Meet The Lab

C. Meghan McMurtry is an Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Guelph, director of the Pediatric Pain, Health, and Communication Lab, and a Clinical and Health Psychologist with the Pediatric Chronic Pain Program at McMaster Children’s Hospital. Dr. McMurtry’s research and clinical interests focus on acute and chronic pain, medical procedure-related fear, as well as communication and family influences in these contexts. Dr. McMurtry was the Co-Principal Investigator and an Evidence Lead on the national Help Eliminate Pain in Kids and Adults Team which created two clinical practice guidelines regarding vaccination pain and needle fear management; aspects from the pain management guideline were endorsed for vaccinations worldwide by the World Health Organization (WHO). Recently, Dr. McMurtry was the sole psychologist on the small subcommittee for the WHO’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety tasked with creating guidance on immunization stress-related responses. She also served as the sole psychologist on the 25 person Guideline Development Group representing 17 countries for the WHO’s Guideline for the Management of Chronic Pain in Children. 

Anastasia Mekhael is a first year master’s student in the Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Program. Before joining the PPHC lab, Anastasia worked with caregivers and children, coordinating Emotion-Focused Family Therapy workshops. She also completed a Master of Science in Health Psychology at the Memorial University of Newfoundland where she examined the efficacy of oxytocin as an analgesic. Anastasia’s primary research interests surround the investigation of the emotional experiences related to chronic pain in children, including the interconnectedness of this experience to the behaviours of caregivers. She is also very interested in taking a patient-oriented approach to studying the implementation of interventions for treating chronic pain to promote resilience, including recruiting caregivers to best support their child. These research interests lend to her career goal of mobilizing and disseminating research findings from the PPHC lab to inform clinical practice guidelines for managing pain.

Emma Truffyn is a second year master’s student in the Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Program at the University of Guelph. Her research interests broadly focus on needle fear and pain management across various medical settings to improve outcomes for children and families. She is passionate about conducting patient-oriented research that engages patients and families to better understand lived experiences of pain. Prior to joining the PPHC lab, Emma completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology, with a concentration in Forensic Psychology, at St. Francis Xavier University, where she examined anxiety in the context of dental services. Additionally, she completed her MA in Counselling Psychology from Western University and has worked clinically as a School Psychometrist. Emma’s research has been funded by OGS. 

Delane Linkiewich is a PhD student in the Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Program at the University of Guelph. Her primary research interests focus on the social context of youth living with chronic pain, namely peer support and peer relationships. For her Master’s thesis, Delane conducted a peer support needs assessment with adolescents with chronic pain. Her PhD research will continue this line of work as she will develop, pilot, and evaluate a group peer support intervention for adolescents with chronic pain. Additionally, Delane conducts patient-oriented research and engages patient partners in her work in order to amplify the voices of people with lived experience. Delane is actively involved in the pain community as she co-chaired the Patient Engagement Committee of the Chronic Pain Network and sits on the Steering Committee for the Alberta Pain Research Network. Delane has also been living with pain for the past 14 years and is a passionate advocate for people living with pain. Delane’s research has been funded by CIHR and OGS. 

Olivia Dobson is currently a PhD student in the Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Program. Olivia completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at Acadia University and has a particular interest in clinical work with children with developmental disabilities and their families. This clinical interest transcends into Olivia’s research work where she is interested in the prevention and management of needle pain and fear in children with developmental disabilities. Olivia’s master’s thesis focused on how existing tools and resources for needle fear and pain management can better suit the needs of children on the Autism Spectrum and their families. Olivia’s research has been funded by NSERC and she received the 2021-22 Autism Scholars Award for the master’s level.

Hiba Nauman is a PhD student in the Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology program at the University of Guelph. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Biology at the University of Waterloo in 2018. Hiba’s research interests lie at the intersection of health and psychology and she is passionate about improving needle procedures, such as vaccinations and venipunctures, for children and their parents. For her master’s thesis, Hiba examined potential protective factors of needle fear as well as factors beyond pain that drive needle fear in children and adults. For her PhD dissertation, Hiba hopes to build upon her master’s research and evaluate an evidence-informed children’s e-book intervention for needle fear with the goal of improving vaccine uptake. 

Kaytlin Constantin is currently completing her internship and successfully defended her PhD in July 2022. Kaytlin’s graduate program of research aimed to understand the physiological, cognitive-affective, and contextual factors that shape the way parents respond to their child’s acute pain, which she has studied in both laboratory and hospital settings. Additionally, Kaytlin is involved in other projects within the PPHC lab related to the assessment and treatment of needle fear, including co-developing and facilitating a virtual needle fear group for children and their caregivers. Kaytlin is grateful to have received funding from SSHRC, OGS, and Vanier CGS (CIHR) throughout her graduate studies. 

Soeun Lee is currently completing her internship and successfully defended her PhD in August 2022. Broadly, Soeun’s areas of research include better understanding how to promote and support resilience and functioning among youth with chronic pain and their parents. She has worked with the Pediatric Chronic Pain Program at McMaster Children’s Hospital since 2016, where she completed her Master’s thesis examining youth and parent resilience factors associated with quality of life. Currently, Soeun’s dissertation involved evaluating a cognitive-behavioral group intervention for parents of youth with chronic pain. She believes in the importance of knowledge translation, lived experiences, and advocacy as core components of making research and pediatric pain interventions accessible and equitable. Her research has been supported by Ontario Graduate Scholarships (OGS) and the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA). In her spare time, Soeun enjoys cooking new recipes, travelling, painting, yoga, rock climbing, and visiting her home in Calgary as often as she can.