Staff Team

Fay Harrison provides leadership to the operational teams and, as a member of the Executive Committee and Collaboration Committee with McGill, ensures that the project objectives are being met. Fay is an experienced research manager having worked for 15 years as a Senior Research Strategy and Planning Manager at the Open University in the UK, where Fay led the Research Excellence Framework submission (REF2014) for the Open University and was a member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) REF 2014 criteria setting committee. Fay's experience and expertise in evidencing the impact of research naturally led to project managing the BrainsCAN CFREF submission for Western. Fay also has a background in equity, diversity and inclusion having managed an LGBTQ+ centre in the UK focused on challenging societal inequality, served on the Board of Leicester LGBTQ+ Centre and volunteered for Stonewall. Fay was recognized for developing a hate crime reporting tool that is now used across UK Police forces. Fay is one of the Western Award of Excellence recipients 2024.

Ryan is BrainsCAN's Associate Director, Metrics and Planning. He facilitates and coordinates multiple BrainsCAN initiatives, as well as works with BrainsCAN PIs to track the performance and impact of their cognitive neuroscience research and BrainsCAN as an initiative. Ryan has a background in neuroscience having completed a Master's (2008) and Ph.D. (2014) from University of Toronto, where he examined immune modulatory therapies for pediatric stroke, and cell-based strategies for neural regeneration following spinal cord injury, respectively. Ryan has been with Western since 2015, having previously been a member of the Research Development team.

Czarina is the Initiative for Translational Neuroscience (ITN) Research Project Manager where she facilitates and coordinates collaborations to ensure the successful completion of the ITN biotherapeutics project between Western and McGill. Czarina earned her PhD in Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience from the Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology (CSBN) at Concordia University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at CSBN where she examined neural systems involved in higher-order fear learning. Prior to her fellowship, she was also the visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Colby College in Waterville, ME, USA and the co-Principal Investigator of the Colby Behavioral Neuroscience lab.

Erin is the Graphic & Web Designer at BrainsCAN. She ensures branding consistency across all mediums (print, digital, and social), and maintains the website. She has been learning art, digital design, and front-end coding since high school, and brings knowledge obtained from working at many different-sized organizations where she has worked as web developer, brand designer, and content designer, among other roles. Erin graduated in 2015 from the University of Waterloo’s Arts & Business Co-op Program, with a major in Fine Arts Studio and a specialization in Digital Arts Communication.

Gregg is the Administrative Officer at BrainsCAN. He ensures the efficient coordination of the administrative operations for BrainsCAN, which includes providing guidance and support for a wide range of administrative, human resources and financial functions and processes. Gregg brings many years of experience in administration, finance and operations in both the private and not for profit sectors. Most recently Gregg was part of the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada team, serving as the Finance & Operations Manager. He is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University.

Amanda Taccone is the Communications Specialist for BrainsCAN. She is responsible for building awareness around the cutting-edge work happening across the Research and Innovation Cores through outreach and collaboration. Her responsibilities include media releases, digital content, social media and events. Most recently, she was the Communications Consultant for Lawson Health Research Institute. She also has 20 years of experience working in news media. She is a graduate of Concordia University and the University of Toronto.