The HEAL Lab

10/03/2026

Check out a new paper on /pmos led by Dr Mina Amiri, and international colleagues across Iran, the USA, and Canada (including Dr. Soucie University of Windsor) capturing, using multiple methods, including machine learning, the tangible and intangible economic burden of pcos/pmos across several work, QOL, and mental health domains (pain, anxiety, depression and physical functioning) in comparisons to controls. Improving PCOS care pathways has the potential to meaningfully and significantly enhance QOL, work productivity and participation, and broader personal and societal well-being. . PCOS Challenge: The National Polycystic O***y Syndrome Association

Link to paper/abstract if interested:

AbstractBackground. Polycystic O***y Syndrome (PCOS), also known as Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), impairs health-related quality of life

09/14/2026

‼️Check out Marissa Marie (Marissa Rakus’) radio/poscast interview with Chris Byrne on AM800 CKLW on women’s health equity and the work and others in the are doing here at University of Windsor and WE-Spark Health Institute! She covers pcos/pmos, medical dismissal, gaslighting, and much more and shares insights from data collected over the years with a focus on advocacy! Thanks for listening :)

Link:

Chris Byrne welcomed Marissa Rakus, Ph.D. Candidate of Applied Social Psychology at the University of Windsor onto The Shift to talk about The Health Experiences and Longevity (HEAL) Lab founded by Dr. Kendall Soucie.  *This is part 2 of his conversations regarding women's healt...

07/25/2026

Let’s Talk Sexual Health!

Long overdue, often ignored discussion… sexual health is health!

Join us on September 16, 2026, from 7:00–8:00 pm (ET) for a free virtual webinar on sexual health, relationships, and well-being. This open discussion will provide a safe and welcoming space to explore important topics that can impact your health and quality of life, with an opportunity to participate in a live Q&A.

🔗 Register here: Sexual Health Webinar (link in the comments)

We look forward to seeing you there!

05/05/2026

🎊🎉👏 Congratulations Shamara on her paper published today in Feminism and Psychology on Black women’s interest in physical activity! This study integrates a Black intersectional feminist lens to explore how Black Canadian women understand their interest in and engagement with physical activity spaces, highlighting how sociocultural context, representation, and community shape both motivation and experience. Findings show that while strengths-based, community-centered approaches can support engagement, barriers such as exclusion, inaccessibility, and sociocultural norms continue to limit participation, which underscores the need for culturally affirming and inclusive fitness spaces.

To read her paper and learn more, please click on: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09593535261442923 (it’s open access/free) :)

04/30/2026

‼️🚨 Thank you to all of you who shared your story with us of medical gaslighting, dismissal and invalidation in the Canadian healthcare system. We had a huge response to our survey, with over 1500 participants writing, and reflecting on their personal story and journey for acute and chronic health issues. In some cases, a 2000 character limit on qualtrics wasn’t enough, and many wrote about multiple experiences and incidents. It has taken our team time to code and work through the data, which we hope to publish soon. But, for now, we are able to share a preliminary poster of our main findings, and themes. We will have even more information to share soon, but we are so grateful for YOU, and YOUR willingness to open up with us about these challenging times in your lives, and to offer guidance on what idealized care would look like moving forward. Leaving a better future for the next generation of folks navigating health care was a major reason for participating. is taking this study to the next step by conducting follow-up interviews, based on lessons learned from this survey, co-designed with participants as partners throughout. Stay tuned! 🚨‼️. Thank you to our team .v and Dr Kichler for engaging with this work l, and to our participants for sharing. We are acting on these findings -our next steps have involved a lot of conversations with folks and organizations and communities across Canada 🇨🇦. We are organizing! Please always feel free to reach out and connect in any way you’d like. ♥️

03/25/2026

Amazing work .v and on their poster presentations at the conference! Niksha presented a review of fem tech and Jennifer presented a qualitative analysis of earliest memories of PCOS! Way to go!! Excellent job to these two presenters and their teams :).

03/23/2026

Hi! Have you been diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Crohn’s or UC)? Are you Canadian 🇨🇦? Are you interested in sharing your experiences living with IBD? Please consider participating in a new study by and . Check us out at ! Please also feel free to email us at [email protected].

Please share widely. 🙂. Thank you. ❤️

02/24/2026

🎉🎉🎉 Congratulations to and her team ( and ) on a paper published today in the Journal of Health Psychology (open access)! The topic is on disclosure decisions, conversation pathways, and avenues of social support in women with . It was a labour of love, and is so excited by this work! It moves PCOS into areas of strength, builds connections and collaborations, while also challenging the silence associated with the syndrome. ♥️.

Abstract:
Polycystic O***y Syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine syndrome, affecting 8%–13% of women worldwide. It has been described as an isolating and stigmatizing syndrome, complicating avenues for disclosure. In this study, we explored how women with PCOS disclose their diagnosis to others and what factors influence their decision to do so. Through a reflexive thematic analysis of 28 interviews, we found that women first broached PCOS with others, which led to the to building blocks of social support, which then maintained meaningful conversations over time. Supportive interactions were beneficial, while unsupportive ones led to dead ends. Our study is one of the first to capture the decision-making process underlying the disclosure of PCOS within women’s social networks. It extends prior research by highlighting how women decide whether, when, and how to share their diagnosis while weighing the risks of stigma against the benefits of social support.

Link to paper (open access): https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13591053261419962.

Thank you to our participants for opening up their lives with us & sharing their experiences living with pcos (we are so grateful to you) & to for supporting this research as well! ♥️

02/03/2026

Congratulations for being recognized as an emerging feminist scholar by ! 🎉🥳. Hio Tong does such incredible work at the nexus of sexual empowerment, neoliberal ideologies and gender-based violence using multiple methods and theoretical frameworks that amplify lived experiences. She’s nearing the end of her PhD degree but has made such a mark on this field of study and . ♥️.

01/27/2026

Congratulations 🎉 to who was recognized as an emerging feminist scholar by . She is currently conducting arts-based research with and on IPV and help-seeking pathways using visual mapping and storytelling approaches funded by . Way to go Marissa! ♥️.
(She is nearing the end of data collection and will have preliminary results to share at this year’s conference!)!