Research Staff

Raveena Gowda

she/her

Clinical Research Coordinator

Raveena graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.Sc in 2022. Since then, she has been working in the field of women’s health research. As the lab research coordinator, Raveena facilitates students and oversees the coordination of various projects within our program, including longitudinal prospective studies, retrospective chart reviews, and randomized controlled trials.

She is passionate about women’s health research, firmly believing in its power to advocate for change. Specifically, she is dedicated to research that enhances quality of life, improves health outcomes, and addresses inequities in accessing high-quality care. Under the guidance of Dr. Isaac, she is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this vital work and to learn from compassionate and dedicated individuals in this field.

Fun Fact: Raveena enjoys doing yoga and going for walks with her cat!

Sophia Tan

she/her

Clinical Research Assistant

Sophia is a recent graduate from the University of Waterloo, BSc in Honours Life Sciences Biology, Co-op. As a clinical research assistant, she leads and supports the work of the following projects: ADM, pTRAMvsLAT, NRT, ML Prediction Program, GIBCC, VascuLens.

Sophia’s research interests centre around women’s health-related quality of life and health equity, from identifying barriers for inclusive cancer care to investigating clinical integration of machine learning nomograms to predict the risk for breast complications and the need for post-mastectomy radiation therapy.

Fun Fact: She is a former alpine ski racer and has trained and competed on mountains across 3 continents. Some of her fondest memories being from her time in Hintertux, Austria!

Hannah Wells

she/her

Clinical Research Assistant

Hannah is a recent graduate from the University of British Columbia, BSc Combined Major in Science: Chemistry, Life Sciences, and Environmental Sciences Program. In her role as a clinical research assistant, she supports and works on the following projects: Pre-Pec/Pre-Prom, Flap-Database/Flap-Prom, Nerve Block, Mixed Methods, Flap Comparison, and Capsular Contracture.

Hannah is passionate about working alongside like minded individuals with the goal of improving the care, experience and outcomes of a patient’s breast cancer journey. Within her work, she is driven to help improve the quality of life and care delivered to women in BC.

Fun Fact: In her free time she loves being outdoors and all things related to exercise. She hopes to complete a triathlon in the near future!

Jaimie Lee

she/her

Clinical Research Assistant

Jaimie recently graduated from the University of British Columbia, BSc Pharmacology Program. As a clinical research assistant, Jaimie works on Lymph Qol, PMRT Validation and various NLP projects. More specifically, automating breast cancer relapse detection from imaging/pathology reports using natural language processing, predicting post-mastectomy radiation therapy necessity following immediate breast reconstruction using machine learning, and evaluating the effectiveness of immediate lymphatic reconstruction in preventing the development of lymphedema.

Jaimie’s specific research interests are centred around Breast Cancer with focuses on aspects such as lymphedema, surgery, machine learning, and natural language processing.

Fun fact: She is an avid fan of the arts. In her spare time, she enjoys dancing, producing music, and creating pottery!

Muhammad Assad

he/him

Clinical Research Assistant – MRPM Student

Muhammad is entering his fourth year at the University of British Columbia, in Computer Science and Microbiology + Immunology. As an MRPM student, Muhammad works as a research assistant on the Capsular Contracture – Capsule Sampling project.

His interest in research is driven by the following areas immunology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and mathematical modelling which are major focuses of the Capsule project.

Fun Fact: He loves cats but was allergic to them (not anymore, yay!).

Megan Hew

she/her

Clinical Research Assistant – MRPM Student

Megan is entering her fourth year at the University of British Columbia, in the neuroscience program. As an MRPM student, Megan is working as a research assistant alongside our data science team, on various Natural Language Processing (NLP) projects.

Megan is passionate about research in applications of machine learning in healthcare, development of cancer pathophysiology, and multidisciplinary research.

Fun Fact: She has made over 25 different kinds of soup this past year!

Michelle Ho

she/her

Clinical Research Assistant – MRPM Student

Michelle is entering her fourth year at the University of British Columbia, in Microbiology and Immunology, with a Minor in Data Science. As an MRPM student, Michelle works as a research assistant on the Capsular Contracture – Capsule Sampling project.

Michelle’s research interests include immunology, mechanisms of disease, cancer, microbial pathogenesis, bioinformatics, and various others.

Fun Fact: In her spare time, she enjoys travelling, going on hikes, playing guitar, and running.

Jonathan Chan

he/him

Clinical Research Assistant – MRPM Student

Jonathan is entering his third year at the University of British Columbia, in Pharmacology. As an MRPM student, Jonathan is working as a research assistant alongside our data science team, on various Natural Language Processing (NLP) projects.

Some of his research interests include how artificial intelligence models, specifically natural language processing, can be used to improve patient outcomes and treatment times. As a Pharmacology student, he is also interested in how the benefits and side effects of pharmacological interventions can be better balanced.

Fun Fact: In his free time, he writes for a non-profit news organization covering underreported political and human rights issues around the world.

Suri Zheng

she/her

Volunteer

Suri recently finished her first year of university in the Faulty of Science at UBC and is hoping to major in Cellular, Anatomical, and Physiological Sciences.

Suri is volunteering to help support and create content for our various social media platforms. She provides creative inspiration and generate ideas to help us better spread knowledge about all things breast related.

Fun Fact: She loves to snowboard and is a snowboard instructor so you can always find her on the local slopes during the season!

Hong Hao Xu

he/him

Master’s Student

Hong Hao is a medical student from Montreal who completed an MD-MBA program. He is currently pursuing an MSc in experimental medicine at UBC as Dr. Isaac first master’s student! He is currently involved in simulation modelling of BC cancer pathways, and will eventually expand into other projects of the Program.

Hong Hao is interested in research surrounding health outcomes, services, and innovation.

Fun Fact: Hong Hao is passionate about sports and arts, enjoying boxing, working out, mixing and making music, among others!

Gina Zhang

she/her

Co-Op Student

Gina is entering her fourth year of Microbiology and Immunology. She is involved with various prospective studies: Pre-Pec, Pre-Prom, Flap Database and Flap-Prom.

Gina comes to the lab with an interest in improving women’s health care and research. With a focus on breast cancer and bettering the experience of patients undergoing treatment and recovery.

Fun Fact: In her spare time, she tries keeping her mini garden of plants alive!

Keith Wu

he/him

Clinical Research Assistant – FLEX student

Keith graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.Sc in Pharmacology and is now entering his second year at UBC’s medical school. As a FLEX student, Keith is working alongside the data science team on various Natural Language Processing (NLP) research projects.

Keith is interested in learning about artificial intelligence and machine learning applications in clinical practice. As such, he hopes to work on new technological tools that will improve quality of care and reduce morbidity and mortality for breast cancer patients.

Fun Fact: Keith is a big fan of basketball/NBA and enjoys competing in 10K and half-marathon running events.

Steven Huang

he/him

Co-Op Student

Steven is currently completing his third year of undergrad in Computer Science and Microbiology. As a Co-Op student, Steven is providing support to various Natural Language Processing Projects (NLP), specifically Can-Tri-NLP.

Steven is interested in how data science and artificial intelligence can impact the field of healthcare.

Fun Fact: He sings in both the UBC choir and UBC acappella.

Delvin So

he/him

Co-Op Student

Delvin previously worked as a Bioinformatician on various research projects at a research institute in Toronto. He is currently in his 3rd year of the BCS, a 2nd degree Computer Science program. As a Co-Op student, Delvin is working on NLP (Natural Language Processing) projects, specifically for breast and colon cancers.

He is primarily interested in how EHRs (electronic health records) and databases can be leveraged through data analytics and machine learning to improve clinical decision-making, patient care, and healthcare outcomes.

Fun Fact: He enjoys cooking and taking care of his two Scottish folds!