Zahid Butt

Zahid Butt

Associate Professor

Current research, traditional methods and interventions for infectious disease prevention and control are not sufficient, especially in the context of marginalization, interactions between infections, bio-behavioral factors and social disparities. These methods and research could benefit from new insights derived from the study of syndemics*. My research interests focus on syndemics* of infectious diseases like HIV, hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections. My research aims to evaluate the determinants of syndemics, extend the syndemic framework to non-communicable diseases and cancers, and design and evaluate prevention strategies to address syndemics.

My other areas of interest include the development and application of methods for analysis of big data, global health, and spatial epidemiologic methods and their application to public health practice. In addition to the above, I have worked internationally in academia and the development sector (World Health Organization and UNICEF).

*Syndemics is a term used to describe a framework to understand disease and health conditions that cluster within specific populations, and are exacerbated by underlying socio-economic, environmental and political conditions.

Dipika Shankar Bhattacharyya

PhD Student

Dipika Shankar Bhattacharyya is a PhD candidate in the Health Evaluation stream at the School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo. His doctoral research examines Emergency Department (ED) wait times for pediatric patients in Canada, which has relevance to health system performance, equity, and policy.

His doctoral research adopts a Syndemic lens within the health system using a multi-method approach. Quantitatively, he is analyzing a large population-level administrative dataset to identify how clinical, social, and health system factors interact synergistically for the prolonged ED wait times. Qualitatively, he is conducting primary in-depth interviews with parents and caregivers to examine experiences of waiting, care-seeking decisions, and trust in the healthcare system. Together, these components generate policy-relevant evidence to inform emergency care delivery and health system policy in Canada.

Prior to beginning his doctoral studies, Dipika established a strong career in public health research. During his tenure at icddr,b, one of the world's leading global health research institutes, he secured multiple research grants funded by international agencies. His research interest spans Health Systems, Human Resources for Health (HRH), Maternal and Child Health, and Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Beyond primary data analysis, Dipika is skilled in systematic reviews, policy analysis, and knowledge translation, including designing and facilitating policy dialogues and developing policy communication materials to support evidence-informed decision-making.

Md. Akhtarul Islam

PhD Student

Md. Akhtarul Islam is a PhD student in Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His doctoral research focuses on multimorbidity in chronic diseases, particularly the progression from a single chronic condition to multimorbidity and its impact on emergency department visits, hospital admissions, and survival outcomes.

He holds an MSc in Biostatistics from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and an MS in Statistics, Biostatistics, and Informatics from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has more than six years of academic experience at Khulna University, Bangladesh, where he served as an Assistant Professor in the Statistics Discipline.

His research interests are in multimorbidity, chronic disease progression, mental health, dementia, and maternal health, with an emphasis on disease co-occurrence, progression, health service use, and survival outcomes. He applies a range of statistical methods, including longitudinal analysis, survival analysis, joint modeling, meta-analysis, multilevel regression, and machine learning, to address questions in public health research.

Behtarin Jobaida

PhD Student

Behtarin is a PhD student in Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo and holds an MA in Economics from the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on health economics, infectious disease epidemiology, biostatistics, and global health.

Mariam Hassan

PhD Student

Mariam Hassan's professional career spans 18 years during which she held research leadership roles at health care organizations in Pakistan and Qatar. She has been involved in research governance and oversight, management of clinical trials, design and delivery of research studies, research related capacity development and policy making. She has also worked in various consulting and collaborative capacities with international academic and development groups such as the World Health Organization, The Global Health Network, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the University of Stanford.

In her current role as a PhD student at the School of Public Health Science at the University of Waterloo, she is studying the clustering of social and health problems and their adverse syndemic interactions that underlie poor cancer outcomes especially in disadvantaged populations.

Abu Yousha Md Abdullah

MSc Student

Abu Yousha Mohammad Abdullah is an MSc Student in Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo. His research focuses on understanding how health-related information and misinformation spread on social media and how public discussions relate to infectious disease trends and public health policies. As part of his graduate work, he contributes to projects that collect and analyze social media data and helps develop platforms to support public health research and surveillance. His broader interests include public health data analysis, digital health research, and the use of data-driven tools to inform public health decision-making.

Aditi Majoe

MSc Student

I come from a biological anthropology and evolutionary biology background. My research interests are epidemiology and biostatistics, infectious disease, and the role of social factors in health outcomes.

Zahra Mosahebeh

MSc Student

My academic background is in Health Informatics, with a strong focus on applying AI in healthcare and data analytics. My work primarily involves NLP, LLMs, misinformation in social media data analysis, and clinical data analytics.

Labiqah Iftikhar

MSc Student

Labiqah Iftikhar is an MSc student in the PHRAL lab specializing in Epidemiology. Her thesis focuses on childhood vaccine hesitancy in Canadian parents, and those belonging to racialized populations. She works with data from Statistics Canada’s Research Data Centre (SWORDC) at UWaterloo.

Labiqah previously graduated with a HBSc in Biology from McMaster University, with a minor in Psychology and minor in Anthropology. She has interests in science communication, namely bridging the gap between scientific research and the public. Outside of research, she enjoys painting, gardening, and training in MuayThai.

Research interests: vaccine hesitancy, health inequities, infectious disease prevention, health misinformation, paediatric care, cancer prevention, bioethics

Lab projects

• Flu vaccine hesitancy among UWaterloo students
• Syndemic factors for cancer screening, diagnoses, and control
• The role of misinformation in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in LMICs
• Global pandemic preparedness frameworks
• AI and ML models for predicting physician and nurse burnout and retention (University of Waterloo; Western University)
• AI and ML models for predicting ICU mortality

External projects

• HPV vaccination post-COVID: geopolitical, sociocultural, and ethical disparities — University of California San Francisco
• Offspring provisioning and alloparental care in communally-breeding birds — McMaster University

Teaching assistantships

• HTLH380: Applied Public Health Ethics
• HTLH245: Canadian Health Systems
• HLTH201: Gerontology / Aging and Health

Evan Cummings

MSc Student

Evan is an MSc Student in Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo.

Nuzhat Namiha

MPH Student

Nuzhat is an MPH Student in Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo, and a member of the Public Health Research & Analytics Lab (PHRAL).

Alisha Gauhar

MPH Student

Alisha is an MPH Student in Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo, and a member of the Public Health Research & Analytics Lab (PHRAL).

Brent McCready-Branch

Undergraduate Student

Brent McCready-Branch is a 4th-year undergraduate student majoring in Health Sciences with a minor in Addictions, Mental Health & Policy and a specialization in Health Research. In the PHRAL, his research focuses on mapping pandemic preparedness frameworks across the world, as well as investigating flu vaccine hesitancy among post-secondary students. External to the PHRAL, his research focuses on non-medical prescription opioid use (NMPOU) among youth in Canada in collaboration with the COMPASS Study under the supervision of Dr. Scott Leatherdale.

Aryan Sarnaik

Undergraduate Student

Aryan is a Health Sciences student in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo. Prior to joining the research team, Aryan was the founder and president of Research Club, an initiative aimed at spreading awareness about global issues affecting Canadian communities.

Ziyad Khan

Undergraduate Student

Ziyad is an undergraduate Health Sciences student at the University of Waterloo and a research assistant in the Public Health Research & Analytics Lab (PHRAL). He is interested in infodemiology and health services research, with experience supporting evidence synthesis projects focused on digital health and population health topics.

Theshani Vijayaratnam

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Theshani is a fourth-year Public Health student at the University of Waterloo, and a research assistant in the Public Health Research & Analytics Lab (PHRAL).

Thenugaa Rajeswaran

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Thenugaa is a fourth-year Public Health student at the University of Waterloo, and a research assistant in the Public Health Research & Analytics Lab (PHRAL).

Usayd Ahmed Farooq

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Usayd Farooq is a Research Assistant in Dr. Zahid Butt’s lab at the University of Waterloo. His interests include global health inequities, and musculoskeletal and orthopedic health. His research focuses on examining misinformation related to spinal cord injury and how inaccurate information can influence patient understanding, treatment decisions, and health communication.

Haneen Aurangzeb

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Haneen is an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo, majoring in Honours Science with Conditional Admission to the School of Pharmacy (CAP) status. Her research interests include the intersection between public health, epidemiology, and pharmacy, with an emphasis on how pharmacists can play a vital role in addressing vaccine misinformation. Currently in Dr. Butt’s research team, Haneen is focusing on developing essential research skills through involvement and is exploring her personal interests to create a future project.

Lakshna Ponrajah

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Lakshna is a fourth-year Public Health student at the University of Waterloo, and a research assistant in the Public Health Research & Analytics Lab (PHRAL).

Zaara Kastura

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Zaara is an undergraduate Public Health student at the University of Waterloo, and a research assistant in the Public Health Research & Analytics Lab (PHRAL).

Emily Dang

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Emily is an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo, and a research assistant in the Public Health Research & Analytics Lab (PHRAL).

Hana Eisa

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Hana is an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo, and a research assistant in the Public Health Research & Analytics Lab (PHRAL).

Touba Saeed

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Touba is an undergraduate student at Wilfrid Laurier University, and a research assistant in the Public Health Research & Analytics Lab (PHRAL).

Veronica Guglietti

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Veronica is an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo, and a research assistant in the Public Health Research & Analytics Lab (PHRAL).

Anisa Ali

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Anisa is an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo, and a research assistant in the Public Health Research & Analytics Lab (PHRAL).

Daliana Lobo Torres, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar

Daliana is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo, working with Dr. Zahid Butt and Dr. Abel Torres Espín. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and completed both her MSc and PhD in Digital Signal Processing, Automation, and Robotics in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.

Her research focuses on improving public health surveillance and epidemic intelligence using digital data and computational tools. She examines the dynamics of infodemics and digital information monitoring (infoveillance), studying how health information and misinformation spread across online platforms and influence public understanding of health risks. She is also interested in digital disease surveillance for emerging infectious diseases, investigating how the integration of data from social media, mobility patterns, and other large-scale sources can detect early signals of outbreaks and monitor population-level health trends.

Her work combines public health expertise with data science and artificial intelligence to develop actionable tools and data-based strategies that enhance epidemic preparedness and support timely, effective responses from health agencies. Ultimately, her research aims to improve the capacity of public health systems to anticipate, detect, and respond to emerging health threats, contributing to more resilient and data-driven public health practice.

Cameron B. Chiarot, PhD

Health Economist, Epidemiologist & Biostatistician (Alumni 2021 - 2025)

Cameron was a doctoral student in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo from 2021 to 2025. Cameron received his Master of Business Administration degree from York University’s Schulich School of Business, an Honors Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Western Ontario and holds a certificate in Healthcare Executive Leadership from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

Prior to joining Dr. Butt’s research program, Cameron has held numerous leadership positions at several of Canada’s largest hospitals and research organizations, including the Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, and the University Health Network. In each of his roles, Cameron has maintained his passion for health research and has published several peer-reviewed manuscripts in high-impact scientific journals and he has presented his research and innovations at international conferences.

Global health systems continue to be on the quest of pushing the quality of life and life-expectancy envelope, but at the expense of three socio-economic factors: cost, environment and equity. Taking a health economics approach, Cameron’s research aims to better understand the relationship of syndemics in the context of these socio-economic factors and how these factors have led to the widening of disparities and disequilibrium in global health systems.

Bara’ AlShurman, PhD

Epidemiologist, Grey Bruce Public Health (Alumni 2020-2025)

Bara’ was a PhD student in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo. Bara' completed her undergraduate degree in Dentistry and her master's in Public Health/Maternal and Child Health at Jordan University of Science and Technology.

Prior to joining Zahid’s research team, she worked at Jordan University of Science and Technology School of Public Health as a Teaching Assistant. She also worked on research related to dentists’ awareness and perceptions regarding COVID-19 and infection control. Currently, she is working on a scoping review on vaccine hesitancy.

Bara's interest focused in reducing the gap in social disparities especially for women groups as well as refugee women and to deal with health problems affecting the vulnerable groups and underserved individuals and communities. Her other areas of interest focused on immunizations, vaccine hesitancy, and infectious diseases like COVID-19. Currently she is working as a Epidemiologist at Grey Bruce Public Health.

Jasleen Kaur, PhD

Researcher, National Research Council Canada, Alumni (2022 - 2025)

Dr. Kaur was a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Public Health Sciences from February 2022 to April 2025. She initially worked as a collaborative researcher with the PHRAL lab and later as a postdoctoral researcher through CRC funding. Dr. Kaur also holds an appointment as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo. Prior to her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Waterloo, she worked as a Research Scientist at the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Dr. Kaur is a digital health researcher with an interdisciplinary background in computer science and engineering, applied to digital health systems. Her research lies at the intersection of AI Safety, privacy-preserving digital health technologies, and public health informatics with the aim of developing scalable and privacy-aware technologies to advance public health surveillance and address urgent and emerging challenges in healthcare systems.

Dr. Kaur’s research at PHRAL Lab focused on misinformation and public health, including contributing to a graduate thesis on policy stringency and public sentiment during Ontario’s COVID-19 waves and leading an AI-driven Bird Flu misinformation project. She also published a viewpoint article on AI-driven epidemic intelligence for outbreak detection and response and contributed to a scoping review on misinformation and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in LMICs.

Kiran Saqib, PhD

Alumni

Kiran was a PhD student in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo. Kiran completed her undergraduate degree in Medicine, and she has worked in academia and the development sector. She holds a membership of early career research network (EBLS) at university of Cambridge, UK.

Shu-Feng Tsao, PhD

Alumni

Shu-Feng was a PhD student in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo. Shu-Feng completed her undergraduate degree in Nutrition at National Taiwan Normal University, her first master's in Nutrition and Food Systems at University of Kentucky, and her second master’s Business Analytics and Project Management at University of Connecticut.

Prior to joining Zahid’s research team, she worked at an international heath insurance corporation in the United States as a Data Analyst. She has worked as Teaching Assistant throughout her previous and current graduate programs. She has published a scoping review on social listening from social media data under the current COVID-19 pandemic. She has also initiated and run a social media informatics interest group where participants can learn and critique studies using social media data.

Shu-Feng is passionate about infodemic or mis-/disinformation associated with infectious diseases, and this research topic has been amplified by the current global crisis. Her research aims to develop a conceptual framework to further explore how infodemic influences people’s decision and behaviour with data from social media analyzed by machine learning or artificial intelligence techniques. Other research areas of her interest include Infodemiology, infosurveillance, digital health, data science, and machine learning/artificial intelligence.

Rena Yang, PhD

Alumni

Rena Yang was a Ph.D. student in the School of Public Health Sciences. Prior to joining Zahid’s research team, Rena worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Waterloo School of Public Health Sciences. Currently, Rena's Ph.D. thesis and focused in social media and COVID-19 projects. Rena is interested in AI, machine learning, and classical statistical modelling on population-level health data.

Christina Mac

Alumni

Christina completed a co-op with Dr. Butt’s lab in 2021 and has continued to volunteer with the team on various projects. Her research interests include syndemics, aging populations, and public health. Christina has graduated from Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo and is currently a dental student at the University of Toronto.

Hibah Sehar

Alumni

Hibah Sehar joined Dr. Zahid's team in February 2021.

Prior to joining she worked as a Research Assistant for another professor in the School of Public Health Sciences as well as volunteering at a hospital in Waterloo, Ontario.

Currently, she is working on a commentary describing the unique experiences of individuals experiencing homelessness in Canada due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Her degree and co-op experiences have shaped her research and career interest to include health care, technology, and epidemiology.

Tijhiana Thobani

Alumni

Tijhiana worked in her fourth year of Public Health under Dr Butt's lab. She has a strong interest in understanding how various social, cultural, environmental, and economic factors influence the health outcomes of individuals. She is also interested in learning more about how these different factors influence individuals on a global scale.

Amber Khan

Alumni

Amber worked in Dr Butt's lab as a third year Health Studies Co-op student at the University of Waterloo. She has a passion for understanding social determinants of health and their impact on wellbeing.

Prior to joining Dr. Zahid Butt's research team, Amber worked as a Credentials Assistant at The College of Physicians of Surgeons of Ontario, where she played an integral role in processing incoming application for medical licences.

Amber also worked on a commentary on how refugees are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in Canada. She is interested in researching social determinants of health and their impact on a person's life course. Amber also wants to conduct more research in addiction, mental health and BIPOC groups.

William Tang

Alumni

William Tang worked as a fourth year Health Studies student with a specialization in Health Research in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo under Dr Butt's lab.

Prior to joining the research team, William worked at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy and the ITC Project as a Alumni. Currently, he is working at the University of Alberta as a Alumni.

William's research interests include health services, gerontology, technology, epidemiology, and public health informatics.

Melanie Bedard

Alumni

Melanie was a fourth year Honours Health Studies student with an Aging Studies Option and a Health Research Specialization in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo.

Prior to joining the research team, Melanie completed several co-op terms as part of the co-operative portion of her program, ranging from a Scientific Evaluator with Health Canada to a Research Assistant with Health and Rehab Research Inc.

Melanie is interested in infectious diseases, global health, and disease mapping. Melanie is planning on pursuing a master’s degree in epidemiology.