Dr. Rima Azar is an Associate Professor of Health Psychology at Mount Allison University where she joined the Psychology Department in 2008, earned tenure in 2011, and is the founder/director of the Psychobiology of Stress & Health Lab (PSHL).
At her lab, taking a biopsychosocial approach to health, Dr. Rima Azar’s work focuses on the biobehavioural mechanisms linking stress and health from a developmental perspective. She has a particular interest in: (1) biological (i.e. inflammatory and endocrine) mechanisms linking maternal prenatal depression and anxiety to birth weight, to postnatal stress response, and health, (2) patient/family navigation and peer-to-peer support for families of children/youth with complex care needs (in general and in transitions from pediatric to adult care), and (3) maternal and paternal coping strategies when caring for children with chronic or complex health conditions.
Over her career, she has worked with newborns, children, adolescents, and their families - both as a stress researcher and as a developmental clinician. Her projects are funded by several federal as well as provincial agencies, such as CIHR, the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation (NBHRF), NBCF (a charity organization), and the Royal Society of Canada (RSC). She is thrilled to be involved in provincial and Pan-Canadian research networks aimed to better serve children/youth such as the $25 million-funded SPOR-CHILD BRIGHT.
Azar is also an Adjunct Professor at Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick. Earlier, she acted as an Honorary Research Associate in the Interdisciplinary PhD Program at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) and Adjunct Professor in the School of Psychology in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Community Services at the Université de Moncton. In addition, she has been a scientific lead in the tripartite leadership of the NB-SPOR-PIHCI (New Brunswick Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research - Primary and Integrated Health Care Innovations) Network; a provincial network including over 100 stakeholders under the leadership of two researchers, two clinicians, and two policymakers.
Among her career milestones, along with Dr. Shelley Doucet (UNB Saint John), Dr. Azar co-founded and co-directed NaviCare/SoinsNavi, which was a navigation centre for children/youth with complex care needs and their families in New Brunswick. Over the past years, from September 2013 to December, 2019, she served as a CIHR Advisory Board Member for the Institute of Human Development, Child, and Youth Health (IHDCYH). She also held a CIHR New Investigator in Developmental Psychoneuroimmunology award from 2011-2016.
