Mary Anne Panoyan is a PhD Candidate in Biological Anthropology with a Collaborative Specialization in Global Health through the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, where she works under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Felsky and Dr. Esteban Parra. She has received several awards, including the Anthropology Pilot Fund, the Novo Nordisk Healthy Populations Graduate Award, and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, for her work using Tandem Repeats in substance use. Mary Anne is passionate about genomics and statistical genetics analysis using large biobanks. Her research focuses on discovering the genetic factors that influence psychiatric health and investigates how modifiable environmental and lifestyle factors impact mental well-being.

Before her doctoral studies, she graduated from Laurentian University with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Biology and Forensic Science and Queen’s University with a Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics.

Outside of research, Mary Anne enjoys volunteering with the Canadian Association for Girls in Science, where she helps develop and run STEM events for girls and gender-diverse youth, aiming to encourage young minds to pursue STEM education. She also loves camping, hiking, and canoeing and hopes to visit all of Ontario’s official provincial and national parks.