Graduate Students

Erna Kurbegovic

Erna Kurbegovic, B.A., M.A. works in the History Graduate Program on her PhD thesis on a comparative analysis of the eugenics programs in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Manitoba. She joined the History of Medicine and Health Care at the UofC from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, MB.

Kelsey Lucyk

Kelsey Lucyk, B.A., M.Sc. works in the Community Health Sciences Graduate Program on her PhD thesis on a history of the concept of "social inequities" through the lens of the development of the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA). She joined the History of Medicine and Health Care Program at the UofC from the University of Calgary (previous Master's in CHS) in Calgary, AB.

Jessica Henschel

Jessica Henschel, B.A.: Jessica received a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Psychology and History from the University of Alberta in 2020. She has researched and worked both in psychology (children’s cognitive development) and in the field of public health. In Fall 2020, Jessica joined the University of Calgary’s MA in the History and Philosophy of Science specialization. Her research interests include the history of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Western Canada, with a focus on mental illness and treatment.

Alison Bumstead

Alison Bumstead, B.A.: Re-Examining the Mental Health Casualties during the British Burma Campaign, 1942-1945
(M.A. in History)

Rogelio Mendoza

Rogelio Mendoza, B.A., M.A.: Dr. Jose Felix Merizalde and the Relationship between Colombian Physicians and Latin American Scientists in the 19th Century (M.A. in History and Philosophy of Science)

Rogelio Mendoza holds a BA degree from the Uni Pontificia Bolivariana and an MA from the Uni de los Andes (Columbia) and is joining the graduate program (co-supervision with Professor Amie Kiddle) at the University of Calgary, to deepen his knowledge and research experience in the History of Medicine and Philosophy of Science. As a former journalist he has ample experience in science communication and is strongly interested in issues of knowledge dissemination, the public understanding of science, as well as historical epistemology and public mental health.

Michel Shamy

Michel Shamy, M.D.: Acute Stroke Decision-Making in Historical & Philosophical Context, 1880-2000
(M.A. in History and Philosophy of Science) 

Michel was born and raised in Montreal. He studied history at Yale, earning a B.A. cum laude and with distinction. He then received his M.D. from Queen's University and completed his neurological residency at the University of Toronto. While in residency he was awarded the KJR Wightman Award for Scholarship in Ethics from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and the PAIRO Trust Fund Teaching Award as the top resident teacher at the University of Toronto. He is now a Clinical Fellow in Vascular Neurology at the University of California San Francisco. He hopes to build a career at the intersection of clinical neurology, ethics, and the history of medicine. 

Paula Larsson

Paula Larsson, B.A.: The Impact of the Indian Residential School System on the Health of the First Nations in Western Canada
(M.A. in History)

Paula Larsson had been a student at Mount Royal University in Calgary, where she graduated in 2013 with an Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in History and Anthropology. She has joined the University of Calgary's graduate program in History to complete a Master's degree based on a research project investigating the history of health conditions in the residential school system in Western Canada. She has been a workshop assistant of the Situating Science (SSHRC) Workshop "Where is the Laboratory Now?" at the University of Calgary Field Station in Kananaskis in the Rocky Mountains in June 2013. 

Jessica Tannenbaum

Jessica Tannenbaum, M.D.: Post-Mortem Examinations in German Concentration Camps during World War Two - An Analysis and Comparison of Archival Materials from Floessenbuerg and Dachau (M.A. in History)

Jessica Tannenbaum holds a Dr. med. degree in History of Medicine from the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuernberg in Germany. In parallel to her studies in medicine and history of medicine, she also took several courses in general history (social and cultural history as well as historiographical methodology) from the German Open University in Hagen (Fernuniversitaet Hagen). Before joining the UofC graduate program, she had also worked as a contractor doing guided visits for the historical exhibit project at the Concentration Camp Flossenbuerg Memorial Site, and has published her Dr. med. dissertation as a book with Peter Lang Verlag in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Joseph Bahhadi

Joseph Bahhadi, BMus: The use of Music Therapy as a treatment for Dementia (MSc in Community Health Sciences) 

Joseph Bahhadi graduated with a Bachelor of Music Performance (trombone) from the University of Calgary in 2020. Joseph’s research interests during his undergrad were in accessibility and disability studies, but has now started to apply his passion for music and background in musicology to look at the historical interplay between music therapy and Dementia.