Dr. Linda McLean
Supervisor & Principal Investigator
Linda McLean received her BSc in Physiotherapy from McGill University in 1990. In 1995, she received her MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, and in 1998 she received her doctorate from the same institution. She began her academic career as Assistant Professor in the School of Physiotherapy at Dalhousie University. In 2002 she moved to the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen’s University in Kingston, where, in 2006, she became chair of the Graduate Program in Rehabilitation Science, and where she became full professor in 2012. In 2014 Dr. McLean joined the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Ottawa as full professor and continues to hold an adjunct professor appointment at Queen’s University. She is currently operating her research in both Kingston and Ottawa. At the University of Ottawa, Dr. McLean is a member of the Office of the Vice-Provost, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, holds a Chair in Women’s Health Research and holds a cross-appointment in the Schools of Human Kinetics and Engineering.
Dr. McLean currently supervises our multidisciplinary team of researchers with backgrounds in psychology, physiotherapy, engineering, kinesiology, and biomedical science. In her position as our supervisor, we have come to know Linda as an intelligent, thoughtful, and driven leader with a passion for tackling issues related to research and policies in women’s health. Dr. McLean’s dedication to promoting women’s health is also strongly demonstrated through her excellence as a researcher. As a mentor and professional, Dr. McLean conducts her research based on a strong, clear picture of clinical and policy relevance. Each project that she proposes as a leader, that we conceive as a team, or that she is brought in from a third party must unequivocally pass a test; a project worth pursuing must either lead to advances through its strong clinical relevance to the practice of women’s health or to policies related to women’s health.
Dr. McLean not only shows excellence in research, but demonstrates outstanding mentorship skills and strong relationships with the local community; she is a leader in advocating for women’s health.
Dr. Flavia Ignacio Antonio
Post Doctoral Visiting Researcher
Flavia Ignacio Antonio received her BSc in Physiotherapy from University of Ribeirão Preto (Brazil) in 2006. In 2011, she received her MSc in Sciences from the Ribeirão Preto Medical School (FMRP – USP), Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo – Brazil, and in 2016 she received her PhD from the same institution. Concurrent with researches in Physiotherapy Women’s Health area she operates in Private Physiotherapy clinical practice in Brazil. Flavia moved to Ottawa in order to pursue with researches at University of Ottawa. She is currently registered as a Postdoctoral fellow at University of Ottawa under Dr. Linda McLean supervision. Her research focuses on the nature of pelvic floor muscle involvement in dyspareunia, and the outcomes of this research will help to develop new approaches to help women overcome their vulvar pain.
Marie-Ève Bérubé
PhD Candidate & Physical Therapist
Marie-Ève Bérubé BSc, MScPT, PhD candidate has been a registered physiotherapist (Ordre Professionnel de la Physiothérapie du Québec) since 2015. She is currently completing her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on the biomechanics of exercise-induced stress urinary incontinence in women. She concurrently owns and operates her own private pelvic health physiotherapy practice in Gatineau, Quebec (http://www.pelvi-solutions.com). She actively participates in knowledge translation activities in her community to educate women and birth companions about pelvic health physiotherapy.
Marylène Charette
PhD Candidate & Physical Therapist
Marylène Charette received her bachelor’s degree in health sciences and then completed her masters in physiotherapy at the University of Ottawa. Since 2016, she has been a registered physiotherapist in Gatineau, Quebec where she is practicing mainly in pelvic health. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in Population Health (expected 2022) with the supervision of Dr. Linda McLean. Her research focus is in the assessment of current management practices of women with urinary incontinence, including referral patterns of family physician & barriers and facilitators to conservative treatment.
Catriona Czyrnyj
PhD Candidate
Catriona obtained her B.A.Sc. in 2014 in Mechanical Engineering and has been working in the MFM Lab since November 2015, where she completed her Master’s thesis in 2017. Catriona is currently pursuing her PhD in Biomedical Engineering (expected 2020) under Drs. Linda McLean and Michel Labrosse, and her research focuses in biomedical imaging, tissue mechanics, and biomechanics of the female urogenital system.
Kaylee Brooks
PhD Candidate
Kaylee received her Bachelor of Science with honours in psychology from Queens University in 2015. She then completed her Masters of Science in Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa in 2017 focusing her research on creating a model of characteristics that are predictive of successful physiotherapy outcomes among women with stress urinary incontinence. Having worked with Dr. McLean since 2014, Kaylee is currently working towards completing her PhD in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Ottawa with a focus on the neurophysiology of stress urinary incontinence in women. Outside of her research, Kaylee works in science communication, specializing in the creation of visuals to convey research and clinical practicie (www.brooksscicomm.com) In her spare time Kaylee enjoys kickboxing, hiking, and spending time with her family and friends.
Olena Klahsen
PhD Candidate
Olena received her Hon BSc, majoring in Human Kinetics, from the University of Guelph in 2018. She stayed in Guelph to study osteoarthritis in the spine with Dr. Steve Brown during her MSc in Human Health and Nutritional Science. After a successful defense at the end of 2020, Olena has joined the MFM team. For her doctoral work, she will focus on the effects of aging on the pelvic floor using biomedical imaging, kinematics and tissue analysis and how these might contribute to conditions such as urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Outside of the lab, Olena is a photographer, foodie and avid hiker.
Olena passed her comprehensive exam in March 2022, stay tuned for her thesis proposal defense.
Maryam Golmohammadi Qadikolai
PhD Student & Physical Therapist
Maryam has been a registered physiotherapist (BScPT, MScPT in Iran) since 2015. She is currently completing her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on the biomechanics of running in women with exercise-induced stress urinary incontinence.
Silvia Saraiva
Master’s Student & Physical Therapist
Silvia Saraiva (she/her) received her BSc in Physiotherapy from Centro Universitário de João Pessoa (Brazil) in 2008. That same year, she moved to Canada and started working as a physiotherapist assistant. After a lengthy equivalency process, she became a registered physiotherapist in 2017. Since then, she has focused her practice in pelvic health physiotherapy and women’s health. Silvia is a 1st-year Master’s student in Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa (expected 2022) under the supervision of Dr. Linda McLean. Her research focuses on the effect of Hypopressive exercises on the pelvic floor muscles and intra-abdominal pressure. Silvia is passionate about educating, empowering and helping women.
Layla Mitri
Master’s Student & Volunteer Coordinator
Layla is a 1st-year master’s student in Biomedical Engineering. She recently graduated from the her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Mechanical Engineering Program at the University of Ottawa. She has been working at the lab since September 2019 as an undergraduate student helping with prototype design, fabrication, and repairs. She has also helped coordinate MFM student lab volunteers from first and second-year undergraduate engineering programs. Layla organized tasks for the volunteers which included electrode fabrication, CAD design, and repairs.
Undergraduate & Support Team Members
We’re happy to welcome amazing and diverse undergraduate students from various fields as through scholarships, co-op placements and volunteering.
Alexis McCreath Frangakis
Maxine Speers
Darian Allard
Shainuka Kannathas
Karen Hakko
Mary Ojo
Sarah Milton
Carina Lyrette
MFM Lab Alumni
Due to the natural transient nature of our research hub, we have many amazing people coming and going, whether from a work term, completing a degree, or participating as a visiting researcher. We wanted to keep a space to honour all of those who have worked with us to move the research forward!
Ana Brennan
As of April 2022, Ana successfully defended her MASc thesis, titled: “Design and Bench Validation of a Mechanical Intravaginal Dynamometer Mechanism”.
We wish Ana all of the best with her future plans!
Megan Vandermolen
Megan successfully defended her MASc thesis, “Semi-Automated Detection of Bladder Neck Funnelling and Measurement of Posterior Urethrovesical Angle in Females” in April 2022.
We’re always sad to see students leave the nest, but we know how lucky we were to have Megan for her masters. Good luck!
Marina Petter Rodrigues
Dr. Joanna Reeves
Dr. Rachel Luo Qiu
Beatriz Martin Arranz
Merrill Pappin
Update! (June 2019) Merrill is currently a student at Queen’s University in the Master’s of Physical Therapy program. Having just completed her first year of studies, she has greatly enjoyed working in acute care settings and with patients with neurological disorders. Merrill is excited to complete a placement with a pelvic floor dysfunction client focus before she completes her degree.
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