Child Health Research Days 2022 Highlights

The first-ever hybrid Child Health Research Days took place last week and welcomed over 100 in-person attendees and 100+ delegates online. The week kicked off with a fascinating public event at the beautiful Museum for Human Rights with Dr. Michael Ungar presenting “The Risk-Takers Advantage:How to Make Kids More Resilient by Not Over-Protecting Them”. We were thrilled to see so many families and child care providers in attendance in-person and online, making this year’s public event the largest attendance we’ve ever had!

This year’s CHRD conference included presentations from world-renowned researchers local to our community as well as presenters from as far away as Estonia. Some highlights included our yearly Dr. Goodbear’s Den competition, which featured nine finalists who presented their work to the team of judges. CHRD delegates were also able to enjoy two panel discussions; one that discussed mental health interventions and another that covered the importance of gender affirming care and the GDDAY clinic.

Dr. Goodbear’s Den participants:

Alaina Bagan
Jared Field
Olamide Ogungbola
Dhasni Muthumuni
Madissen Sitka

Omaymah Abulannaz
Sydney Levasseur-Puhach
Carson Ouellette
Zoe Harbottle


The Award’s Dinner was welcomed back at the RBC Convention Centre and was the perfect ending to close this year’s conference. The lighting, music, and delicious food set the tone to highlight all the nominees and award winners. We were excited to be able to showcase some of this years posters from the poster competition and select a People’s Choice Award winner.

Thank you to everyone who presented, participated, organized or attended this years Child Health Research Days and we can’t wait to welcome you again in future years!

CHRD Award Winners

Undergraduate Students

Honourable mention – Carson Oullette & Harman Kaur Vats
Bronze – Yael Ripstein
Silver – Alaina Bagan
Gold – Ava Nykiforuk

Non-Trainees

Honourable mention – James Elmore
Bronze – Samira Seif
Silver – Jana Slaght
Gold – Olamide Ogungbola

Masters Students

Honourable mention – Danielle Pascual
Bronze – Spencer Ames
Silver – Rilwan Azeez
Gold – Sydney Levasseur-Puhach

PhD Students

Honourable mention – Sarah Turner & Doris Onuzulu
Bronze – Manuel Sebastian
Silver – Mateusz Tomczyk
Gold – Taylor Morriseau

Research Fellows

Honourable mention – Abhay Srivastava
Bronze – Dhasni Muthumuni
Bronze – Lisa Liang
Silver – Megan Moorhouse
Gold – Jamie Zagozewski

Dr. Goodbear’s Den Awards, sponsored by Bioscience Association of Manitoba

Gold – Sydney Levasseur-Puhach
Gold – Dhasni Muthumuni

People’s Choice Awards

Honourable mention – Kailey Penner
Gold – Samira Seif