The IMPACT Lab Team

Jennifer Ip joined the IMPACT Lab as an undergraduate research assistant in 2016, and continues to be involved in lab projects. During her Master’s program in the Clinical Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University, she was under the supervision of Dr. Janice Kuo. Jennifer was involved in researching the impact of emotion regulation difficulties and interpersonal relationships on non-suicidal self-injurious behaviours for individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder. She is broadly interested in how the role of interpersonal relationships in PTSD symptom reduction, the pathway of behavioural change in clinical interventions for PTSD, and the impact of social support on mental healthcare utilization. She has since earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at TMU.

Julianne Bushe joined the IMPACT Lab as an Undergraduate student majoring in Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University with interests
of furthering her education by completing a Clinical Psychology masters and PhD. She has been a part of the Lab since February 2021 by volunteering as a research assistant (RA). Her research interests include developmental psychopathology (specifically anxiety disorders, PTSD, and depression), the influence that interpersonal relationships have on the development and maintenance of various pathologies, and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) as an intervention strategy.

Meredith Landy has been a member of the IMPACT Lab since the Fall of 2010 when she came to Toronto Metropolitan University after completing her Master’s in Trauma Studies at New York University. Meredith completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her primary interests are traumatic stress reactions and interpersonal relationships. While in the lab she spent a lot of time working on a longitudinal study investigating interpersonal and individual factors that contribute to and protect against developing PTSD after a traumatic event. She is also interested in emotional regulation and self-harm, as well as understanding the mechanisms underlying efficacious PTSD treatments. For her dissertation, she developed and tested a model of clinical consultation for clinicians learning to deliver the Cognitive Processing Therapy protocol.

Milaina Manganaro was a volunteer Research Assistant for the IMPACT Lab for 4 years during the completion of her undergraduate degree in psychology. In the lab, she developed a variety of research and interpersonal skills and made connections with phenomenal mentors. Her undergraduate thesis, which sought to predict burnout in social service providers within the HIV and LGBTQ sectors, was completed under the supervision of Dr. Candice Monson and Dr. Anne Wagner. While in the lab, she was simultaneously working towards a Master of Social Work at the University of Toronto, where she specialized in mental health and wellness. She is now a registered Social Worker. If you’re interested you can connect with Milaina on LinkedIn!

Phil Shnaider was a graduate student at the IMPACT Lab from 2010 to 2016. Phil received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Toronto Metropolitan University. He previously worked as a Clinical Psychologist at the Anxiety Treatment and Research Clinic and the Operational Stress Injury Clinic at St. Joseph’s Healthcare. He currently works at his own private practice. Phil continues to be actively involved in research examining the intersection between interpersonal factors and individual psychopathology. He also has a keen interest in evaluating the efficacy of individual, couple, and group cognitive behavioural therapies for anxiety- and trauma-related disorders.

Rachel Liebman joined the IMPACT team as a Clinical Research Psychologist on the CPT-Canada study. She received her Ph.D. in 2014 from the University of Rochester and completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Justice Resource Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Her research and clinical work centers on the overlap between trauma and risk taking behaviors (e.g., substance use, eating disorders, risky sexual behaviors) and the dissemination and implementation of evidence based trauma-informed treatments for comorbid PTSD and risk taking.

Richard Zeifman received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2022. He is now an Assistant Professor of Psychology at The New School for Social Research in New York. While in the lab, his research focused on enhancing evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions by (a) examining the mechanisms through which psychotherapy leads to positive therapeutic outcomes and (b) integrating evidence-based psychotherapies with pharmacological interventions (e.g., MDMA, psilocybin). Richard’s work in the IMPACT Lab involved contributing to research on augmenting evidence-based interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder with MDMA, as well as conducting assessments and providing treatment for individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Robert Valela earned a Master of Education in Counselling Psychology from the University of Alberta in 2023. He also holds certificates in mental health and addictions (2021) and psychology (2020), a Bachelor of Commerce in human resources management with a minor in psychology from Toronto Metropolitan University (2019), a certificate in military intelligence from the Canadian Forces School of Military Intelligence (2019), and an Advanced Diploma in human resources administration from George Brown College (2014).

From 2019 to 2023, Robert worked at the IMPACT Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University, managing research projects, co-authoring publications, participating in training, and coaching couples for the Couple HOPES study, which provided online trauma support for couples, particularly those affected by PTSD in military, police, and emergency services. He also provided virtual support, crisis intervention, and suicide prevention for the Distress Centres of Greater Toronto and Crisis Services Canada (2019-2021).

Additionally, Robert is a Veteran who served as an Intelligence Officer in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves, with experience at Canadian Forces Intelligence Command. In this role, he enhanced research capabilities, integrating his psychological expertise and military perspective to improve the well-being and skills of intelligence professionals.

Robert integrates strategic theories and research findings into practical solutions for real-world challenges, collaborating efficiently with clients and colleagues to enhance care quality and outcomes.

Sasha Shifrin joined the IMPACT team in July 2018 as lab manager, and transitioned into a volunteer graduate student. She received her BA (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Guelph, and during her time with the lab was a master’s student in Counselling and Clinical Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Her research interests include exploring distal and proximal factors that contribute to the development, maintenance, and treatment of psychopathology, specifically post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorders. Sasha is now a PhD-trained Psychologist whose practice focuses on OCD and related disorders.

Shai Shorer is a clinical social worker, coming from Israel, where he headed the IDF Veterans Mental Health Clinic at Ha’Emek Medical Center, in addition to directing the Medical Center’s Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Service. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Haifa, Israel, in 2016. His research focused on cross-cultural aspects of PTSD, studying the life experiences of Muslim-Bedouin men and women, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, studying the long term implications of traumatic loss and grief.

Shai has substantial clinical experience in providing psychotherapy to people of diverse cultural backgrounds, employing a variety of therapy approaches, including CBT, psychodynamics, group-therapy, and adventure/wilderness therapy. His interests include post-traumatic stress and growth, and in cultural aspects of mental health, always keeping the individual’s background in mind, aiming to improve the implementation of different therapeutic approaches accordingly.

Shankari Sharma has a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. Her Master’s thesis was in the area of clients’ preferences for treatment of PTSD symptoms. Specifically, she studied whether individuals prefer pharmacotherapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Prolonged Exposure, or no treatment for the treatment of PTSD. Shankari joined the IMPACT lab in 2012, with research and clinical interests in recovery from sexual trauma, building positive sexuality and relationships in the aftermath of sexual trauma, and factors that predict the development of sexual aggression in youth and adults.