B.C. air quality scholarship winners

Amy Klepetar is a Registered Nurse and a third-year doctoral student in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). Her co-supervisors are Dr. Neil Hanlon (Geography) and Dr. Margot W. Parkes (Health Sciences).

Amy teaches in the Northern Collaborative Baccalaureate in Nursing Program at UNBC and is a member of CANE, the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment. She holds a BA in geography from Dartmouth College (New Hampshire, USA), a BSc in nursing from Johns Hopkins University (Maryland, USA), and a MSc in Public Health from the University of Utah.

Amy’s PhD work will include a mixed-methods study exploring various human health effects of industrial air pollution in the Kitimat River Valley, where multiple large industrial developments are situated close to human settlements.

Beyond her PhD studies and teaching nursing, Amy enjoys volunteering in her community as a Nordic ski coach, playing traditional fiddle music, and adventuring in the beautiful mountains and valleys of unceded Tsimshian and Wet’suwet’en territories with her family.

Shayna is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in the Experimental Medicine program at UBC under the supervision of Dr. Emily Brigham and Dr. Chris Carlsten. Her research interests include respiratory diseases, specifically, the intersection of respiratory health & wellbeing and climate change. The importance of climate change is apparent, particularly regarding the risks that rising wildfire smoke poses to human health. Thus, her research explores the dose-response relationship between the concentration of woodsmoke and impact on inflammatory biomarkers in the lungs.

Previously, Shayna completed her Bachelor of Science (Honours) Degree in Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Saskatchewan where she conducted research in the Asthma Research Lab. Outside of the lab, Shayna is a certified yoga instructor and enjoys being outside— running, hiking, and biking!

As an undergraduate kinesiology student at UBC, Christopher was deeply engaged in his community as a student-athlete. On the field, he won four consecutive Canada West Championships —twice as a player and twice as a coach— along with a silver medal at the U-Sports National Championship. Off the field, he spearheaded the creation of the Thunderbird Inclusivity Committee and the Recovering Athlete Peer-Support Group. His passion for healthcare extends beyond the classroom, where he has published five peer-reviewed research articles.

Now pursuing a Master’s at UBC, Christopher investigates the effects of air pollution —specifically fine particulate matter— on physical activity performance. His research is the first to examine air pollution’s impact on female soccer performance in North America and represents the largest study of its kind globally. The findings aim to inform evidence-based international air-pollution sporting guidelines.