Dr. Chorney’s Team Members

Dr. Chorney enjoys working with students and collaborators who have interests in child health, pain, and medical stress.  She is open to supervising undergraduate students, graduate students and medical residents. As a cross-appointed faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Dalhousie University, Dr. Chorney is considering taking graduate students.  If you are interested in pursuing studies with Dr. Chorney, please contact her via email at Jill.Chorney@iwk.nshealth.ca
before submitting your application.

Current Members

Research Staff

 
 Sharon Amey, MDE -Research Coordinator
Sharon joined the Centre for Pediatric Pain Research in 2010. She previously completed a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Master of Development Economics at Dalhousie University where her interest was in applied microeconomics. Her background in how information affects economic decisions has brought an interdisciplinary perspective to Dr. Chorney’s research in shared decision making and preparing families for medical decisions.


Gil Ungar, B.A. – Research Assistant –
Gil completed his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at The University of King’s College. Throughout his educational and volunteer experiences Gil has been interested in public health with vulnerable populations and research. Since joining the lab Gil has been integral in the technology of the lab and has worked on numerous projects including Decision Making, MRI and PORSCHE.

    

PhD Students

IMG_3955 Stephanie Allen, BA – Doctoral Student Stephanie completed a BA (Hons) in psychology at Dalhousie University. During her undergraduate degree Stephanie had the chance to work with a number of psychology professors, gaining exposure to varied research methodologies, traditions, and literature. Stephanie began her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Dalhousie University in the fall of 2011. She is currently involved in a number of research projects that fall broadly within the realm of paediatric psychology, and has specific clinical and research interests in autism spectrum disorders (ASD).  She is fortunate to be supervised by Dr. Jill Chorney and Dr. Isabel Smith, each experts in their respective fields of perioperative care and ASD. With their guidance, Stephanie’s dissertation research focuses on understanding and improving the perioperative experiences of children with ASD.
IMG_4049 Kristen Bailey, BA, MSc – Doctoral Student Kristen completed an honours BA in Psychology at the University of Saskatchewan before coming to Nova Scotia to complete an MSc in Clinical Psychology at Acadia University. Her research and clinical interests span the breadth of health psychology but she is particularly interested in interpersonal dynamics and how they relate to health behavior and healthcare. Her Master’s Thesis investigated the role of attachment in pain support preferences and provision among romantic couples.Kristen began her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Dalhousie University in the fall of 2012 under the supervision of Drs. Jill Chorney & Patrick McGrath. While studying at Dalhousie she has been involved in several research projects. Most recently she published the findings from an RCT for a brief intervention to prepare parents to be present with their child for their child’s anesthesia induction and has also just finished collecting data for a study investigating sexual experiences among couples who are first-time parents. Kristen’s research is supported by a CIHR Doctoral Research Award.
IMG_4038  Melissa Howlett, B.Sc. – Melissa began her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Dalhousie University in the fall of 2014. Her research interests fall  broadly within the area of health psychology, particularly child and adolescent chronic pain, and preparing children for stressful and/or painful  medical procedures. She recently finished a project examining the impact of parent pain catastrophizing and parent responding on adolescent  chronic pain outcomes. Her dissertation research focuses on preparing children for MRI, through the development of an accessible at-home  intervention.

Comprehensive Project Students

– Julie Longard, Ph.D. Student

– Kristen Higgins, Ph.D. Student

Team Alumni: Click here to view former members of our team