Graduates & Affiliates

 

PROF. LORNA FERGUSON, PhD​

​Dr. Lorna Ferguson is an award-winning criminologist and Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Regina, with over a decade of experience researching missing persons, policing, and search and rescue (SAR). Her work focuses on improving practice, policy, and prevention across these areas. She is also the Founder of the Missing Persons Research Hub, a North America-wide hub dedicated to advancing research and evidence-informed responses to missing persons and is the Senior Managing Editor for Evidence Base. Dr. Ferguson’s research has significantly deepened understandings of how police and SAR organizations respond to missing persons cases, including those involving vulnerable populations, complex risks, and long-term or cold investigations. She has partnered with more than 40 police services and numerous SAR groups to strengthen risk assessment, investigative and search approaches, interagency coordination, training, and prevention efforts. Her broader research program extends to related areas of policing, including incident command, evidence-based policing, technology and innovation, police data and intelligence, cybercrime, responses involving persons with mental illness, and police reform.

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Current HART lab collaboration

Co-guest Editor, SAGE Special Issue: Public Safety Work in Complex Systems

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Recent publication: Ferguson, L., Huey, L., Kalyal, H., & Andersen, J. P. (2025). Developing a competency framework for police incident commanders. Applied Police Briefings, 1(3), 65–67. DOI: https://appliedpolicebriefings.com/index.php/APB/article/view/5153

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SERGEANT LISSA RUOCCO

 Sergeant Ruocco has over 27 years of experience in law enforcement and is a long-serving member of the Toronto Police Service. She has spent 18 years as a member and trainer with the elite Emergency Task Force. She was recently honoured with the People's Choice award from the Society of Police and Criminal Psychology. Her career reflects sustained leadership and mentorship. She is the first female police sniper in Canada and one of the longest-serving female tactical officers in North America. She is an FBI-trained hostage negotiator, a director with the New York Association of Hostage Negotiators and an instructor at the Canadian Police College. Lissa is a Chair on the board of directors of The Haven, a mental health charitable organization that supports many first responders and has changed many lives. Since 2014, she serves as a core practitioner-partner with the HART Lab at the University of Toronto Mississauga, contributing directly to all of our research on police health, performance, and evidence-based training, including the Autonomic Modulation Training Intervention for officers exposed to PTSI. Her operational expertise and leadership are central to tailoring scientific methods for application in policing and the general population, and to piloting and implementing research-integrated training. Her composure, expertise in stress and physiological regulation, and credibility within tactical units establish her as a trusted translational leader. She also provides confidential mentorship and intensive support to officers experiencing occupational stress, facilitating recovery and sustained high-level functioning.

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Current HART lab collaboration

Community Research Liaison with first responder agencies, Applied Research Partner on our CIHR Grant (2019-present): Autonomic Modulation Training, Master instructor on the iPREP team.

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PAULA M. DI NOTA, PHD

Dr. Di Nota, a former Postdoctoral Fellow in the HART Lab, continues as a collaborator and lab affiliate. Her expertise includes the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying training and complex motor learning in police populations, as well as the influence of occupational stress on the mental health and well-being of police and other first responders groups. Her dissertation research examined learning-induced changes to brain activity using behavioral, fMRI, and EEG measures. Currently, Paula is a Senior Analyst, Inspectorate of Policing, Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General.

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Current HART lab collaboration

Applied Researcher and Policy Advisor: CIHR Grant Autonomic Modulation Training and iPREP

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Recent publication: Di Nota, P.M. and Huhta, J.-M. (2019),Complex motor learning and police training: applied, cognitive, and clinical perspectives,Frontiers in Psychology, Vol. 10 No. 1797, pp. 1-20. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01797

 

PATRICK FAHIM, PhD Candidate

Patrick Fahim is a former thesis student in the HART lab and collaborator on multiple papers.
Currently, Patrick is a PhD candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Saskatchewan, supervised by Dr. Megan O'Connell. Patrick's research aims to assess the utility of cardiovascular biomarkers to predict cognitive decline and subsequent neurodegeneration.

 

Ongoing HART lab collaboration

Examines stress responses, heart rate variability, and heart rate fragmentation among public safety personnel, CIHR grant Autonomic Modulation Training

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Recent publication: Fahim, P., Jani, A., De Villa, L., Andersen, J. (2026). Coping Strategies and Post Traumatic Stress Injury Symptoms Differ Between Tactical and Frontline Police Officers: Implications for Health and Public Safety. Frontiers Psychology, 17:1799457. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1799457​​​​​

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​AMANDA JANI, MSc Candidate

Amanda is currently a graduate student at the University of Toronto, Institute of Medical Science. She graduated from the University of Toronto Mississauga where she double majored in Biology for Health Sciences and Psychology. She was a recipient of the 2024 University of Toronto Excellence Award, whereby her project consisted of exploring sex and gender effects in psychobiological and psychosocial measures such as HRV and HRF among police officers. Her current master's thesis focuses on understanding how heart rhythms relate to cognition in older adults, with the aim of identifying novel heart rate-based biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease risk.

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Ongoing HART lab collaboration

Examines occupational stress, PTSI, health, heart rate variability and fragmentation among public safety personnel, CIHR grant Autonomic Modulation Training

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Recent publication: Fahim, P., Jani, A., De Villa, L., Andersen, J. (2026). Coping Strategies and Post Traumatic Stress Injury Symptoms Differ Between Tactical and Frontline Police Officers: Implications for Health and Public Safety. Frontiers Psychology, 17:1799457. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1799457​​​​​

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JENNIFER F. CHAN, PHD

Jennifer F. Chan, Ph.D. (she/her) , a former graduate student and Postdoctoral Fellow in the HART Lab. Her dissertation research involved measures psychophysiological stress dysregulation (e.g., cortisol and cardiovascular), biofeedback and mental health (e.g., PTSD, depression, anxiety) in public safety personnel (PSP) and university undergraduates. Her current research focuses on developing heart rate fragmentation algorithms to identify burnout and adverse mental health from chronic stress.

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Jen is also involved in education and science communication throughout the greater Toronto area. She is a course instructor at UofT, a co-founder of UofT SPRINT (Summer Psychology Research Initiative – a program dedicated to providing underrepresented high school students free and accessible hands-on experience in Psychology research). She has also collaborated with and is an invited speaker for groups including the Royal Canadian Institute for Science, the Story Collider, and the Canadian Multicultural Inventors Museum.

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Current collaboration

Heart Rate Variability and Fragmentation Among Public Safety Personnel

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Recent publication: Chan, J. F., & Andersen, J. P. (2025). Heart rate fragmentation: A novel analytic approach to detect allostatic load among healthy adults. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-025-09721-1

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PROF MONICA GHABRIAL, PHD

Monica Ghabrial, Ph.D. (she/her) is a Health Psychologist and Assistant Professor at Algoma University. She completed a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and Harvard University. Dr. Ghabrial is a former student of Dr. Andersen and they continue to collaborate on a number of important projects. During her time in the HART Lab, her dissertation research primarily examined stress, health, and resilience among Queer and Trans People of Color, with additional projects on biculturalism, visibility, and wellbeing among plurisexual/bisexual People of Color and community and resource development for women with HIV. Through an intersectional, strengths-based framework, she developed and validated the first measure of positive attitude toward identity for Queer People of Color, the Queer People of Colour Identity Affirmation Scale, and used that scale to investigate the link between identity affirmation and cardiovascular adaptivity to stress. Dr. Ghabrial’s dissertation was selected as a top 5 finalist for the 2022 CAGS/Proquest Distinguished Dissertation Award.

 

Dr. Ghabrial one of the leaders of two studies of trans health across Canada. She also runs a website dedicated to reporting research on Queer and Trans health, www.queercarekit.com. You can learn more about her work and find information for consulting and public speaking services on Dr. Ghabrial’s personal website: www.monicaghabrial.com

 

Check out Monica’s publication in the leading journal in the field of Counseling Psychology: Ghabrial, M.A., & Andersen, J.P. (2020). Development and initial validation of the Queer People of Color Positive Identity Measure. Journal of Counseling Psychology

 

KONSTANTINOS PAPAZOGLOU, PHD

 

Konstantinos Papazoglou is a psychology PhD (2018) and previous Vanier CIHR scholar at the University of Toronto and was supervised by Professor Judith P. Andersen. After obtaining his master’s degree in mental health counseling at New York University (NYU) as Onassis foundation scholar in 2010, he worked as a clinician with military personnel (2006-2008) and police cadets in Athens, Greece (2010-2012) and inmates in correctional facilities of the State of New York (2009-2010). He served as a uniformed police officer in Athens, Greece for almost 14 years (1998-2012) eventually obtaining the rank of police captain.

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His work focuses on the conceptualization of complex police trauma, first respondents’ resilience, police health promotion, and community-based trauma prevention through culturally relevant interventions. He has presented his work throughout North America and Europe (e.g., American Psychological Association, Canadian Psychological Association, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, etc.).

 

CHRISTOPHER ZOU, PHD

Christopher Zou, a psychology PhD (2017) from the University of Toronto.  He completed his undergraduate and Master’s degree at the University of Toronto. He worked on multiple research projects with Dr. Judith P. Andersen at the HART lab, which includes (but not is limited) to the following:

 

Bullying and Health. Chris’ first line of work with Professor Andersen involves exploring the effect of experiencing adverse childhood events (e.g., parental divorce, bullying) on long-term health and well-being. He is especially interested in examining how minority membership (particularly sexual minority membership) can influence the impact of bullying on health.

 

Coming Out Project. Chris’ second line of work examines the underlying assumptions surrounding the “coming out” experience of sexual minorities. He is interested in examining the different definitions of “coming out” across researchers and the general public, and understanding the impact of coming out on health and well-being of individuals who belong to sexual minority groups. He hopes that by identifying some of these assumptions about “coming out”, we can better assist individuals who are going through this difficult process.