VR-SIM Carers
Dementia Caregivers Skill Training through Virtual Reality Simulation (VR-SIM Carers)
Meet the Team
Highly Qualified Personnel
Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) are graduate students and trainees who are supporting the VR-SIM Carers initiative in a variety of ways. Please click on “More About…” section to learn more about each HQP’s current research and how they are supporting the initiative.
Computer Science Ph.D. Candidate at Ontario Tech University
VR Technology Developer for VR-SIM Carers
Research Assistant at Ontario Shores for the VR-SIM Carers and CARERS initiative
Emily O'Hara
Bachelor of Health Sciences Student at Ontario Tech University
Research Assistant for VR-SIM Carers
Master of Health Sciences in Health Informatics student at Ontario Tech University
Research Assistant for VR-SIM Carers
Minoo Yazdani
Bachelor's in Psychology Student at Ontario Tech University
Research Assistant for VR-SIM Carers
Hayah Siddiqui
Bachelor's in Mental Health Studies at University of Toronto Scarborough
Research Assistant for VR-SIM Carers
Cameron Hick
M.D. candidate at University College Dublin
Research Assistant for VR-SIM Carers
Andrei Torres
Computer Science Ph.D. Candidate at Ontario Tech University
VR Technology Developer for VR-SIM Carers
Ph.D. Health Sciences Student at Ontario Tech University
Research Assistant for VR-SIM Carers
Health Sciences Ph.D. Candidate at Ontario Tech University
Research Assistant for VR-SIM Carers
Bachelor's in Population Health Sciences at the University of Toronto
Research Assistant for VR-SIM Carers
Knowledge Users
Our Knowledge Users are personnel with lived experience caring for a person living with dementia. Knowledge Users are supporting with the co-design of the virtual reality training platform and the leads of the Caregiver Advisory Committee.
Ron Beleno
Dr. Irene Rubinstein
Carla Velastegui
VR-SIM Carers Team
The VR-SIM Carers team is composed of various individuals across partner organizations including Ontario Shores, the NRC, Sinai Health, Baycrest, Ontario Tech and the Toronto Dementia Research Alliance (TDRA). All individuals participate in various working groups to develop the virtual reality training platform.
Dr. Amer Burhan
Geriatric Psychiatrist, Physician-in-Chief & Research Chair in Applied Mental Health and Co-Lead of VR-SIM Carers at Ontario Shores
Dr. Mary Chiu
Research Scientist and Co-Lead of VR-SIM Carers at Ontario Shores
Michael Smith
Technical Officer at the National Research Council of Canada;
Principal Investigator of VR-SIM Carers
Dr. Joel Sadavoy
Medical Director, Reitman Centre for Alzheimer's Support and Training at Sinai Health System
Dr. Adriana Shnall
Program Director of the Koschitzky Centre for Innovations in Caregiving at Baycrest Centre
Dr. Tarek Rajji
Senior Scientist and Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee at CAMH;
Executive Director of the Toronto Dementia Research Alliance (TDRA)
Dr. Adam Dubrowski
Professor and Canada Research Chair, Healthcare Simulation at Ontario Tech University; Co-lead of the maxSIMhealth Laboratory
Dr. Bill Kapralos
Associate Professor, Software Informatics Research Centre at Ontario Tech University; Co-lead maxSIMhealth Laboratory
Dr. Lynn Zhu
Evaluation Researcher at Ontario Shores
Nushi Choudhury
Research Officer at the National Research Council of Canada
Dr. Kristina Kokorelias
Senior Academic Program Coordinator at Sinai Health and University Health Network-Geriatrics
Erica O'Hare
Project Coordinator at Ontario Shores