Our Team

Dr. Matthew Hicks, MD, Phd, FRCPC

Dr. Hicks is a Neonatologist and Developmental Pediatrician in the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Care and the Department of Pediatrics within the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta. He has developed a successful program of research, education, and clinical care in neonatal and pediatric health that continues to grow. Research training, building capacity, engagement with stakeholders, and collaboration across disciplines are integral components of Dr. Hicks' program that partner with his clinical work with high-risk infants in the University of Alberta’s quaternary NICU and the Neonatal Follow up Clinic at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. Central to his work is a interdisciplinary team focusing on a collaborative, family-integrated approach. All of Dr. Hicks' projects integrate learner and colleague education and mentorship

Dr. Anne Hicks, MD, FRCPC, MSc, PhD

Dr. Hicks is an assistant professor in Pediatric Respiratory Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics within the Faculty of Medicine and Denstistry at the University of Alberta. She is also the Director and clinical lead of the Children’s Environmental Health Clinic, a World Health Organization collaborating centre, at the University of Alberta. She developed the Stollery Children’s Hospital pediatric complex asthma clinic and is developing collaborations to streamline pediatric asthma care in Northern Alberta, mainly through building relationships and community supports with primary care providers and the Stollery Emergency Department. Her research focus is creating an interdisciplinary consortium to investigate the influence of air pollution on lung development and diseases such as asthma, including integration of emerging measures of personal exposure to air pollution and inflammation such as personal exposure monitors, lung health testing and breath metabolomics to help personalize prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lung disease.

Dr. James Harynuk, BSc, PhD

Dr. Harynuk is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry. He works on gas chromatography-a technique for separating mixtures of molecules-and also builds using computer-based tools to interpret and understand data arising from these separations in a subject area known as chemoinformatics, the use of informational techniques applied to the field of chemistry. Dr. Harynuk is also a node leader The Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC) at the University of Alberta.

Dr. Alvaro Osornio-Vargas, MD, MSc, PhD

Dr. Alvaro Osornio-Vargas' research interest is in air pollution and related health effects.Specifically, he has focused on the impact of mixtures at the experimental and the population level from an interdisciplinary approach. He has more than 160 publications. He obtained his Medical, M.Sc. and Ph.D. Degrees from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He was a researcher at the Mexican National Institutes of Health until 2009. In August 2009, he joined the Department of Paediatrics, University of Alberta, to develop the research segment of a Children's Environmental Health initiative. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Schools of Public Health at the University of Michigan, Rutgers University, and the University of Alberta. Currently, he is the President of the Paediatric Environmental Health Section of the Canadian Pediatric Society.

Dr. Chris Sikora, MD, MPH, MSc, CCFP, FRCPC

Dr. Chris Sikora is a Public Health specialist based in Edmonton, Alberta. Presently he holds the roles of Zone Lead Medical Officer of Health, Public Health Physician - Edmonton Zone, Alberta Health Services, Associate Zone Medical Directors for Primary Care, Public Health & Continuing Care, Alberta Health Services as well is a member of the adjunct academic staff in the School of Public Health, University of Alberta and is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. He has a passion for system transformation and population health improvement.

Dr. Helly Goez, MD, FRCPC

Dr. Helly Goez is a Pediatric Neurologist and Developmental Pediatrician in the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. She is also a professor in the Department. Dr. Goez is passionate about medical advocacy for rare conditions and disability. She leads the Neurometabolic and neurodegenerative, as well as the Pediatric Movement Disorder clinics at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital and the Stollery Children’s Hospital, and co-leads (with genetics) the Neurometabolic Precision Health service at the Stollery Children Hospital. She is a director of the unique Pediatric Neurometabolic and Movement Disorder Fellowship. Current research projects include metabolic and autoimmune etiologies for developmental and autistic regression, Treatable Intellectual Disabilities, and metabolic footprints in atypical Cerebral Palsy Phenotype; serving as a local leader for a national project of neurodegenerative disorders, and the National Medical Liaison for in the Niemann Pick type C Foundation, leading the local neurology component in the Autism Treatment Network, and the Alberta Principal Investigator of the International Neurotransmitter Disorder -iNTD Registry.

Dr. Jaqueline Pei, PhD, RPsych

Dr. Jaqueline Pei is a Professor in the Faculty of Education (Ed. Psych. Dept) at the University of Alberta.

Having begun my career in mental health as a forensic counsellor working with young offenders, I have a special interest in interventions with youth put at risk. My current clinical and research interests include increasing our understanding of brain-based contributions to functioning for children and youth, and developmental trajectories of mental health. I also have a special interest in identifying and enhancing interventions for individuals with a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

My training and clinical experience include clinical neuropsychology and applied psychology. A registered psychologist, I also maintain a private practice in neuropsychological assessment and gear my clinical work towards assessment that informs intervention and contributes to healthy outcomes for complex populations.

Dr. Lesley Brennan, MPH, PhD

Dr. Brennan earned her PhD in Cell Physiology at the University of Alberta in 2011. She then studied the impact of pregnancy complications on mother and child as a postdoctoral fellow before earning her MPH in in 2015. She and has a strong interest in environmental health, particularly exposures during pregnancy that may threaten the health and well-being of the child. She has worked with the Children's Environmental Health Clinic (ChEHC) since 2014 and the is the Director for the group's WHO Collaborating Centre in Child Health and the Environment. Lesley coordinates and supports clinical research studies in the department of pediatrics.

Dr. Osnat Wine, MSc, PhD

Dr. Wine has a doctorate in Health Sciences from the University of Alberta, and a Master’s in Environmental Studies (MES) from York University. She completed a postdoc with the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta. Currently, Dr. Wine is a postdoc fellow in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta with the NASCENT project focusing on implementation science in health care.

Her research focuses on interdisciplinary research, collaborative research processes, team dynamics, team processes, integrated knowledge translation, and implementation science. She was involved in knowledge synthesis activities in collaboration with various teams and published several papers. Dr. Wine is interested in understanding how different elements contribute to effective teamwork, co-production, and knowledge translation in large research projects that involve researchers, stakeholders, practitioners, and knowledge users. Her goal is to identify ways in which research can be optimized to address complex problems.

Paulina de la Mata PhD, MSc, MBA

Dr. Paulina de la Mata is the Lab Manager / GCxGC TMIC Harynuk Node Manager Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta. She is an Analytical Chemist working for The Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC). She works with TMIC clients in the design of studies and experiments, developing and optimizing analytical methods, running samples, maintaining instruments, and processing data using a variety of statistical tools. Her current research includes chemometrics, multiway analysis, exploratory analysis, machine learning, MATLAB programming, and developing, testing, and adapting new metabolomics methods to GC×GC-TOFMS/FID GC-MS/MS. She has a diverse work history including working in Spain and Denmark with HPLC-CAD and FTIR metabolomics data with chemometrics as well as being a cosmetics and health care junior buyer for Comercial Mexicana (retail store) in Mexico.

Paulina de la Mata received a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry in 2002 and an MBA in 2004 from Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, México. She obtained a Masters degree in 2007 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2011 from the University of Granada, Spain. Since 2011 she has been employed by the University of Alberta, Canada at the Department of Chemistry.

Ryland Giebelhaus, BSc (Hons)

Ryland Giebelhaus is a graduate student in Dr. Harynuks group studying metabolomics using GC×GC-TOFMS. Ryland completed his Bachelor of Science with an honour in Chemistry from The University of British Columbia – Okanagan in May 2021 where he completed his honors thesis, focusing on the development of untargeted LC-MS based metabolomics approaches and tools to investigate how Mitragyna speciosa regulates its secondary metabolism. Ryland is interested in using mass spectrometry-based metabolomics approaches to answer questions about physiology in biological systems, encompassing both novel bench-top techniques and data analysis approaches. His research in the Harynuk group will focus on using GCxGC-TOFMS methods to explore the impact that cannabis use during pregnancy has on both the mothers and babies’ physiology and metabolism.