

While Kulig's research emphasis focuses on community resiliency as a whole, Kimmel's approach, as a psychologist in training, is more specific.

"I felt I could pursue something more on the individual aspects of wildfire," she says, noting that her findings, although preliminary, are not entirely negative. "I'm also looking at how people grow from the experience as a result. It's termed post-traumatic growth in the literature and discusses how people can go through something traumatic and months and even years later benefit from it in terms of developing closer relationships, a better attitude on life and a feeling of strength and confidence that they were able to get through it."

To date, Kimmel has made one trip to Kelowna, interviewing a host of government and firefighting personnel. She expects to return to complete her interviews this fall and will finish writing her thesis over the winter. Kimmel says her excellent relationship with Kulig has been integral to the process.

"She's such a caring person and is really there to help a student. She's also always included me, in terms of authorship, on anything we've worked on," says Kimmel. "We get along so well on a personal level and I don't know if everybody has that with their supervisor – it really can make a difference."

Kimmel's research was made possible by a $17,500 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant.

GET THE FACTS

· Kimmel's study actually includes three fire events in and around West Kelowna in 2009, including: Terrace Mountain Fire (9,277 hectares burned); Glenrosa Fire (400 hectares); and the Rose Valley Fire (200 hectares).

· Only four structures were lost in West Kelowna, despite the potential of losing many more that were threatened, and Kimmel says her preliminary findings show a sense of pride from residents over how the crisis was handled.

· Kimmel accompanied Dr. Kulig to Texas to present findings from her research at an international conference.

This story first appeared in the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Fenske made the most of his U of L opportunities

trevor.kenney — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 21:50:46 +0000

When he enrolled in psychology at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, Dr. Mark Fenske (BSc '96, Distinction) had a goal – he wanted to help people.

The associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Guelph, and co-author of the Canadian best-seller, The Winner's Brain: 8 Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Success, initially thought about becoming a counsellor. But after the opportunity to work as a research assistant for
Dr. Scott Allen opened up, Fenske found he was hooked on cognitive psychology.

"Lethbridge has some really good people. You get to know these people on a level that you probably wouldn't at a larger institution," says Fenske. "Working with Drs. Scott Allen, John Vokey and Don Read, who were the cognition faculty in the psychology department at the time, was a bit of an awakening for me. I was able to learn about memory, about how we interact with the world around us, what drives our behaviour, how we make decisions and how we pay attention.
"I learned there is so much more to psychology than the commonly-held view of people lying on a couch and talking about their problems."

Alumnus Mark Fenske is thankful for the research foundation he established while still an undergraduate student.

Fenske made the most of his one-on-one opportunities with faculty.

"I was able to get a lot of face time with faculty and learn what life in a research lab is all about," he says. "It really cultivated a sense of excitement for research, and I was given a lot of responsibility. I learned a lot in terms of computer programming, setting up experiments, running subjects and how to analyze data. Those are skills and training that I otherwise might not have gotten until grad school."

By the time he graduated in 1996, Fenske knew that he wanted to pursue a career in academia.

"One of the driving forces for me has always been about how I can have a positive impact on others. A lot of the people who have had a major influence on my life have been teachers or instructors," he says. "If you are teaching three or four classes a year and each class has up to 100 students, you have the potential to have a positive influence on lots of people. And as an academic, when you are not preparing or giving lectures, you get to investigate important issues that you find interesting. It is a fantastic job."

Supported by NSERC scholarships, Fenske completed both a master's and PhD in psychology from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Waterloo by 2001. After a two-year post doc at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Wales in Bangor, Fenske moved to Boston, Mass. in 2003, where he began to integrate cognitive psychology with neuroscience, the study of the brain.

"In Boston I worked at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, where I had a dual appointment as a research fellow with Harvard Medical School and as an assistant in neuroscience at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). With rapid advances in neuroimaging technology, it became clear that we could learn a lot more by combining our study of human cognition with neuroscience," says Fenske. "Using MRI scanners, we were able to look at the structure of the brain and the areas of activation that related to different cognitive operations. What I now do is try to understand how it is that we do what we do. How do we pay attention to things, remember things and what elicits different emotional responses?"

Fenske spent four years at MGH and Harvard, the last two as faculty, before returning to Canada to work at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Guelph in 2007. In spite of the years of intense research and study, he has never lost sight of his original goal of helping people.

In recent years, he has worked on bringing the knowledge he has gained about cognitive-affective neuroscience to the general public. His work on The Winner's Brain with Dr. Jeff Brown serves as an example.

"The book is all about the neuroscience of success," says Fenske. "What we do with our brain – the different ways in which we stimulate, engage and care for it – can have a significant impact on the way it works, and even alter its physical landscape. We looked at what the latest brain science says about people that excel in key areas related to success, and the various strategies the rest of us can use to fine-tune our brains and become more successful."

GET THE FACTS

· The Winner's Brain was on Amazon Canada's bestseller list, ranking 20th in the All Books category and first in both the Psychology and Success classifications. U of L neuroscience instructor, Dr. Bryan Kolb, is featured in the book.

· Fenske writes a bi-weekly column, Better Brain, for the Globe and Mail newspaper.

· He is the recipient of grants in excess of $1 million and is currently working with the Gambling Research Exchange Ontario.

· Fenske has published more than 35 articles, abstracts and theses, and has presented at more than 40 conferences and seminars.

This story first appeared in the Legend. For a full look at the January issue of the Legend, follow this link.

Joblonkay unearths his passion at the U of L

trevor.kenney — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:59:09 +0000

As a teenager, Darren Joblonkay (BSc '10) knew he wanted to be a lawyer, and you could often find him at the local courthouse, watching various trials.By the time he graduated from Catholic Central High School however, his interest in travel and history far outweighed his fascination with the law. It was during his first semester at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge that Joblonkay ultimately decided he would rather unearth ancient history than make history in the courtroom.

"It was really on a whim that I decided I wanted to discover and contribute to our knowledge of the human past," says Joblonkay, currently pursuing a master's degree in Ancient Near-Eastern Studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto. "When I began attending the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, I really had no idea how big the field of archaeology is, but Dr. Walter Aufrecht intrigued me with his knowledge of the ancient Near East – particularly ancient Syria-Palestine. My first year classes in the archaeology of Mesopotamia and Classical Hebrew were what really drove me to pursue Syro-Palestinian archaeology."

Alumnus Darren Joblonkay has seen the world through field work programs from the U of L.

During his U of L years, Joblonkay took full advantage of the unique opportunities the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, and its smaller, more personable nature, is able to provide to undergraduate students.

"Smaller classes make for more interesting seminars," explains Joblonkay. "Having the chance to work for your professors at the undergraduate level, to be a student marker, getting experience giving presentations in class, being part of a class project because there are only five students – these opportunities aren't available to most undergraduates elsewhere.

"My experiences working in a lab, working as a research assistant and getting the opportunity to take on roles with greater responsibility at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ gave me a substantial edge over those students who attended larger institutions at the bachelor level."

During the summer of 2007, Joblonkay travelled with fellow students under the direction of U of L professor, Dr. Shawn Bubel, to Tel Beth Shemesh, an archaeological site 20km west of Jerusalem. Since then, Joblonkay has spent every summer working at archaeological digs around Israel.

"I think the real "aha" moment that led to my career was attending the field school at Tel Beth Shemesh," says Joblonkay. "It was the shear intensity of the excavation experience. Where else do you get to unearth a bronze spear point used over 3,000 years ago, to walk on a tampered or cobble floor that hasn't been stepped on in literally millennia, to experience a sunrise as you watch a Bedouin man tending to a flock of sheep? These and many other experiences all come together and form very fond memories of what it really means to be an archaeologist."

The opportunity to continue his academic studies with the exclusive Near and Middle Eastern Civilization Department at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto is something for which Joblonkay is very grateful. He gives a lot of credit for his preparation and acceptance to this one-of-a-kind Canadian program to his professors at the U of L.

"The professors at the U of L are amazing. They prepared me for graduate work at one of Canada's most prestigious institutions. They are supportive, approachable, well qualified and they do a great job of teaching and incorporating their own research into their classes," remembers Joblonkay. "There is a great combination of traditional and younger scholars who bring new ideas and theories to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. They expected the height of academic excellence and pushed me to achieve. Their passion for the discipline really rubbed off on me."

Joblonkay brings that passion to his work at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto, where he works as an archaeological assistant while he continues his master's degree. In the summer of 2011, he will be digging at Tell Tayinat in Turkey, which he hopes will lead to his dissertation.

"I would like to eventually be a professor in Near Eastern Archaeology. I believe it was one of my mentors who told me once that "any archaeologist would be lying if they said they didn't like digging up treasures", but our discipline runs deeper than that," he says. "We attempt to preserve and understand humanity's cultural history. We are all captivated by what humans were able to achieve in the past."

GET THE FACTS

· Joblonkay graduated from the U of L with Great Distinction, earning a BSc in Archaeology and Geography while concentrating on Geographical Information Science.

· He is the recipient of numerous scholarships totaling more than $13,000.

· He is a member of the Archaeological Society of Alberta and the American School of Oriental Research.

· Joblonkay's mother, Margaret, works in the Faculty of Education as administrative support in the Graduate Studies and Research office.

Joblonkay unearths his passion at the U of L

trevor.kenney — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:24:24 +0000

UPDATE: Joblonkay has gone on to study at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto and recently uncovered a 3,000-year-old monumental statue of King Suppiluliuma while on a dig in Turkey. For more, see this Lethbridge Herald story.

As a teenager, Darren Joblonkay (BSc '10) knew he wanted to be a lawyer, and you could often find him at the local courthouse, watching various trials. By the time he graduated from Catholic Central High School however, his interest in travel and history far outweighed his fascination with the law. It was during his first semester at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge that Joblonkay ultimately decided he would rather unearth ancient history than make history in the courtroom.

"It was really on a whim that I decided I wanted to discover and contribute to our knowledge of the human past," says Joblonkay, currently pursuing a master's degree in Ancient Near-Eastern Studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto. "When I began attending the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, I really had no idea how big the field of archaeology is, but Dr. Walter Aufrecht intrigued me with his knowledge of the ancient Near East – particularly ancient Syria-Palestine. My first year classes in the archaeology of Mesopotamia and Classical Hebrew were what really drove me to pursue Syro-Palestinian archaeology."

During his U of L years, Joblonkay took full advantage of the unique opportunities the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, and its smaller, more personable nature, is able to provide to undergraduate students.

Alumnus Darren Joblonkay had no idea when he entered the U of L that he would eventually find archaeology as a career.

"Smaller classes make for more interesting seminars," explains Joblonkay. "Having the chance to work for your professors at the undergraduate level, to be a student marker, getting experience giving presentations in class, being part of a class project because there are only five students – these opportunities aren't available to most undergraduates elsewhere.

"My experiences working in a lab, working as a research assistant and getting the opportunity to take on roles with greater responsibility at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ gave me a substantial edge over those students who attended larger institutions at the bachelor level."

During the summer of 2007, Joblonkay travelled with fellow students under the direction of
U of L professor, Dr. Shawn Bubel, to Tel Beth Shemesh, an archaeological site 20km west of Jerusalem. Since then, Joblonkay has spent every summer working at archaeological digs around Israel.

"I think the real "aha" moment that led to my career was attending the field school at Tel Beth Shemesh," says Joblonkay. "It was the shear intensity of the excavation experience. Where else do you get to unearth a bronze spear point used over 3,000 years ago, to walk on a tampered or cobble floor that hasn't been stepped on in literally millennia, to experience a sunrise as you watch a Bedouin man tending to a flock of sheep? These and many other experiences all come together and form very fond memories of what it really means to be an archaeologist."

The opportunity to continue his academic studies with the exclusive Near and Middle Eastern Civilization Department at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto is something for which Joblonkay is very grateful. He gives a lot of credit for his preparation and acceptance to this one-of-a-kind Canadian program to his professors at the U of L.

"The professors at the U of L are amazing. They prepared me for graduate work at one of Canada's most prestigious institutions. They are supportive, approachable, well qualified and they do a great job of teaching and incorporating their own research into their classes," remembers Joblonkay. "There is a great combination of traditional and younger scholars who bring new ideas and theories to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. They expected the height of academic excellence and pushed me to achieve. Their passion for the discipline really rubbed off on me."

Joblonkay brings that passion to his work at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto, where he works as an archaeological assistant while he continues his master's degree. In the summer of 2011, he will be digging at Tell Tayinat in Turkey, which he hopes will lead to his dissertation.

"I would like to eventually be a professor in Near Eastern Archaeology. I believe it was one of my mentors who told me once that "any archaeologist would be lying if they said they didn't like digging up treasures", but our discipline runs deeper than that," he says. "We attempt to preserve and understand humanity's cultural history. We are all captivated by what humans were able to achieve in the past."

GET THE FACTS

• Joblonkay graduated from the U of L with Great Distinction, earning a BSc in Archaeology and Geography while concentrating on Geographical Information Science.

• He is the recipient of numerous scholarships totaling more than $13,000.

• He is a member of the Archaeological Society of Alberta and the American School of Oriental Research.

• Joblonkay's mother, Margaret, works in the Faculty of Education as administrative support in the Graduate Studies and Research office.

Childhood experiments just a start for McKay

trevor.kenney — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:38:24 +0000

By STACY SEGUIN

Have you ever looked up and wondered about the origin and contents of paper towel wads on a ceiling?

Chances are anyone who spent time in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge chemistry labs will admit they have occasionally wondered about the unintentional ceiling artwork. Dr. Ryan McKay (BSc '93), scientific director and assistant director at the National High Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Centre (NANUC), didn't give them a second thought – because he knew their origin.

"My dad worked as an academic assistant at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ from 1967 until just a few years ago. I remember going to work with him when I was a kid," says McKay. "My dad would set me up at the bench while he marked and I would experiment with soap detergents and copper sulfate. I would mix things until I had enough pressure in the tube to have corks blow off. I had stuff stuck to the ceiling for decades."

Of course, McKay is a lot more serious about his scientific research now, but his childhood experiments were a sign of things to come. McKay entered the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ as a pre-law student in 1989. After only one semester, however, he realized science was in his blood. He changed his major to biochemistry and spent the remainder of his undergraduate summers working as a research assistant and experimenting in organic chemistry.

"Going to the U of L, with its smaller classes, gave me more opportunity to do projects, and really affected my understanding of how research is done," recalls McKay. "The research was fascinating."

McKay became particularly enthralled with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) research while working with an NMR spectrometer during one of his summer projects. After graduating with distinction in 1993, McKay received a National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) scholarship to attend graduate school.

"When I finished my undergrad I wanted to study viruses with NMR spectrometry. Looking for a supervising professor at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, I met Dr. Brian Sykes. Not really knowing who he was, I very casually plunked myself in one of his chairs, and explained my research interests. It wasn't until Brian decided to supervise my master's degree that I realized he was one of the top NMR guys on the planet," grins McKay.

McKay started a master's of science at the U of A in 1993, but switched to a PhD in 1996. He completed his PhD in biological sciences in 1999 then did two consecutive post-doctoral fellowships in physical biochemistry, at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Minneapolis and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary. While still at the U of C, McKay applied for the position of scientific director at NANUC in 2001.

"NANUC is a national research facility housed at the U of A. Using super conducting magnets we look at the nucleus of the atoms and, using radio frequencies, figure out what these atoms are doing," explains McKay. "The applications include everything from finding new antibiotic drugs to making the extraction of oil from oil sands more efficient. My job is to train and guide the academic, industrial and government researchers with their experiments as they use our facilities for research. I am also in charge of facility grants, to see that they are properly maintained and conducted."

McKay's current research involves projects such as the analysis of the water in Alberta tailing ponds and a calcium binding protein found in the human brain. His goals are to help Albertans understand the environmental impacts of the ponds and for his research to significantly contribute to environmental improvement. Knowing McKay, it will.

GET THE FACTS

• McKay is married with two children

• He is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, including but not limited to NSERC and AHFMR

• Has authored/co-authored numerous academic articles and papers

• Presented, hosted and organized seven annual Canadian national NMR training courses

• Is a faculty member (equivalent of associate professor) at ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, instructing and advising undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral fellows

• Recently awarded a five-year renewal on his facility grant, including two CIHR and two NSERC grants

Alumnus made the most of free lab time

trevor.kenney — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:13:53 +0000

Have you ever looked up and wondered about the origin and contents of paper towel wads on a ceiling?

"Going to the U of L, with its smaller classes, gave me more opportunity to do projects, and really affected my understanding of how research is done," recalls McKay. "The research was fascinating."

GET THE FACTS

• McKay is married with two children

• He is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, including but not limited to NSERC and AHFMR

• Has authored/co-authored numerous academic articles and papers

• Presented, hosted and organized seven annual Canadian national NMR training courses

• Is a faculty member (equivalent of associate professor) at ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, instructing and advising undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral fellows

• Recently awarded a five-year renewal on his facility grant, including two CIHR and two NSERC grants

Uncovering stories of healing

trevor.kenney — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:14:26 +0000

U of L health sciences professors Dr. Gary Nixon and Dr. Brad Hagen are aware of the potential stigma and suffering associated with psychosis. Both having worked in the field of mental health (Nixon as a psychologist and Hagen as both a registered nurse and a provisional psychologist), they've seen firsthand how people with psychosis struggle with not only with their conditions, but also with feelings of isolation and the side-effects of the psychotropic drugs they're often prescribed.

"People with psychosis very seldom say they receive messages of hope through the mental health system," says

(l-r) Dr. Brad Hagen, research assistant Krystal Kingston and Dr. Gary Nixon delve deeper into psychotic episodes and the sometimes positive transformations that can result.

Nixon. "They may be told that this is the way they'll be for the rest of their lives, and there's not much that can be done about it other than to take medication. After diagnosis people can lower their expectations."

During a two-year research project involving people with psychosis, however, Nixon and Hagen spoke with participants who claimed that their psychotic episodes, although troubling at the time, subsequently proved to be transformative in nature, often leading to significant spiritual or psychological growth.

"The entire concept of psychosis is always seen as very negative" says Hagen. "We're not trying to downplay how disturbing and crippling psychosis can be for many individuals, but our research suggests that there may be a significant number of people who describe their psychosis as a kind of spiritual or psychological awakening. We wanted to get those stories out there."

Nixon and Hagen, together with research assistant Krystal Kingston (BSc '07), a second-year master of education student, interviewed 30 people in Western Canada who felt their psychosis had resulted in a kind of personal growth or transformation. One important finding of the study is that this group of people – or "transformers," as the researchers have called them – found alternative ways to deal with their delusions and/or hallucinations, after finding that traditional treatments were not helpful.

Transformers reported success in managing their symptoms in a variety of ways, most often associated with meditation or other forms of spiritual practice. Successful transformers felt their journey through psychosis, although initially difficult, was eventually a path to greater inner peace and calm.

"We're certainly not saying that this approach works for everyone, but our research suggests that for some individuals, it does," Hagen says.

Hagen and Nixon are in the final stages of their study, and are presently writing several manuscripts describing their findings.

UNews - research assistant

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