Dr. Heirani Moghaddam explores gamification in stroke recovery and Dr. McCarthy investigates how exercise can reduce inflammation in the body
UBC Okanagan Postdoctoral Fellowships bring top talent to the research community at UBC’s Okanagan campus. These fellowships are awarded to the most highly qualified domestic or international postdoctoral scholars who will contribute to research excellence at UBC Okanagan. This year’s competition has two deserving winners: Dr. Sarvenaz Heirani Moghaddam and Dr. Seth McCarthy. Learn more about these researchers below.
Dr. Sarvenaz Heirani Moghaddam
Postdoctoral Fellow in the irving k. barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Dr. Sarvenaz Heirani Moghaddam researches how the healthy nervous system controls our actions with the aim of discovering the underlying neural and behavioural processes that govern goal-directed actions in humans. Her graduate research used robotics and virtual reality environments to manipulate human perception and understand the response. In her post-doctoral fellowship, Dr. Heirani Moghaddam will be using her prior research experience and knowledge to transform stroke rehabilitation in the Okanagan by creating a hybrid (at home and in the lab) rehabilitation program to improve the quality of life of stroke survivors while expanding accessibility to rehabilitation services.
Dr. Seth McCarthy
Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Health and Social Development
Dr. McCarthy is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences in the Faculty of Health and Social Development at UBC Okanagan. His research focuses on how exercise can be used to reduce the levels of inflammation in our body. He aims to look at the impact of different exercise interventions, and is also attempting to determine mechanistically how exercise reduces inflammation and how it influences our immune system. In particular, his research is the first to test lactate’s anti-inflammatory effects in humans using a combination of in vivo and ex vivo approaches.