About Our Team:
Anne-Marie DePape, PhD
Dr. DePape is the Academic and Field Placement Coordinator of Brain Disorders Management, and Mental Health and Disability Management at Mohawk College. Dr. DePape is trained as a Developmental Psychologist with her graduate studies at McMaster University focusing on quantitative research about auditory processing in children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The purpose of this work was to create an early screening tool to improve treatment while furthering understanding about the perceptual abilities in ASD. This research led Dr. DePape to receive the Autism Scholars Award by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, and be invited to work at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, Netherlands as a Visiting Scientist.
Dr. DePape completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital where she conducted qualitative research about lived and parents’ experiences with a disability. This research contributed to the care of patients with disabilities in healthcare settings while raising the profile of those with disabilities as experts of their own condition. Dr. DePape also received a grant through the Ontario Human Capital Research and Innovation Fund where she provided policy recommendations to improve employment readiness, workplace inclusion and transition to adulthood outcomes for those with disabilities. Dr. DePape’s work is featured in multiple high impact peer-reviewed journals. She has also provided presentations of her work at national and international levels, and facilitated panel discussions on research topics.
While at Mohawk College, Dr. DePape continues to research topics about the welfare of children and adults with disabilities. She is also interested in advancing teaching and learning outcomes for her students by measuring the effectiveness of new tools and technology in the classroom, including the use of virtual reality.
Krissy Doyle-Thomas, PhD
Dr. Krissy Doyle-Thomas is a Professor in Brain Disorders Management, and Mental Health and Disability Management at Mohawk College. She is also a Medical Neuroscientist. Her imaging research uses Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) to understand structural and functional properties of the brain among those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and how they relate to clinical symptoms. Most recently, Dr. Doyle-Thomas has focused her attention on understanding the neural pain signature in ASD as a clinical aid in pain detection and management. Dr. Doyle-Thomas has been a part of research consortiums, namely the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorders (POND) Network and NeuroDevNet. Within these consortiums, Dr. Doyle-Thomas has contributed to research that explores the neural indices of social cognition, language processing, and repetitive behaviours in ASD. Dr. Doyle-Thomas received her PhD from McMaster University in 2010 and completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital at the Autism Research Centre.
Dr. Doyle-Thomas has received several prestigious fellowships for her research, including fellowships from the Canadian Institute for Health Research and the Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada. She has published numerous high impact peer-reviewed articles and has presented her research at conferences nationally and internationally. Krissy was also featured in CBC’s HERstory in Black as one of Canada’s top 150 black women who have made a place in Canadian history for excellence within her field.
At Mohawk College, Dr. Doyle-Thomas continues her imaging research and has also expanded this work to explore the effectiveness of interventions in brain disorders. She is currently collaborating with Dr. Anne-Marie DePape and Ms. Kaela Millar on investigating the impact of Multi-Sensory Environments on wellbeing in individuals with Acquired Brain Injuries.