The Adamo Lab - Prevention in the Early Years Research Program
Alicia Ricketts - Ph.D. Student
Alicia started her PhD in January 2021 and works under the supervision of Dr. Adamo and Dr. Doucet. Her research will focus on the physiological drivers of energy intake during pregnancy and the importance of that in addressing excessive gestational weight gain. 
 
Alicia earned her MSc in Kinesiology focusing on Work and Exercise Physiology at Memorial University and has a BSc in Nutrition from Acadia University. Since 2016, Alicia has worked in various research settings; she was a research assistant on the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, a research analyst for clinical trials at the Research and Innovation department at Eastern Health, and a clinical research assistant II at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.
 
In addition to being a full-time student, Alicia is a full-time mom and in her (very little) spare time, loves hanging out with her 5 and 3 year old boys, cooking, and exercising.
Chris Edwards - Ph.D. Candidate
​​Chris joined Dr. Adamo’s team in 2020 to continue her quest to understand the mechanisms and mitigation opportunities of musculoskeletal injuries (MSKi) within the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Her research aims to address sex-disparities in MSKi within the CAF, with a goal of identifying sex-specific MSKi-reduction strategies.
 
Chris completed her MSc in Applied Exercise Science with a focus in Human Movement Sciences at Concordia University Chicago and her BHK majoring in Clinical Exercise Physiology at the University of British Columbia. She has spent the last few years supporting CAF and NATO military members as a physiologist, kinesiologist, and high-performance coach. Chris is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (QEII-GSST) for 2021-2022, and 2022-2023.
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Chris is not great at small talk, loves Nature, and rarely will you find her without a coffee, a messy bun, and her dog Sitka at her side.
Jessica Puranda - Ph.D. Candidate
Jessica is a first year PhD student who fast-tracked from her MSc. She completed her HBSc. in Biomedical Science at the University of Ottawa in 2020. Her project will be characterizing reproductive health, bone health and musculoskeletal injury in female Canadian Armed Forces members. Jessica is also working on a review, in collaboration with Brock University and Laval University exploring integrating physical activity into usual prenatal care.

In her free time Jessica enjoys going to the gym, and listening to and playing music.
Miguel Sánchez Polán - Ph.D. Student
My name is Miguel Sánchez Polán. I'm Spanish and I'm a PhD student at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (INEF), where I also finished my MSc in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences in 2019. Since then, I've been working in pregnancy and exercise, a field of research which I love. I have spent more than two years teaching group exercise sessions for women during pregnancy, and I'm currently in my third year of my Ph.D., working to finish my thesis.

I enjoy all sports, but especially tennis, paddling, soccer. I'm always happy to help out with work, but above all, my passion is to spend time with my family.
Nick O'Rourke - Ph.D. Student
Nick is a Ph.D. student that joined the Adamo lab in 2023. Nick was previously enrolled in a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine, looking at epigenetics in response to exercise and mitochondrial bioenergetics. In joining the Adamo lab, Nick has shifted his focus to human participants and exercise physiology. 
 
Nick's Ph.D. work will be multidisciplinary and will span many projects. He will work on some aspects of Smart Moms and accelerometry projects. Additionally, he will pursue a significant wet lab and bioinformatic component that will explore molecular and physiological outcomes of exercise in pregnancy.
 
Nick completed his Bachelor's (honours) and Master's in Kinesiology at Ontario Tech University (formerly UOIT). His undergraduate research focused on barriers to active transportation in older adults, looking at how the environment can promote or inhibit active transportation use. During his master's, he researched sedentary physiology and exercise immunology. Specifically, he examined how acute bouts of prolonged sitting and interrupting sitting with short bouts of activity can affect inflammatory biomarkers in saliva and blood. During his master's, Nick received the CIHR - CGS-M and OGS scholarships. Nick currently holds OGS-D. 
 
Nick was previously a soccer player for Dalhem IF in Gotland, Sweden, and in his spare time, he tries to continue playing as much soccer as possible and stay active. He also remains involved by coaching soccer in Ottawa. Besides trying to keep active, Nick likes to read books about evolutionary biology/biochemistry and interesting science topics and spend time with his two black cats.