2026 Speed Mentorship: Trainees

BCCHR Speed Mentoring: Trainees Monday, May 25 | 1:00 – 2:30 pm Chieng Family Atrium, BCCHR

TOPICS & MENTORS Dr. Thais Rangel Bousquet Carrilho (she/her/hers) Session Topic: Preparing for a Postdoctoral Fellowship Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, UBC Dr. Thais Rangel Bousquet Carrilho holds a bachelor’s degree in Nutrition, a master’s degree in Public Health/Epidemiology, and a PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology. She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of British Columbia, and a member of a World Health Organization Steering Committee on a project to develop global pregnancy weight gain charts. Her research uses large clinical and administrative databases to develop tools and identify policies that will improve the delivery of care during pregnancy.

Dr. Victor Yuan (he/him/his) Session Topic: Things I Wish I Had Known About Industry Data Scientist – Sonoma Biotherapeutics Dr. Victor Yuan is a Data Scientist with four years of industry experience in early-stage biotech. He is currently working at Sonoma Biotherapeutics, where he supports data science across research, preclinical, and clinical programs. His work spans bioinformatics, machine learning, and clinical data infrastructure for T cell therapy programs. He holds a PhD in Genome Sciences and Technology from the University of British Columbia (2022), where he studied placental epigenetics in Dr. Wendy Robinson’s lab.

Dr. Alan Worsley (he/him/his) Session Topic: Science Communication Communications Specialist, BCCHR Dr. Alan Worsley finished a PhD in Immunology at the University of Edinburgh before changing careers to communications. Having worked at the BBC, and then as a press officer and spokesperson for Cancer Research UK, Alan then returned to Vancouver and has been on the BCCHR communications team for 7 years.

Jacqui Brinkman (she/her/hers) Session Topic: Thriving in Grad School Director, Graduate Student Professional Development, Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, UBC Jacqui Brinkman, MSc (Biology) is the Director of Graduate Student Professional Development in the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, University of British Columbia. Her current work focuses on improving the graduate student experience through offering professional development programs, GradStart Welcome, and the Three Minute Thesis. Jacqui’s past experience includes managing postdoctoral and undergraduate student educational programs within the UBC Faculty of Medicine. She also worked as a lab-based researcher both within academia and the biotechnology industry.

Russell Bonaguro (he/him/his) Session Topic: Balancing Needs, Goals & Priorities Project Manager, Precision Health & Lead, Research Project Management Unit, BCCHR Russell Bonaguro is an experienced researcher and Project Manager with over 18 years working at BCCHR, including 8 years as a laboratory technician and manager, and 10 years in administration enabling research at BCCH. Driven by the belief that researchers can accomplish more together, he takes pride in his ability to maximize strengths, enable communication, and understand perspectives towards solving complex problems.

As a Project Manager, he has supported large-scale project applications, BCCH Foundation proposals, and has completed multiple environmental scans, strengths & weaknesses assessments, and high-level project plans. He holds a Bachelor of Science in cell biology and genetics from UBC, a Masters of Public Health from SFU, and has his Project Management Professional (PMP) designation.

Dr. Tamara Vanderwal Session Topic: Authorship, Power, and Productive Conversations Investigator & Clinician Scientist, BCCHR Dr. Tamara Vanderwal is a child psychiatrist and neuroscience researcher. She directs the Naturalistic Neuroimaging Lab here at BCCHR, where her team studies functional brain organization in child psychiatric disorders, with a special focus on adolescent depression.

Dr. Andy Sham (he/him/his) Session Topic: Identifying Transferrable Skills Research Manager, Gut4Health Microbiome Core, BCCHR Dr. Andy Sham is the Research Manager for the Gut4Health Microbiome Core facility, with a background in translational research spanning academia, Harvard Medical School, and the biotech sector. His work has focused on host–microbe interactions, inflammation, and drug development, while also building strong skills in leadership, communication, collaboration, and project management.

Dr. Hal Siden Session Topic: Navigating Supervisory Relationships Investigator, BC Children’s Hospital Clinical Professor, Deptartment of Pediatrics, UBC Dr. Harold (Hal) Siden, MD, MHSc, is the Scientific Director at Canuck Place Children’s Hospice in Vancouver, Canada. He is also an Attending Physician in Pediatric Palliative Medicine at BC Children’s Hospital and an Investigator in the BCCH Research Institute. He is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and faculty in the UBC Women’s+ Children’s Health (WACH+) graduate program. His clinical and research interests are pediatric palliative care, pediatric pain management and complex care pediatrics. He is a Principal Investigator on several projects funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.