Research Team

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Dr. Roumen Milev MD PhD

FRCPsych, FRCPC, DFCPA, DFAPA, MACPsych

he/him

Dr. Milev is actively involved in research in Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety, and other psychiatric illnesses. His main areas of research include stigma, sleep architecture, psychopharmacological, and neurostimulation treatments. His most recent focus in research has been on identifying biomarkers for treatment response in depression, as part of the CAN-BIND integrated discovery program. Another area he is interested in has been the gut microbiome and manipulation of the gut-brain axis for the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. 

Dr. Milev has over 250 peer reviewed publications and book chapters. He has led many symposia, workshops, and panel discussions at conferences and has presented numerous lectures to psychiatrists, primary care providers and other health professionals.  Dr. Milev is actively involved in undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate teaching, including supervision of Masters and PhD students. He has co-authored several CANMAT guidelines for management of patients with Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorders.

Research Interests

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Dr. Alina Marin MD PhD

she/her

Investigator

Dr. Marin is a staff psychiatrist at Kingston Health Sciences Centre and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the Queen’s University School of Medicine. Dr. Marin’s research career was initially focused on the design and conduct of research projects on psycho-social factors that influence the presentation and course of the depressive illness. Special attention was paid to cultural and family variables interfering with depressive states. She is currently working on designing research projects with adult patients, diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and co-morbid conditions like ADHD and Borderline Personality Disorder. She experiences a growing interest in developing functional MRI research paradigms aiming to clarify functional specializations, inherent to the brain’s emotional neuromodulatory architecture. Her research initiatives focus on the role of the context in shaping voluntary and automatic emotion regulation, as well as the mechanisms underlying these processes.

Research Interests

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Dr. Yuliya Knyahnytska MD PhD

she/her

Investigator

Dr. Knyahnytska is the current Medical Head of Interventional Psychiatry at Providence Care Hospital and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the Queen’s University School of Medicine. She is also a Collaborator Scientist with the Centre for Mental Health and Addiction (CAMH, Toronto ON). Dr. Knyahnytska has developed her expertise is treatment-resistant mood disorders through comprehensive training by completing two clinical fellowships (CAMH, Toronto), PhD with the University of Toronto, and her  and her extensive involvement in multiple clinical trials with focus on innovative novel interventions. Her current research interests include interventional psychiatry, specifically brain stimulation interventions (ECT, MST, TMS, tDCS, PBM, etc), and ketamine; as well as focus at implementation science by enhancing access to care via clinical trials to improve quality of life for marginalized and hard-to-treat populations. Dr. Knyahnytska has been with the lab since September 2023.

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Evan Forth

he/him

PhD Candidate (Dr. Milev)

Evan completed an Honours Bachelor of Sciences undergraduate degree at Queen’s University, Majoring in Life Sciences. Since his graduation in 2019, he has completed a mini-master’s program, transferring into his PhD in Neuroscience. His research focuses on clinical trials investigating novel treatments for Major Depressive Disorder. Evan is interested in treatments that target the microbiome for psychiatric illnesses, unconventional treatments for depression such as psychedelics and anesthetics, and the translation of psychiatric and neuroscientific research into public policy.

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Cassandra Sgarbossa

she/her

PhD Candidate (Dr. Milev)

Cassandra completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology with a Minor in Neuroscience at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. She completed a mini-master’s and transferred into the PhD program at the Centre for Neuroscience Studies, at Queen’s University. Her research is focused on nutritional psychiatry, the gut microbiome, mood disorders, and novel therapeutics.

Cassandra is also involved with mental performance consulting for various competitive sport teams and enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and camping in her free time.

Research Interests

Nadia Gregoire-Mitha

she/her

MSc Student (Dr. Marin)

Nadia Gregoire-Mitha is currently pursuing her Master of Science in Neuroscience at Queen’s University. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences with a specialization in Neuroscience rom Queen’s. Nadia’s research journey began at the Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where she investigated the relationship between sensory processing and emotional perception. Now, under the supervision of Dr. Alina Marin, she investigates physiological responses to emotion dysregulation in adults diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and co-morbid conditions like ADHD and Borderline Personality Disorder, aiming to identify objective biomarkers that can guide targeted and effective psychiatric treatments.

Research Interests

Katie Laurie

she/her

MSc Student (Drs. Marin & Knyahnytska)

Katie completed an Honours Bachelor of Sciences undergraduate degree at Queen’s University, Majoring in Life Sciences. During her undergraduate degree she developed a passion for clinical research in the realm of all things mental health and has been a part of the HALO lab at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario under Dr. Pat Longmuir since 2020. There, she works on the HELP study which explores lifestyle factors and mental health in youth. She is currently pursuing her Master of Science in Neuroscience at Queen’s University under the co-supervision of Dr. Yuliya Knyahnytska and Dr. Alina Marin. Her research focus is factors affecting access to care for those experiencing treatment resistant depression.   

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Scott Squires

he/him

PhD Candidate (Dr. Milev & Dr. Poppenk)

Scott completed his BScH from the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Western Ontario and his MSc in Clinical Psychology at Queen’s University. He uses psychological science and neuroscientific techniques to study the cognitive process of rumination for his Ph.D. research, which is co-supervised by Dr. Roumen Milev and Dr. Jordan Poppenk. Rumination is a state of mind characterized by repetitive, cyclical processing of personally relevant experiences and information, which is often distressing and difficult to control. It includes revisiting negative events from the past, analyzing their causes, and pinpointing details that one wishes could be changed. Scott aims to use psychometric and theory integration approaches to define different kinds of rumination in the general population. Scott hopes his work will lay a new framework to inspire future research about rumination as it manifests in healthy individuals and in clinical populations.  

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Ashley Groth

she/her

Ashley is a fourth year student in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program. Her research interests include the impact of early life stress on psychology, novel treatments such as microbial therapy and ketamine for psychiatric disorders, and healthcare quality improvement. In the 2023-2024 academic year she was a directed lab student examining inflammatory markers and anxiety symptomatology following microbial treatment. She is currently completing her fourth year thesis project on Dr. Knyahnytska’s access to care study, specifically looking at access and barriers to care for racial and ethnic minorities with treatment-resistant depression.

Maria Farid

she/her

Maria is in her third year of the Health Sciences program. Her research interests surround neuropsychiatry and the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis in various neuropsychiatric disorders. She is completing a Directed Research Project in Health Studies for the 2024-25 academic year, and is assisting with the OPTIMUM D study.

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Bo-Fei Yu

she/her

Bo Fei is a second-year student in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program. Her research interests include the impact of inflammation on glutamate metabolism in depressive illnesses and the mechanisms of anterograde amnesia caused by hippocampal damage. As an extension of research, Bo Fei is also keenly interested in the translation of neuroscience to public health policy. She is currently assisting with the OPTIMUM-D study and will be completing an independent research project in 2025-2026.

Emma Gratzer

she/her

Emma Gratzer is a second-year Life Sciences student at Queen’s University with a strong passion for medicine and mental health care. She is particularly interested in exploring innovative approaches to advancing mental health research.

Isabella Ji

she/her

Isabella is a second year student in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program. Her research interests include exploring the functionality of ketamine on treatment-resistant depression and its potential application in psychiatric care. She will be assisting with the ENABLE study and conducting an independent thesis project in her upper years.