I'm a Canadian Institute of Health Research Fellow at the University of Victoria, and the founder of Olfactory Health, Canada's first not-for-profit dedicated to olfactory science, patient support, and healthcare system advocacy.
Why this work
The connection between olfaction and cognitive decline is one of the most striking relationships in neuroscience, and one of the least known outside the lab. Smell loss can precede an Alzheimer's diagnosis by a decade. The research is there, and now we need to get the information to the public.
The research
My work sits at the intersection of neuropsychology and chemosensory science. I study how changes in the sense of smell can serve as early biomarkers for neurodegenerative conditions (including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease), and I'm hoping we can build olfactory testing into both clinical and community settings. I also work on the broader questions: how smell shapes memory, how it's implicated in trauma and healing, and how it organizes human social and cultural life in ways we're only beginning to understand.
Selected work: Google Scholar profile →
What I write about
This site is where I bring the science outside the lab. I write long-form essays and research-informed pieces across three areas:
- Smell & The Brain cognitive aging, dementia detection, neuroplasticity, memory consolidation, sleep, and post-COVID recovery.
- Smell, Healing & Recovery trauma and the nervous system, grief, sobriety, somatic and polyvagal practice, scent as a route into the emotional brain.
- Smell & Connection relationships, child development, postpartum, Indigenous plant knowledge, contemplative practice, the social architecture of scent.
