Leadership Team (2022-2023)
Co-President: Kateryna Voznyuk (email)
Kateryna (she/her/hers) is a 4th year undergraduate pursuing her B.Sc. in Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. Over her past three years of involvement in Psi Chi, Kateryna has committed to diversifying opportunities for students to connect within the UBC community and beyond. Her experience in guiding Psi Chi’s leadership team has heavily influenced her aspiration to support and coordinate clinical research before pursuing graduate studies in clinical neuropsychology after graduation. Her current research interests lie in understanding psychological determinants of health associated with brain injury and their impact on patient rehabilitation outcomes. Kateryna currently volunteers at the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Lab as a research assistant, clinical recruiter, and meta-analysis contributor investigating how stress and mental health interact. She has additionally held positions as behavioral research associate at the UBC Ciernia Lab, program volunteer for the BC Brain Wellness Program, and research associate for the Vancouver Brain Injury Association. In her free time, she enjoys reading, alpine skiing, re-watching Wes Anderson movies, and hiking Vancouver’s local peaks.
Co-President: Jeevan Sran (email)
Jeevan (she/her/hers) is a 4th-year B.A Psychology student minoring in Law & Society at the University of British Columbia. Over the course of her undergraduate years, Jeevan has put a focus in volunteer and work within the mental health field. This included working along with the UBC mental health network to destigmatize the conversation around mental health and reduce misinformation on campus. In addition to this, Jeevan has volunteered with the Looking Glass Foundation, as an Eating Disorder Support Worker, which involved creating meaningful and empathetic relationships to support individuals through their recovery Journey. In the future, Jeevan hopes to continue her education and career within the path of mental health.
Vice President Internal: Sushmita Mahadani (email)
Sushmita (she/her/hers) is a third-year undergraduate in the honours psychology program at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests lie within the context of making mental health systems more accessible within digital platforms. For her honours thesis, she is volunteering at the Vigo Lab under the Younger Minds Project to help develop a mental health app for university students and adapt it to the secondary school youth population to promote wellbeing. Some of her other work in the lab involves understanding app amendments required to cater to marginalised populations, specifically the Indigenous communities. In previous years, she has worked as a lab librarian in the MAGIC Lab and as a research assistant at the Applied Moral Psychology Lab exploring social conditioning, group decision-making, and more. Psi Chi has been an integral part of Sushmita’s commitment to the psychology field and she has been involved with the society for over a year. She wishes that the UBC Chapter provides all its members with a diverse scope of opportunity and community as it did for her when she joined the team.
Vice President External: Disha Jain (email)
Disha is a 3rd-Year B.A. Psychology Student minoring in commerce at the University of British Columbia. During her undergraduate degree, Disha spent majority of her time exploring her interests towards organisational behaviour, talent acquisition and Event Management. In the future, Disha hopes to work in the entertainment industry where she aims to apply her psychology and commerce knowledge.
Vice President Marketing: Hunar Singh (email)
Hunar is a 3rd year undergraduate pursuing her BA in psychology at the University of British Columbia. She is currently working at the start-up Kopi Date as a Psychology and Experience design intern, where she devised a curriculum with a psychologist (Dr. Amy Lim) to best humanise connections with customers. Her responsibilities entail marketing operations, e.g conducting market research, developing content for its various social media accounts (Instagram, Tiktok & Medium), and delivering administrative support. Additionally, she has held roles in Curamericas as a Young Professionals Board Member, SingHealth as a Business Innovation Intern, and 1PlaySports as a Media Management Intern, where her work involved promotional & product strategy. Upon graduation, Hunar will pursue a Masters in Business Administration in Marketing. In her free time, Hunar loves to ski, cook southeast Asian cuisine, and play the piano.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Catherine Rawn (email)
Dr. Catherine Rawn is a Professor of Teaching and the Associate Head for Undergraduate Affairs in the Department of Psychology, as well as the Chair of the Curriculum Committee for the Faculty of Arts as a whole. She regularly teaches students in the required research methods and statistics sequence (PSYC 217 and 218). She is a co-author on the textbook used in PSYC 217, and has published scholarly work on two-stage exams, student engagement in large classrooms, student evaluations of teaching, and the role of teaching-focused faculty at large research-intensive universities in Canada. Dr. Rawn was raised primarily by her grandmother, and was the first person in her family to attend university. Outside work these days she is enjoying yoga (at home since the pandemic), running the seawall, spending time with her husband and cat and friends, zooming with family, planning travel, and her first Dungeons and Dragons campaign.
Leadership Team (2021-2022)
Co-President: Fides Arguelles (email)
Fides is a student in the honours psychology program at the University of British Columbia. For their third-year honours thesis, they are volunteering as a project manager at the Happy Lab under the supervision of Dr. Elizabeth Dunn to examine factors affecting well-being in social environments. They are also involved in the directed studies program under the supervision of Dr. Rob Bedi at the Bedi Counselling/Psychotherapy RTS Lab. In addition, they are a study coordinator at the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Lab under the supervision of Dr. Joelle LeMoult to understand how emotion processes may vary in different contexts. Fides’ interests fall under the domains of clinical and developmental psychology, where they hope to integrate an intersectional, social-justice informed approach in their future research, clinical, and teaching endeavours.
Co-President: Norika So (email)
Norika is a 5th-year B.A. Psychology student at the University of British Columbia. During her undergraduate years, she volunteered as a research assistant at the Social Identity Lab and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Lab within the psychology department. Currently, Norika is enrolled in the Arts Co-op program and is working as a Business Development Assistant for the Arts Co-op office. Additionally, she enjoys the rewarding work of volunteering as a crisis responder for the Crisis Text Line as she is passionate about connecting with others through genuine and empathetic interaction. In the future, she hopes to continue working in higher education and pursue a Masters in Counselling Psychology.
Vice President Internal: Jaskarn Dhaliwal (email)
Jaskarn is a 5th-year B.S.c Behavioural Neuroscience student at the University of British Columbia. She is also minoring in Asian Studies. For the past 1.5 years, she has been working as a Work Learn Research Assistant in the Coping with Neurological Symptoms lab with Dr. Noah Silverberg. Currently, Jaskarn is completing a Directed Study investigating intimate partner violence-related brain injury in South Asian women under the supervision of UBCO’s Dr. Paul van Donkeelar. Her future interests lie in the fields of clinical work and providing equitable health care.
Vice President External: Kateryna Voznyuk (email)
Kateryna is a 3rd-year undergraduate pursuing her B.Sc. in Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. She is currently assisting Dr. Annie Ciernia with behavioural research at the Ciernia Microbiology Lab, investigating microglial dysfunction in Autism Spectrum Disorder behavioural models. Kateryna also volunteers on behalf of the BC Brain Wellness Program as a program assistant and the Vancouver Brain Injury Association as a research associate. Her academic and extracurricular experiences have led to a current interest in understanding the neurobiological changes associated with traumatic brain injury and their impact on patient language rehabilitation outcomes. Upon graduation, Kateryna hopes to pursue neuropsychological work with possible clinical research in speech disorders.
Vice President Marketing: Viktoriia Tian (email)
Viktoriia is in her 4th year of BA Psychology at the University of British Columbia. She is interested in spreading mental health awareness through media production. Viktoriia is currently working as the Research Communications Coordinator in the Department of Psychology. Her responsibilities focus on the creation of effective promotions to assist labs in their participant recruitment and the department’s social media management. Upon graduation, Viktoriia wants to pursue a career in the creative industry and apply her Psychology knowledge towards storytelling. She believes that film can heal people and is passionate to achieve this goal in the future.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Catherine Rawn (email)
Dr. Catherine Rawn is a Professor of Teaching and the Associate Head for Undergraduate Affairs in the Department of Psychology, as well as the Chair of the Curriculum Committee for the Faculty of Arts as a whole. She regularly teaches students in the required research methods and statistics sequence (PSYC 217 and 218). She is a co-author on the textbook used in PSYC 217, and has published scholarly work on two-stage exams, student engagement in large classrooms, student evaluations of teaching, and the role of teaching-focused faculty at large research-intensive universities in Canada. Dr. Rawn was raised primarily by her grandmother, and was the first person in her family to attend university. Outside work these days she is enjoying yoga (at home since the pandemic), running the seawall, spending time with her husband and cat and friends, zooming with family, planning travel, and her first Dungeons and Dragons campaign.
Leadership Team (2020-2021)
Co-President: Abhigyan Dasgupta
Abhi is a 3rd year B.A. Psychology student with a minor in Education (Interpersonal Development) at the University of British Columbia. He is determined to unlock people’s potential through a deeper understanding of interpersonal connection, counselling theories, personality and abnormal Psychology. He currently works as a Research Assistant at UBC’s Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Lab with Dr. Joelle Le Moult investigating the comorbidity between anxiety and depression as well as investigating the importance of incorporating RDoC to advance the Psychological sciences. He also enjoys hospitality and operations and therefore, spends a lot of his time working at the Shaughnessy Gold and Country Club a Front of House Service Team Member. Upon graduation, Abhi intends to pursue graduate studies in Counselling Psychology.
Co-President: Shuren Batkhuu
Shuren is a 4th-year B.A. Psychology student with a minor in Education (Interpersonal Development) at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests are an intersection between cultural, health, and positive psychology which she hopes to utilize in addressing mental health issues in Western and non-Western settings. She most recently volunteered as a research assistant at the Culture and Self Lab and is currently working at the Arts Co-op Office as a Student Advisor. Upon graduation, she plans to pursue the field of Counselling Psychology.
Vice-President Internal: Maria Shock
Maria is a 4th year undergraduate pursuing her BSc in Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. Maria is currently assisting Cecilia Jalabert in the Soma Lab with her PhD research investigating local sex steroid synthesis in the brain. Under the supervision of Dr. Kiran Soma, Maria is validating an ultra-sensitive method for measuring a panel of estrogens, using chemical derivatization and LC-MS/MS. Her studies have led to a current interest in investigating the roles of estrogens in breast cancer pathology, and the effects of estrogen therapies on post-menopausal women. Upon graduation, she plans to pursue clinical work with children, and conduct research on neurodevelopmental disorders.
Vice-President External: Rhea Chheda
Rhea is a 3rd year B+MM student pursing a BSc in Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. She is currently working as a research assistant with Dr. Todd at the Motivated Cognition Lab on a project that focuses on active and inhibitory avoidance in people suffering from anxiety and depression. She also works at an IME clinic where she assists doctors in clinical examinations as well as the managers with the business operations. Upon graduation, Rhea is keen on combining her knowledge in business with her interest in the healthcare industry.
Vice-President Events: Ria Gupta
Ria is in her fourth year of undergraduate studies pursuing a BA in psychology with a minor in education (interpersonal development). She is passionate about supporting the mental health and professional development of adolescents and young adults, which she has been able to do through a variety of past peer support positions. She is currently volunteering in Dr. Bedi’s Counselling Lab at UBC where she is working on analyzing how Punjabi/Sikh individuals view counselling, in order to shed light on issues faced by the community. She is also working as a Psychometric Research Intern for a company in India, in order to design a career assessment tool for high school students. Being able to support others, is what she believes has been the highlight of her degree and she is excited to keep pursuing that with a career in counselling psychology in the future.
Vice-President Marketing: Salud Fidelis (Fides) Arguelles (e-mail)
Fides is a BA Psychology major in their third year at the University of British Columbia. They are particularly involved in the directed studies program under the supervision of Dr. Bedi at the Bedi Counselling/Psychotherapy Research, Teaching, and Service Lab. Their undergraduate thesis seeks to contribute to the body of research that identifies conventional psychotherapy/counselling services as culturally-dependent practices, thereby opposing dominant frameworks that assume such services as universal. Additionally, their past involvements within the psychology department include research assistant positions at the Emotion and Self Lab as well as the Bedi RTS Lab. Their future research interests fall under the domains of developmental and clinical psychology, and intersectional research. In particular, they hope to one day conduct research addressing the ever-increasing amount of severe mood disorders experienced by adolescents at younger ages.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Steven Barnes (e-mail)
Steven is the associate professor of teaching and associate head of the Department of Psychology at UBC. Steven J. Barnes is well-regarded for his work related to online learning technologies (e.g., the Tapestry Project; see tapestry-tool.com), student mental health and wellbeing, and bipolar disorder (BD). Steven co-directs the Collaborative RESearch Team to study psychosocial issues in BD (CREST.BD, see crestbd.ca), a BD research and knowledge exchange network which received the 2018 CIHR Gold Leaf Prize for Patient Engagement, Canada’s most prestigious recognition for patient engagement in research across all health disciplines.
Leadership Team (2019-2020)
President: Aaron Zhuo
Aaron is a 4th year B.A. Psychology Honors Undergraduate at the University of British Columbia passionate about unlocking professional development opportunities for students at an undergraduate level. He currently works as a project manager with Dr. Elizabeth Dunn at the Happy Lab running separate projects exploring the way phone use and feedback influence happiness and social interactions; and with Dr. Jiaying Zhao at the Behavioral Sustainability Lab investigating the influence of financial scarcity on prosociality. Aaron has held positions as the President of World Vision UBC, Managing Editor for the UBC Undergraduate Journal of Psychology, and the VP Sponsorship at UBC Partners in Health Canada. He is interested in the intersection between positive psychology, applied intervention-based research as well as decision-making and choice in an industrial-organizational or urban planning setting. Upon graduation, Aaron intends to pursue graduate studies in Business with a specialization in Behavioral Sciences in hopes of being able to make people happy for a living.
Vice-President Internal: Brandon Forys
Brandon is a 4th-year Honours Psychology student at the University of British Columbia. He is currently carrying out research on avoidance behaviours in humans for his honours thesis with Dr. Rebecca Todd in the Motivated Cognition Lab; conducting directed studies research on the computational modelling of steroid regulation with Dr. Kiran Soma in the Soma Lab; and developing a real-time behavioural analysis system and brain region segmentation system for mice with Dr. Tim Murphy in the Murphy Lab in the Department of Psychiatry. Brandon also works as a TA with Dr. David King, is a co-founder and vice-president of the AMS Turing Club @ UBC, and is an executive with UBC’s Model UN Student Association. He is interested in exploring the neural networks and signals – as well as behavioural phenotypes – that underpin decision making, especially avoidance behaviours and risk-benefit analyses. Upon graduation, Brandon intends to pursue cognitive psychology and computational neuroscience in graduate school.
Vice-President External: Amanda McKinnon (e-mail)
Amanda is a 4th year BSc student double majoring in Behavioural Neuroscience and Biology at the University of British Columbia. Her studies have led to an interest in research relating to the impacts of psychopathology on brain function from a physiological standpoint. Amanda is also currently the VP Internal of the UBC Neuroscience Club, and works with an educational outreach charity. Upon graduation, Amanda intends to pursue graduate studies in clinical psychology.
Vice-President Events: Ningxin Jiang (e-mail)
Ningxin is a 3rd year BA psychology student at the University of British Columbia. She is currently working in Dr. Heine’s Culture and Self Lab, while having a strong interest and involvement in NGOs that promote health and education. Ningxin is interested in many fields of psychology, particularly in cultural, health, developmental and clinical psychology. She plans to pursue a career related to real world application of psychological knowledge before getting into graduate studies.
Vice-President Communications: Manreet Bhullar (e-mail)
Manreet is a 3rd year Behavioural Neuroscience student at the University of British Columbia. She is a research assistant for the Centre for Mindfulness at BC Children’s Hospital, works at a daycare with toddlers, and is an on-campus mental health ambassador with the UBC Mental Health Network. In the future, Manreet intends to pursue a career as a clinician-scientist, practicing psychiatry with the early developmental population and researching the effects of prenatal environmental factors on a child’s development.
Faculty Advisor: Lillian May (e-mail)
Lily is a Lecturer in the Department of Psychology, where she teaches undergraduate courses including Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 102), Infancy (PSYC 302), Childhood and Adolescence (PSYC 315), and Applied Developmental Psychology (PSYC 319). She conducted her PhD research in Developmental Psychology at UBC, studying infants’ neurological and social perception of speech and language. Lily first joined Psi Chi while obtaining her B.A. from Pomona College in California.
Our leadership alums:
President(s):
Fides Arguelles and Norika So (2021-2022); Abhigyan Dasgupta and Shuren Batkhuu (2020-2021); Aaron Zhuo (2019-2020); Hiro Ito (2018-2019); Alexia Miller (2017-2018); Brandon Woo (2016-17); Robin Richardson (2015-16); Rachel Wong (2014-15); Christina van den Brink (2013-14); Jenn Ferris (2012-13); Kaitlyn Goldsmith (2011-12)
Vice President – Internal:
Jaskarn Dhaliwal (2021-2022); Maria Shock (2020-2021); Brandon Forys (2019-2020); Jean Dong (2018-2019); Rose Zhao (2017-2018); Natalie Wong (2016-17); Anica Villamayor (2015-16)
Vice President – External:
Kateryna Voznyuk (2021-2022); Rhea Chheda (2020-2021); Amanda McKinnon (2019-2020); Aaron Zhuo (2018-2019); Tom Chung (2017-2018); Yousef Shahin (2016-17); Agnes Choi (2015-16)
Vice President – Marketing:
Viktoriia Tian (2021-2022); Fides Arguelles (2020-2021); Manreet Bhullar (2019-2020); Keith Patena (2018-2019)
Vice President – Events (position discontinued in 2021w):
Ria Gupta (2020-2021); Ningxin Jiang (2019-2020); Vanessa Kong (2018-2019)
Social Coordinator:
Hiro Ito (2017-2018)
Vice President (position split into two Vice-Presidency positions 2015w; four Vice-Presidency positions 2018w):
Robin Richardson (2014-15); Naiomi Neufeld (2013-14); Navio Kwok (2012-13); Ashley Whillans (2011-12)
Director of Membership (position discontinued in 2015w):
Heather Herriot (2014-15); Pegah Mortazavi (2013-14); Breanna Morrow (2012-13); Jenn Ferris (2011-12)
Faculty Advisor:
Dr. Michael Souza (2011-16)
Dr. D. Kyle Danielson (2016-2017)
Dr. Andrew Rivers (2018-2019)
Dr. Lillian May (2019-2020)
Dr. Catherine Rawn (2021-Present)
Photos of graduating executive teams:
