Graduate Student Profiles

See what these KIN Grads are up to and what they’re doing in their Kinesiology degrees.

Ahmadian, Mehdi

A former elite athlete and international karate champion, he says that as an athlete “I was always curious about how my body responded to different types of exercise training.” This curiosity led him to pursue studies in the field of physical education and sport sciences.


Bandara, Nilanga Aki

1st year Master of Kinesiology student

Aki states, “the pandemic has completely changed our ways of life. Evidence from health care professionals working on the frontlines shows that their mental health has been negatively impacted by the pandemic.


Benbaruj, Jenna

Degree: 2nd year of Master of Science in Kinesiology (MSc)
Supervisor: Dr. Bill Sheel
Teaching Assistant for KIN 110
My graduate research falls under the umbrellas of integrative cardiopulmonary physiology and exercise physiology. Specifically, my thesis aims to investigate sex-based differences in the reflex blood pressure response to exercise using different muscle groups. [...]


Busch, Stephen

Degree: 1st year, Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology
Supervisor: Dr. Bill Sheel
Teaching Assistant for KIN 235
My general research theme focuses on the complex physiological interaction between the human respiratory, nervous, and cardiovascular systems in response to our environment. I’m exploring this theme from the perspective of ambient air pollution produced by human sources, which causes imbalance between all three systems even during short term exposure. [...]


Elsayed, Ahmed

Degree: 1st year of Master of Kinesiology (MKin)
Teaching Assistant for KIN 442
For my research, I am using clinical applications of exercise prescription to rehabilitate and promote health and wellness in a wide range of populations. These populations vary from post-operational populations learning basic functional movement to creating and altering varsity/elite athlete exercise programs. [...]


Fliss, Matthew

Matthew Fliss is a graduate student, working on his Master of Science (MSc) in Kinesiology. He was recently awarded the esteemed Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) 2021 Graduate Student Award for MSc Poster Presentation. The award acknowledges the outstanding graduate research that is presented at CSEP’s Graduate Student Poster Award Session. Winning the award […]


Guan, Yanfei

Joining the Class of 2021 this fall, is Ph.D. Kin student Yanfei Guan! KIN doctoral candidate, Yanfei Guan, will cross the stage as part of the UBC Class of 2021 at the Fall convocation. His dissertation examines “the relationship between inter-limb asymmetry and sports injury in youth athletes.” As part of his dissertation, he led […]


Injege, Boaz

Degree: 1st year of Master of Science in Kinesiology (MSc)
Supervisor: Dr. Eli Puterman
Teaching Assistant for KIN 150
Broadly speaking, my research brings together three threads: stress, physical activity, and mental health in Black Canadians. In the U.S, some research studies have found that Black adults experience more stress. However, they report similar or better mental health relative to White adults who experience less stress. [...]


Jennings, Jim

Graduating year: 2016, 2022
Degree: HPCTL, MHPCTL
Jim Jennings is presently completing his master’s degree in high-performance coaching and technical leadership and will graduate in May 2022. He is the former Chair of Karate Canada’s Long-Term Development (LTD) Committee and a member of the High-Performance Committee. He runs a Karate club in Bradford, Ontario, which offers recreational and high-performance training for athletes competing at both the Provincial and National level.


Kanagasingam, Deana

Deana Kanagasingam is a PhD candidate in Kinesiology (Socio-Cultural Studies) at the School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia. Her research explores how principles of social justice, weight-inclusiveness, and person-centredness are integrated into healthcare practice. She holds a Master of Arts in Women’s and Gender Studies, with a specialization in Women’s Health, from the University […]