Research team

Suzanne Tough, PhD

Dr. Suzanne Tough’s research on maternal health has led to fundamental changes in prenatal care and clinical practice. She is the Principal Investigator of the All Our Families study, a cohort of over 3,000 families followed prospectively for over 10 years resulting in a changed understanding of the relationship between early life events, mental health and long-term outcomes. She is a leader in translating evidence to practice, longitudinal research, and mental health. She is a Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary, and has held leadership roles as a Scientific Director and Policy Fellow. She has been recognized by numerous agencies including the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Canadian Pediatric Society, Global YWCA Women of Vision, and the United Nations International Women’s Day for her leadership in innovation, science and mentorship.

Sheila McDonald, PhD

Dr. Sheila McDonald is the Co-Principal Investigator of the All Our Families Study. She is also the Manager on the Early Years Health Promotion Team in the Department of Healthy Children and Families, Promoting Health, Provincial, Population and Public Health at Alberta Health Services (AHS), and an adjunct Assistant Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from McGill University, with a specific focus on life course epidemiology and causal inference. She has extensive methodological skills in research methods, complex data sets, longitudinal analysis, and content expertise in maternal mental health, adverse childhood experiences, and child development. Other contributions include work in Evidence Informed Decision Making in AHS, including evidence syntheses and critical appraisal, and contributing to the development of practice guidelines and policy recommendations.

Katie Chaput, PhD

Dr. Chaput is a perinatal epidemiologist and assistant professor in the departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. Her overall research interests lie in the intersections of perinatal mental health, substance use, and associated maternal and infant health outcomes. She uses advanced, mixed-methods of inquiry and analysis to address contemporary challenges in maternal and infant health research, to generate evidence for optimizing perinatal health policy and services. Her program of research includes ongoing studies on prenatal and postpartum mental health, breastfeeding, health service use, substance use in pregnancy and the postpartum, and infant neurodevelopment.

Susan Graham, PhD

Dr. Susan Graham is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and a registered clinical psychologist. She is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and previously held the Canada Research Chair in Language and Cognitive Development. She is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Cognition and Development. Her research and supervision has been recognized with the Killam Annual Professor Award and the Izzak Walton Killam Award for Graduate Supervision and Mentoring. After completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Manitoba, she moved to Concordia University to complete her graduate studies. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1996. Her research focuses on language and cognitive development during the infancy and preschool years and is currently funded by a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and an Insights Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Sheri Madigan, PhD

Dr. Sheri Madigan is a Canada Research Chair in the Determinants of Child Development. She joined the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary in 2015 and is currently directing the Determinants of Child Development Lab, a lab that is dedicated to conducting research on the multidimensional influences that shape children's developmental trajectories. Dr. Madigan is a principal-investigator on several research projects on children's development supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program, and the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation.

Donna Slater, PhD

Dr. Donna Slater is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Physiology & Pharmacology and Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and the Co-Director for Biomedical Sciences Stream in the Bachelor of Health Sciences Undergraduate Program, Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. Dr. Slater obtained her Ph.D. in Genetics from the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, University of London, UK and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Imperial College School of Medicine, London and the University of Warwick. Her lab research focuses on the human uterus to determine the factors involved in regulating uterine contractions and relaxation, and to understand the mechanisms that lead to pregnancy complications such as preterm labour and post-partum haemorrhage, with the long term goal of better prevention, treatment and outcomes for both mother and child. She has expertise in molecular, cellular, physiology and pharmacology techniques in the lab, and has developed a number of cell based models, to investigate the mechanism of preterm labour, which can be used to safely test new targets. The research is funded by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

Zahra Clayborne, PhD

Dr. Zahra Clayborne is a psychiatric epidemiologist and Assistant Professor in the Departments of Community Health Sciences and Pediatrics at the University of Calgary. She completed a Canadian Institutes of Health Research postdoctoral fellowship in 2024 at the University of Calgary, where she worked with Drs. Suzanne Tough and Sheila McDonald with All Our Families to understand flourishing from a developmental perspective. Dr. Clayborne's program of research is centred on investigating optimal well-being and mental health outcomes throughout the life course via an intersectional lens, with a particular focus on the development of mental health, flourishing, and resiliency among children and youth.

Mary Canning, BA

Mary Canning joined the All Our Families team in 2011 as a Data Research Assistant, initially involved with checking and cleaning data. Over the next several years, her role has evolved to include managing requests to access the All Our Families data, development of follow up questionnaires, and maintaining databases and data sets. Mary provides direction and consultation to internal and external investigators in their use of the AOF data. As a licensed practical nurse in a postpartum patient care unit, Mary also offers a clinical background in the area of child and maternal health.

Muci Wu, BSc

Muci Wu joined the All Our Families team in 2012 as a Research Assistant and has since moved into her current role with the team as Research Program Manager. Muci completed her BSc in Statistics at the University of Calgary, and has experience in survey development, database design, and data management. In her free time, she can be found baking, hiking, and throwing pottery.

Jessica Walsh, MB BCh BAO MSc

Dr. Jessica-Lynn Walsh joined All Our Families in 2017 and has participated in numerous capacities with the team, including as a Research Assistant and trainee. Her current role is Interim Program Lead. Jessica is a PhD Epidemiology Candidate in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary where her thesis is exploring potentially avoidable infant acute health service use. She completed her MSc in Medical Sciences at the University of Calgary as a Policy Fellowship trainee, and has a Medical Degree from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. Her research interests include resilience and flourishing, community connections and support, newborn and infant health, and maternal and pediatric mental health.

Julia Wilson, MSc

Julia Wilson joined the All Our Families team in 2023 as a Research Assistant. She completed her BMSc and MSc in Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences at the University of Western Ontario where she specialized in maternal and fetal health. Her graduate research focused on identifying disparities in maternal and child health outcomes by investigating access to prenatal care, maternal substance use, the role of community support, and the impact of socioeconomic factors on well-being. In Julia’s spare time, she enjoys running outdoors, reading, and spending time with friends and family.

Tona Pitt, PhD Student

Tona joined the All Our Families team in 2021. He completed his BSc in Kinesiology and MSc in Population/Public Health at the University of Calgary. His training and previous work has primarily been in injury epidemiology with a focus on child health, active transportation, and injury prevention. Tona is responsible for the analysis of the incoming survey data that goes into the reports and presentations. He also works with the analysis of other data/epidemiology related projects as they come up. Sports, especially grappling, have always been a part of Tona's life, and he started doing Judo was he was 7. Once he started studying at the University of Calgary, he transitioned to the University of Calgary Dino’s wrestling team.

Kristine Pesigan, BHSc

Kristine joined the All Our Families team as a volunteer research assistant in 2024. She completed her BHSc in Psychology at the University of Calgary in 2023, where her thesis was a meta-analysis on individual level predictors of well-being in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Alongside volunteering, Kristine currently works in the psych department’s Trailblazing Research for Equitable Care Lab as a research coordinator. She hopes to gain more experience in epidemiological-focused research to gain a clearer understanding for her future studies. Kristine has a keen interest in positive psychology and equitable care and in her free time, she enjoys Olympic weightlifting, tinkering with keyboards, and reading.

Research Team

Investigators