Sadie Barnett is a medical student at NOSM University. She holds a Master in Public Health from Lakehead University and a BA in Kinesiology from Western University. Her research interests include rural health education and community-based research to address health inequities experienced in rural and Northern populations. She is passionate about advocating for healthy public policy through a social justice lens to achieve health equity.

Emily Booth is a medical student at NOSM University. She will be acting as a MERLIN student researcher over the course of the summer, eager to learn more about healthcare in rural communities. Emily holds a Master of Public Health from Queen's University where she completed a practicum placement in Indigenous Engagement focused on cultural competency enhancement. She completed her undergraduate degree in Health Promotion at Laurentian University. Emily was born and raised in Sudbury, and enjoys spending time outside hiking, fishing and downhill skiing.

Maya Brassard is an undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia majoring in Critical Indigenous Studies and minoring in Educational Psychology & Special Education. She grew up on Vancouver Island with her mom, little sister, and two perfect cats. Maya is interested in community-based and population health research that advances system level change toward health equity. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in medicine as a rural generalist.

Sébastien Labelle is a first-year medical student at NOSM University on the Thunder Bay campus. He was born and raised in Timmins, Ontario. He completed an undergraduate degree in biomedical science at the University of Ottawa. Sébastien is a proud Franco-Ontarian who will be undertaking a research project in the area of Francophone Health Curriculum at NOSM University. In his free time, Sébastien loves to cook and bake, spend time outside fishing, hiking, and playing tennis.

My name is Kristina Levert and I'm a third-year undergraduate student studying Biologie biomédicale (B.Sc.) at Laurentian University. After completing my undergraduate studies, I aspire to become a medical student at the NOSM University and pursue my dream of becoming a physician. Born and raised in Sudbury, ON, I recognize the struggles faced by individuals in isolated communities across Northern Ontario. As a trilingual individual with a passion for applied science, I am beyond excited to be a Research Assistant with this project. I look forward to furthering my knowledge regarding the influence of research on healthcare development in rural communities! In my free time, you can find me on the lake with a book in hand or hiking the Laurentian trails with my dog Chase!

My name is Sophie Thomas and I am a medical student at NOSM University and researcher with MERLIN. I completed my undergraduate degree in Kinesiology at Queen's University where I completed a thesis project examining individual variability in exercise tolerance. I grew up in a small town in Ontario which sparked my research interest in Generalism and Primary Care. I am looking forward to working on my MERLIN project which is part of a national study to examine Generalist curricula in pre-clerkship programs across Canada using the Toronto Generalism Assessment Tool (T-GAT). My other research interests are in the area of Emergency Medicine particularly pre-hospital and retrieval medicine, as well as wilderness medicine. Outside of research, my passion is in search and rescue where I worked for four summer with the Canadian Coast Guard marine search and rescue crews. I also enjoy spending time outdoors, hiking, boating, skiing and running.