CANSSI Ontario STAGE Welcomes PhD Trainee Alicia Grima

Alicia Grima, recipient of CANSSI Ontario STAGE Trainee Program.

CANSSI Ontario STAGE is pleased to announce Alicia Grima as one of two selected CANSSI Ontario STAGE Trainees.

Alicia is a PhD candidate in the Division of Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, mentored by Jennifer Brooks, Linda Hiraki, and Andrew Paterson. Her work is centered on identifying genetic variants that contribute to the risk of autoimmune diseases post-SARS-CoV-2 infection in Ontario adults.

She has contributed to research on vaccine efficacy against hospitalization, the impact of Coronavirus infection during pregnancy, and the efficacy of psychosocial interventions for opioid misuse. Alicia earned her Master’s of Public Health at the University of Toronto before embarking on her doctoral journey. She is also a recipient of an Ontario Graduate Scholarship, a merit-based scholarship conferred to some of Ontario’s best graduate students. This prestigious scholarship is jointly funded by the province of Ontario and the University of Toronto.

Alicia’s project has three objectives: 1) To determine the incidence of new onset AD following a SARS-CoV-2 infection among adults in Ontario; 2) To investigate the impact of genetic variants associated with SARS-CoV-2 severity on the risk of new onset AD following a SARS-CoV-2 infection among adults in Ontario; 3) To identify genetic variants associated with AD following a SARS-CoV-2 infection among adults in Ontario. The proposed research will incorporate knowledge and techniques from all three of the STAGE program’s disciplines (epidemiological, statistical, and biomedical genetics) and spans the intersection between epidemiology, infectious disease, and genetics.