Hayley Riel Selected as a Trainee Under the STAGE Program.

STAGE Prairies is pleased to announce that Hayley Riel has been selected as a STAGE Trainee with her project, “A Multilevel Investigation of Resilience Markers in Schizophrenia Risk and Early Psychosis”

Hayley Riel is currently a PhD student in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics at the University of Manitoba, where she is conducting research under the supervision of Drs. Lisa Lix and Nils Daniel Forkert.

Before embarking on her doctoral journey, she earned a Master of Science degree in Psychiatry Research from Dalhousie University. She is also a recipient of various scholarships and awards, including the University of Manitoba’s Human Genetics Endowment Fund Graduate Award.

Hayley has previously made contributions centering on schizophrenia and early-phase psychosis, spanning biomarkers, EEG measures of cognitive function, and treatment resistance. She is currently focused on investigating genetic liability for schizophrenia and resilience markers, aiming to uncover genetic and clinical mechanisms influencing illness onset and outcomes.

Her STAGE project aims to develop identify and examine genetic, cognitive, an functional markers of resilience in individuals at risk for schizophrenia and with early-phase psychosis.

STAGE is proud to support Hayley in her research endeavors and looks forward to her contributions in addressing a vital area in schizophrenia research–why some high-risk individuals progress to schizophrenia while others remain well or recover, despite similar genetic or clinical liability.