Hannah Pazderka, BA (Hon), PhD

About

Dr. Hannah Pazderka is currently appointed as a Research Associate in the Department of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.

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Research

Dr. Hannah Pazderka obtained her PhD in Neuroscience in 2004 through the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta, studying the phenomenon of craving in drug and alcohol addiction. After obtaining her degree, she gained experience in the area of public policy at the Alberta Mental Health Board (AMHB), where she served as their Concurrent Disorders lead, spearheading development of the concurrent disorder telehealth videoconference series, eventually becoming the manager of Research and Scientific Initiatives. She spent five years at the AMHB, where she worked on the Alberta Centennial Mental Health Research Chairs Program, and the annual Mental Health Research Showcase, which drew over 400 visitors and international presenters. Dr. Pazderka then joined CASA Child and Adolescent Mental Health as their Director of Research, where she helped develop their Research Strategic Framework. Her work has continued to focus on child and adolescent mental health and trauma, with positions leading the Alberta rollout of the PAX Good Behavior Game initiative to 30 schools across the province; studying the effects of the 2016 wildfire on adolescent mental health in Fort McMurray. Her most recent role as Director of Research at the Little Warriors Be Brave Ranch, a non-profit organization devoted to the treatment of survivors of childhood sexual abuse. She is also involved in a project studying workplace violence amongst physicians, examining the toxic effects of discrimination, harassment, and abuse on wellness.

Currently, Dr. Pazderka is a Research Associate, and the Director of EDI and Social Climate with the Department of Psychiatry. Her primary research interests are in the response to trauma, particularly its links to reward seeking, emotional regulation, and impulsive behaviour. She is interested in how social processes such as bullying and ostracism lead to trauma. She is also interested in the phenomenon of mass traumatization, and how this differs fundamentally from individual-level trauma. This includes the study of how PTSD symptoms are affected by variables such as previous trauma (retraumatization), group context (contagion), and the distinction between shared vs. private/hidden trauma.

Gloria Obuobi-Donkor, Ejemai Eboreime, Reham Shalaby, Belinda Agyapong, Medard K. Adu, Ernest Owusu, Wanying Mao, Folajinmi Oluwasina, Hannah Pazderka, Vincent I. O. Agyapong

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022 December; 10.3390/ijerph192316153

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Wanying Mao, Medard Adu, Ejemai Eboreime, Reham Shalaby, Nnamdi Nkire, Belinda Agyapong, Hannah Pazderka, Gloria Obuobi-Donkor, Ernest Owusu, Folajinmi Oluwasina, Yanbo Zhang, Vincent I. O. Agyapong

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022 August; 10.3390/ijerph19159759

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Jonathan Jin, Lorraine Smith-MacDonald, Huda Al-Shamali, Matthew Reeson, Hannah Pazderka, Xin-Min Li, Wanda Polzin, Yifeng Wei, Peter H. Silverstone, Andrew J. Greenshaw

2022 May; 10.2196/preprints.39629

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Medard Kofi Adu, Ejemai Eboreime, Reham Shalaby, Adegboyega Sapara, Belinda Agyapong, Gloria Obuobi-Donkor, Wanying Mao, Ernest Owusu, Folajinmi Oluwasina, Hannah Pazderka, Vincent I. O. Agyapong

Behavioral Sciences. 2022 March; 10.3390/bs12040096

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Wanying Mao, Ejemai Eboreime, Reham Shalaby, Nnamdi Nkire, Belinda Agyapong, Hannah Pazderka, Gloria Obuobi-Donkor, Medard Adu, Ernest Owusu, Folajinmi Oluwasina, Yanbo Zhang, Vincent I. O. Agyapong

Behavioral Sciences. 2022 March; 10.3390/bs12030069

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Reham Shalaby, Ejemai Eboreime, Nnamdi Nkire, Belinda Agyapong, Hannah Pazderka, Gloria Obuobi-Donkor, Medard Kofi Adu, Wanying Mao, Ernest Owusu, Folajinmi Oluwasina, Vincent I. O. Agyapong

Behavioral Sciences. 2022 January; 10.3390/bs12010013

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Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2022 January; 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.837713

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International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022 January; 10.3390/ijerph19010435

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Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2021 January; 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.682041

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Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2021 January; 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.676256

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Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2021 January; 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.682055

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Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 2020 January;

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