Our Team
Lab Director
Dr. Deinera Exner-Cortens (She/Her)
Lab Director/PI
Scientific Co-Director of PREVNet (Canada’s national healthy relationships hub)
Dr. Deinera Exner-Cortens is a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Childhood Health Promotion, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, and jointly appointed to the Department of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. Dr. Exner-Cortens is also a full member in the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), the O’Brien Institute for Public Health, and the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education. She holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology (Cornell University) and a Master of Public Health (Boston University).
Research Staff
Dr. Elizabeth Baker (She/Her)
Research Scientist
Executive Director at PREVNet (Canada’s national healthy relationships hub)
Dr. Liz Baker is a Research Scientist with the HOPE Lab. She received her Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Kent State University and completed her post-doctoral training at the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on preventing dating violence, youth suicide prevention, promoting youth health, dissemination science, and program evaluation. She is also the Executive Director at PREVNet, a not-for-profit organization with the purpose of creating an equitable, caring society that supports children and youth to have healthy relationships.
Dr. Caroline Claussen (She/Her)
Research Scientist
Dr. Caroline Claussen is an experienced qualitative researcher and evaluator with more than 20 years of experience working with a range of organizations in the social services and public sectors and holds a PhD in Sociology. She has a background in community-based research, evaluation, program design, and capacity building. For more than a decade she has been conducting research and evaluation in the area of gender-based violence prevention.
Lisa Liang (She/Her)
Administrative Coordinator
Lisa joined the HOPELab team in October 2023. She possesses extensive experience in financial and administrative roles. Lisa is responsible for information management, event planning, report editing, and providing other administrative support to HOPELab. She also works as an Administrative Coordinator at PREVNet (Canada’s national healthy relationships hub).
Jenna Himer (She/Her)
Research Coordinator
Jenna is a research coordinator with the HOPELab. She obtained her BA (Hons) in Psychology in 2024 as an honours student with the lab, completing her thesis on Métis young adults’ experiences in seeking connections with culture, community, and land, and how these connections influence their well-being. Jenna is a Métis student and citizen of the Otipemisiwak Métis Government (Métis Nation within Alberta), and her research interests include supporting Indigenous well-being, community-based healthy relationships promotion, and suicide and teen dating violence prevention.
Melissa Giddy
Project Manager
Mel is a Project Manager with the HOPELab. She has a BSc in neuroscience and psychology with a MSc in neurobiology studying the effects of chronic cannabis use on adolescent brain and behavioural development. She has been working in research since 2017 with a wide range of research interests focusing on behavioural development, childhood enrichment, and learning and memory and has been managing research projects professionally since 2022.
Graduate Trainees
Tori Wilde (She/Her)
Graduate Student (MSc Clinical Psychology)
Tori is currently a Clinical Psychology graduate student at the University of Calgary. She obtained a BA (Hons) in Psychology at the University of Alberta. Tori is a Métis student, and her research interests include Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) wellness, promoting healthy relationships, and preventing teen dating violence.
Ruchi Vijh (She/Her)
Graduate Student (PhD Clinical Psychology)
Ruchi is currently a PhD Clinical Psychology graduate student at the University of Calgary. She obtained a BSc (Hons) in Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, specializing in Mental Health at McMaster University and an MPH in Epidemiology at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include implementing youth dating violence prevention and intervention strategies within healthcare and school settings. Her clinical interests lie in providing psychoeducational assessments and psychotherapy for school-aged children and teens (~ages 8 to 18).
Nicole Camacho Soto
Graduate Student (PhD Clinical Psychology)
Nicole is currently a graduate student in the PhD Clinical Psychology program at the University of Calgary. Her research interests include developing prevention programs for dating violence to promote healthy relationships, prevent domestic violence and break the intergenerational cycle of violence.
Ceilidh McConnell
Graduate Student (PhD Psychology)
Ceilidh is a PhD student in the HOPELab. She has a BA (Hons) in Psychology from Mount Royal University and a MSc in Psychology from the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on sexual violence prevention in the post-secondary setting. Applying a social-ecological framework Ceilidh is currently exploring how we can engage undergraduate men in the prevention of sexual violence. She also collaborates on projects in the HopeLab related to youth suicide prevention, healthy relationship promotion, and extreme masculinities.
Caitlin Grzyb
Graduate Student
Honours Students
Emilie Lui (She/They)
Honours Student
Emilie is an undergraduate honours student currently completing her BA in Psychology with a minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies. Emilie is also in the Arts and Science Honours Academy (ASHA) program. Emilie’s current research examines the lived experiences of gender-diverse, young adult immigrants in Alberta. She is interested in exploring intersectional identities and how they create unique experiences and outcomes for individuals, and how appropriate resources, community support, and resilience can foster both individual and community well-being.
Emily Zhang (She/Her)
Honours Student
Emily is an undergraduate honours student currently completing her BA in Psychology with a Sociology minor at the University of Calgary. Her research interests include masculinity, gender and sexuality, healthy relationships among youth, and dating violence prevention.
Research Assistants
Emily Matejko (She/Her)
Research Assistant
Emily joined the HOPELab team in August 2019 after graduating with an MA in counselling psychology. Emily worked one-on-one with clients for 7 years helping them identify and overcome maladaptive relationship beliefs and patterns. Her research interests include evaluating the effectiveness of mental health programs, as well as finding ways of promoting healthy relationship development in youth with disabilities. Emily is now completing a PhD in Educational Sciences.
Alicia Brozny
Research Assistant
Alicia joined the HOPELab team in May 2024 and is currently a second-year master’s student in Industrial Organizational Psychology at the University of Calgary. She employs an action-oriented approach in her research, focusing on generating knowledge through applied collaborative interventions that benefit local communities and contribute to the broader field. Her current research focuses on organizational support for Indigenous employees.
Jordan Keough
Research Assistant
Jordan joined the HOPELab as an honours student, completing her thesis on masculinity and help-seeking behaviour among adolescent boys. After graduating with her BA (Hons) in Psychology in June 2022, she took on a project coordinator role with the lab. Jordan’s research interests include masculinities, gender and sexuality, and community-based healthy relationships promotion.
Past Lab Members:
Alyssa Glace Maryn
Alysia Wright
Cristina Fernandez
Elisabeth Vezina
Fiza Hasan
Keri Rempel
Lindsey Kermer
Loyce Sakuhuni
Marisa Van Bavel
Mili Roy
Noah Boakye-Yiadom
Oluwaseunfunmi Arasi
Sasha Sharma
Saskia Groot
Sarah Besenski
Shawna Gray