

Élyse Caron-Beaudoin, PhD
Assistant Professor, Environmental Health
University of Toronto Scarborough
Principal Investigator

Élyse Caron-Beaudoin, PhD
Assistant Professor in Environmental Health
Department of Health and Society
Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences
University of Toronto Scarborough
Graduate cross-appointment - Dalla Lana School of Public Health
University of Toronto
CIHR Postdoctoral fellow, Université de Montréal School of Public Health (2018-2020)
FRQS Postdoctoral fellow, Université de Montréal School of Public Health (2017-2018)
PhD in biology, INRS - Institut Armand-Frappier (2012-2017)
Collaborators
Amira Aker, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow
Dr Aker is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), and she will be joining Prof Mélanie Lemire's team at Université Laval in 2021. Dr Aker’s broader research interests include the intersection between environmental chemical exposure and social factors on women’s health. Her research program focuses on the environmental and social factors influencing reproductive life course stages, such as pregnancy, preconception health and menopause.
As a collaborator in the From bench to communities lab, Amira is investigating the associations between exposure to hydraulic fracturing activity and mental health outcomes during pregnancy, such as anxiety and depression.

Current Graduate Students

Ghida Baalbaki
PhD Student in biology (co-supervision)
Ghida started her PhD in biology at INRS - Institut Armand Frappier in January 2021, under the supervision of Géraldine Delbès, Cathy Vaillancourt and Élyse Caron-Beaudoin. Ghida will research the endocrine disrupting effects of environmentally-relevant concentrations of contaminants associated with hydraulic fracturing on fetal development.
After a bachelor degree in “Life and Earth Sciences-Biochemistry” at Saint-Joseph University of Beyrouth, Ghida completed a 2 year Masters at the University of Paris, where she was specialized in ‘Cellular Biology, Physiology and Pathology: Reproduction and development’. In her first year, Ghida worked on the impact of freezing on the integrity of spermatic chromatin at the Reproductive biology laboratory at Poissy hospital. Then, Ghida did her second year internship at the Neurodevelopment laboratory at Robert Debré hospital to understand the synaptic role of a poorly characterized Golgi protein whose genetic deficiency causes a neurodevelopmental disease.
Emmanuel Bourdet
MSc student in Occupational and Environmental Health
(co-supervision)
Emmanuel started a master’s degree in Occupational and Environmental Health at the Université de Montréal in January 2021 under the supervision of Marc-André Verner and Élyse Caron-Beaudoin. During his research, Emmanuel will investigate the associations between hydraulic fracturing activity in Northeastern British Columbia and indoor radon concentrations in the EXPERIVA study.
Emmanuel holds a nursing degree from the Université de Bretagne Sud and the Centre Hospitalier de Vanne (France). In addition, Emmanuel is a certified registered nurse anesthetist (Master's degree, Université de la Réunion). Emmanuel has been practicing nursing in France and Île de la Réunion since 2013.


Coreen Daley
PhD in Environmental Science student
Coreen started her PhD in Environmental Science program at the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences (University of Toronto Scarborough) in September 2021. During her PhD, Coreen will use chemical transport models, phase-specific density and proximity metrics, environmental and biomonitoring data to estimate exposure to contaminants associated with unconventional natural gas exploitation in Northeastern British Columbia.
Coreen holds a MEnvSc in Environmental Science and a HBSc in Environment Health and Immunology from the University of Toronto Scarborough.
Matthew Day
Master of Environmental Science student
Matthew started his MEnvSc program at the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences (University of Toronto Scarborough) in September 2021. As part of this professional program, Matthew is measuring the levels of various oxidative stress biomarkers and antioxidant enzymes in a cohort of pregnant women living near unconventional natural gas activity in Northeastern British Columbia. Matthew is also investigating the mediating role of melatonin in the associations between exposure to oil and gas operations and oxidative stress.
Matthew holds a BSc in Life Sciences from Queen's University.

Current interns and research assistants
Maduomethaa Pathmaraj
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Maduomethaa is a student at the University of Toronto Scarborough double majoring in Human Biology and Psychology. During her time at the From Bench to Communities Lab, she is assisting MEnvSc student Matthew Day in the measurements of oxidative stress biomarkers in urinary samples of the EXPERIVA study.