Alyssa Schermel (Lab Manager)

Alyssa has been Lab Manager of the L’Abbe Lab since attaining her Master’s degree under Dr. Mary L’Abbe in 2012. In addition to assisting with various projects, grants, budgets and coordination of students, Alyssa manages… [Read More]
Post Doctoral Fellows
Mavra Ahmed

Mavra Ahmed is a Research Associate at the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Joannah and Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition, University of Toronto. Mavra has experience in food and nutrition policy and clinical nutrition with strong expertise… [Read More]
Guanlan Hu

Guanlan is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the L’Abbé lab. She received the CIHR Healthy Cities Training Award for 2022-2024. Her current research focuses on understanding the economic and nutritional costs of food purchasing behaviours across… [Read More]
Daniel Zaltz

Daniel joined the L’Abbe Lab in Fall 2023 , where he will be investigating changes in added sugars in the retail food supply, consumption patterns, and projected health impacts of new food labeling policies in… [Read More]
PhD Students
Nadia Flexner

Nadia is a senior PhD student in the L’Abbé Lab. Her doctoral research focuses on estimating the dietary, health and healthcare costs’ impact of different food policies aiming to improve the Canadian food environment – such as food… [Read More]
Samer Hamamji

Samer is a PhD Candidate in the L’Abbé Lab. His doctoral research examines the relationship between dietary choices aligned with the recommendations in Canada’s Food Guide 2019 and cardiometabolic risk factors among Canadians using a… [Read More]
Jennifer Lee

Jennifer, MPH, RD, is a PhD Candidate in the L’Abbe Lab. She is passionate about transforming our food system and promoting healthy dietary behaviours through public health policy, research, digital technology, and various nutrition communication… [Read More]
Emily Ziraldo

Emily is a PhD student in the L’Abbé lab. Her thesis research focuses on analyzing the relationship between food policies that aim to improve the diets of Canadians and food prices. Emily is also the… [Read More]
MSc Students
Hayun (Sarah) Jeong

Sarah is a second-year MSc student in the L’Abbe Lab. Her MSc thesis focuses on evaluating the nutritional quality of foods available to students on post-secondary campuses in Canada, as well as the effectiveness of… [Read More]
Caroline Middleton

Caroline is a first-year MSc student in the L’Abbe Lab. Caroline recently completed her HBSc with a double major in Nutritional Sciences and Health & Diseases, along with a minor in Physiology at the University of Toronto…. [Read More]
Undergraduate Thesis Students
Moesha Dewan
Julia Do
Ofek Gross
Carolina Huang
Kyana Lewis
Research Assistants
Christine Mulligan

Christine completed her PhD in 2022 in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto, with a Collaborative Specialization in Public Health Policy through the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Her doctoral research… [Read More]
Laura Vergeer

Laura completed her PhD with Dr. Mary L’Abbé in July 2021 after joining the lab in September 2016 as an undergraduate student. Her doctoral thesis compared the product (re)formulation actions and commitments of the top… [Read More]
Yahan (Hailey) Yang

Beginning as an undergraduate research summer student in 2018, Hailey went on to obtain her Master’s degree in June 2022 under Dr. L’Abbé. Hailey continues to support the L’Abbe Lab as a Research Analyst. Hailey led a… [Read More]