Riya Malik

Riya is currently a graduate student doing her Master's in Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy at Wilfrid Laurier University. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto in 2024, earning a Bachelor of Science with a double major in psychology and philosophy. During her year working with Dr. Ganapathy-Coleman, Riya's main responsibilities included conducting literature reviews, helping recruit community researchers, training those participants on the qualitative nature of the methodology, and leading the group as they analyzed their photographs. She also participated in the undergraduate research conference, where she analyzed the photos and presented them to the community at the University of Toronto. Riya brought very important skills to the team, having previous experience assessing relevant research articles on the South Asian Indian diaspora, as well as a solid understanding of how to collect data and create a professional poster to display important conclusions. She plans on pursuing further education through a doctoral degree and studying the efficacy of treatment options available for anxiety disorders and their intersectionality with ancient schools of Hinduism.