Mariam Kinawi
Positions
Undergraduate Student
Brain Neurorehabilitation Laboratory | BNR, Undergraduate Research Students
Contact information
Background
Biography
Mariam is an Exercise and Health Physiology undergraduate student. She is also a competitive swim coach with the University of Calgary Swim Club, where an athlete’s concussion first sparked her interest in concussion detection and management, highlighting the urgency of rapid identification in youth.
Her current research under Dr. Chantel Debert leverages a multimodal approach to concussion diagnostics, integrating functional MRI with blood-based biomarkers of neural injury. She aims to examine how these objective measures relate to one another to improve clinical translation and reduce reliance on subjective symptom reporting.
Outside of academics, Mariam can often be found at the pool, either swimming or coaching, reading just about any book she can get her hands on, or baking.
Projects
Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to long-term effects of sport-related concussions (SRCs), due to ongoing brain development. However, despite high adolescent SRC rates, no diagnostic gold standard exists. Blood-based biomarkers and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) of the default mode network (DMN) have independently shown diagnostic promise. Yet, these approaches remain unintegrated to support clinical translation. By investigating associations between these two possible diagnostic markers, we can better understand how peripherally accessible blood biomarkers are indicative of brain connectivity changes post concussion.
Are you the profile owner?
Login to edit.