Samara Perez is the organization’s Research, Evaluation, and Policy Affairs Officer. She is a clinical psychologist, as well as co-Founder and Clinical Director of Mont-Royal Psychology. Samara completed her Ph.D. in Clinical psychology at McGill University. Her thesis investigated the processes and views of Canadian parents’ HPV vaccine decision-making for their sons. Her findings were instrumental in helping to improve our understanding of the Canadian HPV vaccine decision-making landscape, and ultimately improving HPV vaccine uptake rates in young boys and girls.
During her graduate studies, she was awarded the Canadian Institute for Health Research Vanier Scholarship, the top doctoral award in Canada based on both her leadership in the field and high standard of scholarly achievement. She completed her clinical internships in Psycho-oncology at the McGill University Health Center and at The Balfour Mount Palliative Care Unit. She has trained in Couple and family therapy, as well as sex therapy. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the department of psychiatry at the Jewish General Hospital where she conducted fertility needs assessment survey among Male Cancer Patients. As an early career scientist-practitioner, she has authored over 35 peer-reviewed articles, including three book chapters, and has presented at national and international conferences.
