PhD Candidate

Tipsarp Kittisiam, also known as Minnie, was born in Nonthaburi, Thailand. In 2019, she received her D.V.M. from Kasetsart University, Thailand. Her interest in the spread of zoonotic diseases motivated her to obtain an M.Sc. (in Veterinary Epidemiology) from the same university. In 2021, she was awarded the Canada-ASEAN Scholarships and Educational Exchanges for Development (SEED) and was invited to conduct part of her master’s research at the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, PEI. She has since fallen in love with Canada and is now pursuing her Ph.D. in Epidemiology at the Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, ON, under the supervision of Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton.

Minnie’s experiences during clinical rotations, as well as those of her peers in clinical practice, inspired her to study mental health in veterinarians. She is currently part of a joint research project between the Atlantic Veterinary College and the Ontario Veterinary College that aims to support the positive well-being of veterinarians who are transitioning from graduation into practice.

PhD Student

I am grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of the AJB lab as a PhD student. Our dynamic team, combined with Dr. Jones-Bitton's mentorship has made my experience studying Epidemiology during a pandemic exceptional. Having graduated with a Bachelor's in Psychology, I am thrilled to be researching veterinarian mental health. Specifically, I am investigating veterinarians' coping strategies when faced with mental health challenges, and their perceived ideals regarding what they think the profession might change to promote mental health. Outside of academia, I lead a simple, yet passionate livelihood filled with my furry friends (My dogs Toby and Lola), nature and great food (my favourite is thai curry, ramen or sushi) . I also happen to be a closet musician, and love to tickle the ivories from time to time.

PhD Student

I am pursuing a PhD under the advisement of Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton and Dr. Briana Hagen. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to learn from so many incredible strong women in this lab and I’m loving every minute of it. I graduated with a BA(h) in psychology with a minor in neuroscience from the University of Guelph in 2020, and an MSc in Population Medicine in 2022. As a chicken farmer, I am naturally passionate about research that will better the mental health of farmers. I believe it is important to be involved in your community and contribute to keeping rural/farming communities safe. In my spare time I am a firefighter at stn 27 (Rockton) and help train rural firefighters with the Hamilton Fire Department.

OVC SCORE Summer Student

I am pursuing a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at the Ontario Veterinary College. I am passionate about wildlife and exotic medicine, and mental health and environmentalism have always been a priority of mine as well. My experience being mentored by local farmers, coupled with being exposed to Dr. Jones' research during my first year at OVC, made me want to get involved in researching farmer mental health myself, so I could hopefully contribute to a solution and have a positive impact on the wellbeing of farmers and veterinarians in the future. I am beyond grateful for the chance to participate in a summer research position, and to learn from this amazing team of women!