Maxana Weiss, PhD Candidate
As a classically trained dancer for nearly two decades, Maxana has always been fascinated by movement and memory. She first obtained a B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior from Mount Holyoke College (Massachusetts, USA) where she studied the control of landing movements in Cane Toads with an independent study project exploring landing behavior in sports (gymnastics, soccer, skiing).
Maxana next found her way to the Biomechanics of Occupation and Sport (BOS) Lab where she completed a MSc in Kinesiology (Biomechanics and Neuroscience) under the supervision of Dr. Julie Côté. Her thesis focused on age-related adaptations to muscular fatigue and differences in the fatigue response.
With the PCHI lab, Maxana will be working under the supervision of Dr. Sara Ahmed on the BRILLIANT project distinguishing barriers and gaps to building an accessible digital health interface for use by patients with acquired brain injury, their carer(s), and clinicians.
More About Maxana
Maxana’s research aims to incorporate stakeholders at all stages of development for the digital health platform tool to minimize barriers and gaps in accessibility to platform use. Specifically, incorporating educational components into the platform that can contribute to building self-efficacy for disease management. Overall, she hopes to aid in the development and implementation of digital health platforms for the improvement of treatments and techniques across multiple chronic conditions.
Projects Maxana is Involved In
Did you know ?
As a volunteer and coordinator for Let’s Talk Science she has contributed over 500 volunteer hours, coordinated over 350 activities, and facilitated STEM outreach to over 60,000 students.
Maxana has done research in five countries (USA, Canada, Italy, Germany, Ireland).
Maxana has a Black Belt in Karate.