Team
Meet the team that keeps our centre running successfully.
Daniel Ansari
Daniel Ansari is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning in the Department of Psychology and the Faculty of Education at Western University in Canada, where he heads the Numerical Cognition Laboratory (www.numericalcognition.org). Ansari and his team explore the developmental trajectory underlying both the typical and atypical development of numerical and mathematical skills, using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods.
Lisa Archibald
Lisa Archibald is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at The University of Western Ontario. One focus of her research is on links between language and working memory. She also employs a practice-based research approach to partner with school-based speech-language pathologists in exploring services for children with Developmental Language Disorders.
Marc Joanisse
Dr. Marc Joanisse is a Professor in the Psychology Department at Western, and is also a core member of the Brain and Mind Institute and an affiliated research scientist at Haskins Laboratories in USA. Dr. Joanisse's research focuses on the development, processing and cognitive neuroscience of written and spoken language. This includes work on developmental language disability and dyslexia. He is also involved in research using brain imaging techniques such as functional MRI and electroencephalography to better understand the brain bases of spoken and written word recognition. He also uses computational modeling to derive predictions for behavioural and neuroimaging studies, and for better understanding of how general constraints on articulation, perception and statistical learning influence how humans learn and process language.
Terry Spencer
Terry is the Research and Evaluation Officer with the London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB). In this role, he provides data management, statistical analysis, consultative and decision-making support to staff regarding assessment and measurement, applied research, program evaluation and strategic planning. Within the Board, Terry also coordinates and reviews internal and external research applications for ethical integrity, privacy information management safeguards, and research methodology. Prior to joining the LDCSB, Terry was a Research Associate, Hamilton Health Sciences Centre, Program Manager for the Outreach Case Management program, Woodstock General Hospital and Psychometrist, Neuropsychology Services, Windsor Western's Hospital's Regional Children's Centre.
Barbara Fenesi
Dr. Barbara Fenesi is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Western University, and a Canada Research Chair in the Science of Learning. Her passion is rooted in understanding how the entire human organism (both the brain and the body) plays a role in student success. She is currently examining how physical activity and mindfulness meditation can promote attention and learning in children with ADHD.
Christina Stager
Dr. Christine Stager is the Manager of the Research and Assessment Department at the Thames Valley District School Board. Christine received her PhD from the University of British Columbia studying early language acquisition in infants. Christine also received a masters degree in Speech-Language Pathology, and worked for many years in this field, in child treatment centres, hospitals, and schools. THR Research and Assessment team at TVDSB support the TVDSB community by providing leadership in evidence-informed decision-making that advances educational opportunity and achievement for all learners.
Emma Duerden
Emma Duerden, PhD is a Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience and Learning Disorders. She is the scientific lead of the Developing Brain research program. She is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education and a Core Member of the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Western Ontario. She is also a member of the graduate program in Biomedical Engineering. She did her undergraduate degree in Psychology at McGill University. She completed her Master's degree in Neuroscience at the Montreal Neurological Institute. Dr. Duerden then trained at University of Montreal for her PhD in Neuroscience. Her postdoctoral fellowship was in developmental paediatrics at the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, ON). She then later worked as a Research Associate and Senior Research Associate at the Hospital for Sick Children in the Division of Neurology. Her research program seeks to identify prediction and stratification biomarkers that underlie variations in cognitive functioning in infants who are born critically-ill and who are high risk for neurodevelopmental disorders.
Perry Klein
Dr. Perry Klein is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at Western University. He began his career as a teacher in North York, Ontario. His recent research has focused on early intervention in writing, exploring four questions: How can we teach writing strategies and self-regulation to beginning writers? How can we make writing education more effective for struggling writers? How can writing instruction be organized to make it inclusive? How should instruction in written expression, spelling, and handwriting be sequenced, balanced, and integrated? He teaches a course on Supporting Struggling Readers and Writers, aligned with the OHRC Right to Read report. Dr. Klein is a Western Teaching Fellow, working on a project on Action Research in Teacher Education, to support Western's transition to a master's degree for initial teacher education.
Deanna Friesen
Deanna Friesen is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Western University. Her interests lie in examining and supporting reading comprehension success for all students. Her research team conducts work on reading comprehension strategies in bilingual and monolingual readers, understanding comprehension monitoring in adults and children with ADHD, and supporting teachers to better understand late-emerging reading disabilities.
Theresa Pham
Dr. Theresa Pham is a researcher at Western University and speech-language pathologist (SLP). Her current research focuses on practice-based research with teachers and SLPs as well as the basic science of language processing. Specific projects include supporting oral language in the classroom, investigating early predictors of language and learning, and promoting the use of consistent terminology among SLPs. The aim of her work is to capture current practice, which could, in turn, motivate changes in practice.
