Meet The Current Team

Dr. Kara Thompson

St. Francis Xavier University Associate Professor, Department of Psychology Collaborating Scientist Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR)

Dr. Kara Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at St. Francis Xavier University. She is a prolific scholar, with close to 70 peer-reviewed publications and is widely recognized for her research contributions on alcohol policy, and substance use in young adulthood. She is a scientist on the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation project, and was a scientific expert for the development of Canada’s new guidance on alcohol and health.

kdthomps@stfx.ca

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Stephanie Cooper

Lab Manager

Stephanie supports Dr. Thompson on all grant funded projects. Her responsibilities include coordination of participant recruitment and data collection, troubleshooting any data collection challenges, booking and scheduling program sessions, and participant compensation. She also schedules and coordinates meetings among research team members and lab team members, and review manuscripts prior to submission. Stephanie is interested alcohol and cannabis labelling, marketing, and policy.

Darien DeWolf

Research Scientist

Dr. Darien DeWolf earned a PhD in Mathematics at Dalhousie University in 2017. His research interests include category theory, (inverse) semigroup theory, and applied statistics. Darien is currently a research associate of the SHEA lab and specializing in statistical analysis.

Rachael MacDonald-Spracklin

Master's Student

Rachael is a 2022 StFX graduate from the BASc Health Program. She has been with the SHEA lab as a research assistant since 2020. Rachael pursued an honours thesis in her fourth year under the direction of Dr. Thompson, focusing on the simultaneous use of alcohol and cannabis, based on the Sex and Cannabis study. She continues to further her knowledge and work on substance use and population health at the University of Ottawa pursuing a Master’s in Public Health. Rachael recently accepted a summer 2023 practicum placement at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) focusing on the Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms Project.

Will Langille

Research Assistant

Will is a 2024 StFX graduate from the BA Psychology honours program. He has been with the SHEA lab as a research assistant since 2023 and a volunteer since 2022. Will completed his 4th-year honours thesis under the supervision of Dr. Thompson, focusing on the relationship between depressive symptoms and academic practices and challenges in male undergraduate students using the UniVenture project. He supports Dr. Thompson’s lab by aiding in different stages of manuscripts, data collection and cleaning for current projects, guidance to current honours students on their thesis projects, and grant applications. Will looks to further his knowledge and work in his interest area of men’s mental health, substance use, and suicide throughout the following year with the lab and has the goal of going on to a master's and PhD in clinical psychology starting in 2025.