Jennifer F. Chan, MA

Jennifer F. Chan, MA, is a PhD student in the Health Adaptation Research on Trauma (HART) Lab at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, supervised by Dr. Judith P. Andersen. She completed her Honours Bachelor of Science at McMaster University in Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, and her Master of Arts in Psychology at the University of Toronto. Her interdisciplinary research interests include health, stress, neuroendocrinology, inflammation, and biofeedback.

Her research focus involves measures of psychosocial, physiological stress, and mental/physical health in first responders; previous projects have explored occupational stress, the prevalence of mental health symptoms (e.g., PTSD, depression, anxiety), and cortisol dysfunction in police. She has also completed research at SickKids’ Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, studying MEG resting state neuroconnectivity of Canadian Armed Forces personnel diagnosed with PTSD. Her current dissertation research investigates how healthcare professionals’ experienced stress and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic influences mental and immune health via salivary biomarkers of inflammation.

Jen is also involved in education and science communication throughout the greater Toronto area. She is a course instructor and teaching assistant at UofT, as well as a co-founder of UofT SPRINT (Summer Psychology Research Initiative)- a program dedicated to providing high school students from groups typically under-represented in STEM free and accessible hands-on experience in Psychology research. She has also collaborated with and is an invited speaker for groups including the Royal Canadian Institute for Science, the Story Collider, and the Canadian Multicultural Inventors Museum.

Check out Jennifer’s publication in Occupational Medicine: Chan, J. F., & Andersen, J. P. (2020). Influence of organizational stress on reported depressive symptoms among police. Occupational Medicine, 70(7), 496–502. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqaa141