Where are they now?

Elizabeth Wallace
Elizabeth is a Human Kinetics student from Antigonish, NS. Her Honours thesis research explored the role of histamine in brain mitochondrial function following exercise, and she presented this work internationally. Elizabeth is pursuing a Master’s of Global Health through McMaster University.

Laura Davidson
Laura is Biology student from Halifax, NS. Her Honours thesis research explored the role of histamine in skeletal muscle mitochondrial function following exercise, and she presented this work internationally. Laura will begin medical school at Dalhousie University in the fall.

Mackenzie Bell
Hailing from New Glasgow, NS, Mackenzie is a student in the BASc Health program. Mackenzie also is a StFX varsity rugby athlete.

Eibhlin Storey
HKIN Honours, 2017. Eibhlin investigated the health-related effects of regular exercise on mitochondrial lactic acid metabolism in the liver. Eibhlin is from  Moncton, NB. She is currently pursuing studies at Western dental school.

Devin Manning
HKIN Advanced Major, 2017. Devin explored mitochondrial metabolism of various substrates in skeletal and cardiac muscle, as well as brain. Devin is currently a YMCA youth coordinator in his hometown of Saint John, NB.

Erin Samson
Erin is a Human Kinetics student from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Her summer work  looked at the role of histamine in brain and skeletal muscle mitochondrial function following exercise. Erin recently graduated from StFX with top honours, and will begin medical school at Dalhousie University in the fall.

Amy Graham
Amy is a third-year Human Kinetics student from Ottawa, ON. Her summer work looked at how antihistamine drugs affect mitochondrial function. Amy is also a varsity hockey athlete.

Grace Moffatt
Grace is a a BASc Health student from Newfoundland. Her summer research will look at the cryopreservation of mitochondria in brain.

Blake Hatt
Blake is a Human Kinetics student from New Brunswick. His honours project will explore the cryopreservation of mitochondria in muscle.

Chris Newell
HKIN Honours, 2012. Chris’s honours thesis work looked at substrate specificity in beetle flight muscle mitochondria. Chris is currently an MD/PhD Candidate - Leaders in Medicine Program at the University of Calgary. He’s also a MitoCanada PhD Scholar. Chris recently defended his PhD work investigating the role and therapeutic potential of mitochondria in orphan disease states. Read more: Grad student awarded inaugural Mitochondrial Disease PhD Scholarship

Meghan Hughes
HKIN Honours, 2013. Meghan’s honours project looked at the effects of some naturally-occurring biopolymers on mitochondrial uncoupling. Meghan completed an MSc in 2013 at York University, examining the effects of acute and chronic exercise on mitochondrial sensitivity to ADP in human skeletal muscle. More recently, her PhD dissertation explored the mitochondria as a potential therapeutic target in muscle wasting diseases through the use of novel mitochondrial-targeted therapies.

Mitchell George
HKIN Honours, 2015. Mitch investigated the bioenergetics of mitochondrial lactate oxidation in skeletal muscle and brain subregions. He grew up in Antigonish, and was a varsity soccer athlete at StFX. Mitch has presented his NSERC USRA-supported work at a Mitochondrial Physiology Science Camp in Greenville, NC, and Experimental Biology in San Diego, CA. Following graduation, Mitch pursued graduate study in kinesiology at the University of Calgary (MSc., 2017). He is currently an operations analyst with Spring Loaded Technology; he’s also a 2018 Fellow with Venture for Canada.

Hannah Mawhinney
HNU Honours (Co-supervised with Dr. Jennifer Jamieson), 2015. Hannah investigated the influence of vitamin B6 status on running performance. Hannah received the 2015 Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism Undergraduate Research Excellence Award, and went on to pursue graduate study in nutritional sciences. She is currently teaching in the Department of Human Nutrition at StFX.
Read more: 2015 APNM Undergraduate Research Excellence Awards

Emma Aucoin
HKIN Honours (Co-supervised with Dr. Jennifer Jamieson), 2016. Emma investigated the effects of vitamin supplementation on exercise-associated changes in glucose metabolism in non-athletes university students. She is currently pursuing graduate study in physiotherapy at Dalhousie University.
Read more: http://www.stfx.ca/news/view/17276/.

Adrienne White
HKIN Honours, 2012. Adrienne’s honours thesis investigated the oxidation of lactate in skeletal muscle mitochondria: http://m.jbc.org/content/288/35/25309.short. In 2014, Adrienne graduated from the accelerated BScN program at the University of Western Ontario with Honours. She is currently working as a Registered Nurse and is pursuing a post graduate certificate in coronary care nursing.

Julie Weir
HKIN Honours, 2012. Julie completed her honours project, “A Preliminary Comparison of the Effects of Chocolate Milk and Carbohydrate Sports Drink on 2000-meter Rowing Ergometer Performance” and graduated from StFX in 2012. She then attended Dalhousie University, where she completed her MSc in Kinesiology, conducting research on the neural control of the cardiovascular system using a non-invasive brain stimulation device. She has worked as a teaching assistant to various undergraduate exercise physiology courses, as well as a research assistant on many health and healthcare-related research projects. Currently, she is working with the One Nova Scotia Experiential Learning Working Committee and the Nova Scotia Community College, which collaborate with all the universities in the province. She is helping this team expand experiential learning opportunities for all post-secondary students in Nova Scotia in efforts to enhance academic experience and increase youth retention.

Matthew Oldfield
HKIN Honours, (Co-supervised with Dr. Matthew Palmer) 2016. Matt investigated the effects of a non-deceptive placebo on body composition over the course of a prescribed exercise period, and hails from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Matt is currently pursuing studies at Dalhousie Medical School in Fall 2017.

Mary Weir
Mary was the technician in the Mitochondrial Physiology Lab. Originally from Antigonish, Mary graduated from StFX Human Kinetics, and previously StFX Human Nutrition Honours (supervised by Dr. Jen Jamieson).