Current members
Abel Torres Espín
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo, Waterloo
Adjunct Professor, University of Alberta, Edmonton
Assistant Adjunct Professor, University of California San Francisco
Bio
I was born in Mataró, a city close to Barcelona in Spain. I studied biology at the Universitat de Barcelona from 2002 to 2007. With interest in neuroscience, I began my PhD in 2008 at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona under the supervision of Dr. Xavier Navarro. I moved to Canada in 2014 for a postdoctoral position at the University of Alberta in Edmonton under the supervision of Dr. Karim Fouad. Here, I worked on the interaction between neuroinflammation and rehabilitation after spinal cord injury. From November 2018 to 2020, I worked at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) in a team led by Dr. Adam Ferguson, on the application of data science to accelerate neurological research and translation. In 2020, I was hired at UCSF as an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery. Since August 2023 I hold an Assistant Professor position at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
Research interest
My broad work is in the application of data science methods to health research. I am interested in conceptualizing health and disease as complex multi-domain (e.g., biological, medical, psychological, social, technological), multi-level (e.g., molecular, individual, and population), and dynamic process. I focus on applying health data science, and machine learning solutions, integrating diverse data resources to answer health-related questions and inform practice. With increasing health and healthcare challenges, the growing availability of digital health data provides unprecedented opportunities to study this complexity and inform precise evidence-based practice and policies. My research has focused on the health context of complex heterogeneous population such as spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, dementia, and chronic low back pain, resulting in tremendous individual and societal costs. I am also interested in analytical and computational methods, multivariate statistics, the reproducibility and replicability of research, and real-world evidence.
Marzieh Mussavi Rizi
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Waterloo, Waterloo
I am a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo, working under the guidance of Professor Abel Torres Espin. My research is centered around personalized medicine and causal inference, specifically implementing machine learning methods for precision medicine concerning spinal cord injury. Prior to this, I earned my Ph.D. in biostatistics from the University of Waterloo, where my focus was on dynamic treatment regimes. In general, my interest lies in the application of statistical methods to address novel challenges within the realm of interdisciplinary problem-solving.
Alexander Sharp
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Waterloo, Waterloo
My postdoctoral work with Dr. Abel Torres Espín is focused on the development of health systems powered by generative language models for the purpose of knowledge synthesis, translation and dissemination, particularly applied to the context of spinal cord injury. Our work is graciously funded by the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation and is in collaboration with the Praxis Spinal Cord Injury Institute, and Dr. Paul Anderson’s team at California Polytechnic State University. More generally, my current research revolves around uncertainty quantification and hallucination detection, as well as policy optimization for reasoning, particularly in retrieval-augmented settings.
Daliana Lobo Torres
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Waterloo, Waterloo
Dr. Daliana Lobo Torres is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo, working with Dr. Zahid Butt and Dr. Abel Torres Espín. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and an MSc and PhD in Electrical Engineering. Her research focuses on digital epidemiology, infodemics, and infoveillance, integrating machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, and big data analytics to improve epidemic intelligence and public health surveillance.
Simran Saggu
PhD Student
University of Waterloo, Waterloo
I am thrilled to be embarking on my journey as a PhD student in Public Health Sciences department at the University of Waterloo, under the mentorship of Dr. Abel Torres Espin.
Prior to this exciting opportunity, I successfully earned my Master of Public Health degree from McMaster University, where I honed my skills and deepened my understanding of biostatistics, epidemiology, and evidence-informed decision making. My academic journey has prepared me to tackle complex interdisciplinary challenges within the field of public health.
During my PhD, my research will delve into the realm of data reproducibility and replicability, with a particular focus on harnessing machine learning techniques in the context of spinal cord injury, primarily using animal models. Ultimately, the research aims to contribute to the development and implementation of precision medicine strategies in the broader fields of research, medicine, and public health.
Vladyslav Shein
Msc Student
University of Waterloo, Waterloo
Vladyslav is a master’s student in Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo, working under the mentorship of Professor Abel Torres Espin. His academic path includes a Bachelor of Education and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Drahomanov Ukrainian State University. There, he developed an interest in the study of student evaluation processes, combining his skills in data analysis with educational concepts. With a foundation in data science and social sciences, Vladyslav is now focused on applying his knowledge to tackle health challenges, contributing to the field of Public Health.
Parisa Razavi Yeganeh
Msc student
University of Waterloo, Waterloo
I am currently pursuing a Master of Science in Public Health under the supervision of Dr. Abel Torres and Dr. Joel Dubin. I also hold a master’s degree in Healthcare Systems Engineering, where I focused on emotion recognition from EEG signals using neural networks. My interests lie in precision medicine, artificial intelligence, and machine learning in healthcare, with a passion for helping healthcare providers make informed decisions through data-driven insights. Currently, I am focusing on utilizing machine learning techniques in the context of spinal cord injury research
Rahul Desai
Undergraduate student
University of Waterloo, Waterloo
Rahul is an undergraduate, Health Science student at the University of Waterloo. Rahul is an aspiring physician who has a passion for improving the lives of others. He advocates for better access to care and for reducing inequalities that exist in the healthcare system. Furthermore, Rahul is involved in learning the different aspects of care through his co-ops and volunteering experience at University Health Network, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre and Scarborough Health Network. His research focuses on using data to understand cancer drug policy and reimbursement in Canada, based on patient health outcomes. Furthermore, he is particularly interested in electronic medical records and AI in the development of new treatment regimens to improve patients’ health and well-being. Besides his passion for learning and helping others, Rahul loves connecting with nature by visiting trails, parks and open spaces throughout the city, province and country.
Kealey Nguyen
Undergraduate student
University of Waterloo, Waterloo
I am a motivated Health Sciences student at the University of Waterloo who is deeply committed to advancing equitable, evidence-based healthcare that will drive meaningful change in people’s lives. As a member of Dr. Abel Torres Espin’s dynamic team, my research will contribute to the lab’s work at the intersection of health, data science, and AI, with a particular focus on spinal cord injury. Beyond the books, I love to listen to music, hunt for clothes at the thrift store, and continue to fuel my passion for social justice and advocacy.
Ornell Corvaglia-Douglas
Project Manager
University of Waterloo, Waterloo
Ornell Douglas, MPH, is a Project Manager with more than 20 years’ experience in the areas of chronic disease prevention through program development, research, evaluation, and knowledge translation. She received her Bachelor of Kinesiology from McMaster University, and her Master of Public Health from the University of Waterloo. She has worked in NGO and Academic environments, with the last 13 years spent applying evidence-informed and systematic approaches to problem solving across multiple areas of applied health science research within the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo.
Alumni
- Mahsa Panahi (Postdoc 2024-2025)
- Tienna Schade (Undergraduate 2024)