Dr. Tamara Vanderwal

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, ORCiD: 0000-0002-8774-9430

Dr. Vanderwal received her M.D. from Yale School of Medicine, and completed residency, fellowship and research training at the Yale Child Study Center. Her research mentors were Robert T. Schultz, Linda C. Mayes and F. Xavier Castellanos (and team). She also has a Master’s degree from Yale Divinity School, with a concentration in ethics. Tammy’s work combining neuroscience and art has been featured at the Imagine Science Film Festival and at MoMA Studios. She is currently the managing guest editor for the special issue/saga on Naturalistic Imaging for NeuroImage. She also continues to practice as a child psychiatrist, seeing kids in northern BC.

Current movie recommendation: Apollo 13
Reason: Work the problem, people. Let’s not make things worse by guessing.

Jeff Eilbott

Research consultant

Jeff has expertise in all aspects of data analysis, data management and learning and applying new analytic approaches in fMRI, EEG and fNIRS. He works with a number of neuroimaging labs and has co-authored numerous publications. He has a natural gift for matricization, and abhors poor cable management.

Current movie recommendation: Primer
Reason: Mind-bending on shoestring budget

Dr. Ahmad Samara

PhD Student, ORCID: 0000-0002-4040-0338

Currently a PhD student in the department of neuroscience at UBC, Dr. Samara received his medical degree from An-Najah National University in Palestine. He has participated in different areas of clinical research, from sleep quality to snakebites, but ultimately wants to spend his career studying the functional organization of the human brain.

Current movie recommendation: Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Reason: Consistent good humour and an uplifting message

Meaghan Smith

Master’s Student

Meaghan is in her last year of a Bachelor of Arts and Science at McGill University. She is majoring in cognitive science with a concentration in neuroscience and is also completing a double minor in computer science and social studies of medicine. She is working in the lab for the summer under the BCCHR Summer Studentship and is looking at head motion and eye-tracking estimates during pediatric movie-fMRI scans.

Current movie recommendation: Moneyball
Reason: Funny and heartwarming underdog story + sports + Jonah Hill!!!

Dr. Tara Gaertner

Tara Gaertner is a resident in the research track in the Department of Psychiatry at the UBC. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music from McGill University, a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Texas, Houston, and an M.D. from UBC. In the middle of all that education, there was a long gap where she raised her children, taught music to little kids, and was a Neuroanatomy lecturer in the Occupational Therapy program at UBC. Tara is interested in how the brain and the body interact in psychiatric illness, and how music can be used as a tool to study this interaction and as an intervention to improve mental health.

Current movie recommendation: The Mission
Reason: Absolutely gorgeous soundtrack. The movie is good too, but the music makes it fantastic.

Daria Hammond

Research Assistant

Daria recently completed her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at UBC and has joined the lab as a full-time research assistant. She is helping to examine OCD symptom provocation and hyperalignment in pediatric movie-fMRI. Daria is planning to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology and is interested in examining non-suicidal self-injury, eating disorders, and depression.

Current movie recommendation: The Lord of the Rings (Extended Editions) Reason: The ultimate comfort movies.

Kaya Horii

Volunteer

Kaya is second year Biology student at the University of British Columbia, and is interested in exploring the physiological effects and symptoms of mental illness in youth throughout her academic journey. She is currently curating videos to use in the lab's fMRI movie studies.

Current movie recommendation: My Neighbor Totoro Reason: Wholesome story, gorgeous animation and soundtrack, adorable characters, what's not to love?

Claire Padvaiskas

Volunteer

Claire is an undergraduate student in her third year of the Neuroscience program at UBC. After completing her degree, she plans to attend medical school. Claire is currently investigating whether music listening is effective at increasing HRV in adolescents with psychiatric disorders. 

Current movie recommendation: Knives Out Reason: I love a good mystery!

Dr. Nurullah Buker

Volunteer

Dr. Nurullah Buker is a physiotherapist who graduated from Dokuz Eylul University and completed his master's and PhD in child and adolescent psychiatry. His work focuses on non-pharmacological treatment methods for children with ADHD, combining neurocognitive exercises with parent training. Since 2012, Dr. Buker has worked as a lecturer, physiotherapist, and research assistant in various private institutions and public universities. He currently conducts workshops and training programs for children with ADHD and their parents, emphasizing practical and innovative approaches.

Current movie recommendation: Temple Grandin Reason: Every child in my field is not lacking, but different and gifted.

Simon Frew

Undergraduate Student, ORCID: 0000-0002-7846-5946

Simon is currently pursuing his B.A.Sc in Nanotechnology Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. He completed two co-op terms in the lab, and is (somehow) continuing to work on the projects started during that time. He is currently working on a large study characterizing head motion during movies and rest.

Current movie recommendation: WALL·E
Reason: Incredible non-verbal communication and storytelling!

Dr. Adam Turnbull

Adam completed the research portion of his Master’s degree in Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology in Dr. Vanderwal’s lab at Yale. He then completed his PhD at the University of York under the supervision of Dr. Jonny Smallwood, and is currently a postdoc in the lab of Dr. Vankee Lin at the University of Rochester in NY. He has a vested interest in mind-wandering, and takes particular pleasure in making a computer do what he wants it to do.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1629-562X
Current movie recommendation: Britney Runs a Marathon
Reason: It’s just nice. We need nice.

Donson Dong

BCCHR SUMMER STUDENTSHIP, 2019

Donson is currently finishing up his undergraduate studies in Honours Cellular, Anatomical and Physiological Sciences at UBC, after which he hopes to attend medical school. His summer project in the lab focused on seed-based functional connectivity in childhood-onset OCD. He is interested in the use of computer programs in medical research more broadly.

Current movie recommendation: Jurassic Park
Reason: visually spectacular, exciting, AND a classic

Aidan O’Callahan

BCCHR Summer Studentship, 2020

Aidan is completing his undergraduate honours degree at UBC Okanagan. During his summer studentship in the lab, he worked on designing an online study to test new movie paradigms and helped develop the lab website. Aidan has an interest in mental health and health inequities, and is preparing for the next steps in his educational journey. Meanwhile, he is making punk music videos and surfing when possible.

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/aidan-o-callahan-03b22118a
Current movie recommendation: Train to Busan
Reason: Ma Dong-Seok + zombies

Will Clarke

Undergraduate Student

Will is currently completing his undergraduate degree in Cognitive Systems at UBC. As a member of the research team, and with the use of movie-fMRI scans, Will is helping to generate an innovative multi-use pediatric fMRI dataset to accelerate progress in developmental neuroimaging research. Will plans to continue his affiliation with the Naturalistic Neuroimaging Lab after the summer as he works on a related undergraduate research project.

Current movie recommendation: Arrival
Reason: Really unique premise + Incredible visuals

Hallee Shearer

MASTER’S student, ORCID: 0000-0002-4813-3473

Hallee completed a M.Sc in Neuroscience in the Naturalistic Neuroimaging Lab in 2023. Her research involved comparing the test-retest reliability of functional connectivity between movie-watching and resting-state functional connectivity with an ROI-based approach. Hallee is now a research technician with Dr. Stephanie Noble in Boston, but is still involved in occasional lab activities, like building a movie-fMRI web app (https://vanderlab.shinyapps.io/movie_stuff/).

Current movie recommendation: Good Will Hunting
Reason: Even those who despise math can enjoy this combination of a math genius and a witty psychiatrist.