Hello!
Welcome to HER’OLOGYclass!
HER·OL·O·GY | herˈäləjē | noun
The branch of science that deals with the health of women – covering HER mental & physical health, HER fitness & nutritional wellness, HER inner & outer beauty, HER fertility & baby journey, & motherhood.
Hello, I’m Kim, founder and writer of the HER’OLOGY Blog. I am a wife to an amazingly supportive husband, Dimitri, and mama to 3 beautiful babies. Life is stressful and crazy and chaotic with 2 very active boys, Zane (8 y.o) & Kade (6 y.o.) and a sassy toddler girl, Sage (1.5 y.o.)!
I am also an academic research scientist – studying everything related to maternal and infant health and their microbiome.
And in between brief moments of lunacy, I decided to become a women’s health blogger because I am genuinely passionate about all things related to empowering women to achieve HER best health.
The reason I created this space is to help women understand the science behind trending headlines surrounding HER health using good old reliable science! More importantly, to provide credible, evidence-based, science-backed health information to modern women and busy super-mamas in plain and simple language.
While I don’t profess to have all the answers, you can be certain that what is presented here will not be swayed by any trending headlines or commercial influences. All the information on HER’OLOGY is based on proven science and research, not just selective areas that support popular opinions.
I want to empower women by arming HER with accurate health information and beyond that, to inspire women to take control of HER own health & wellness.
My ultimate goal is to build a community here that is safe for women to learn about HER health, share HER stories and experiences, and to provide support for women to reach HER health goals through knowledge and action.
Because I Care, I Learn. So I can Teach. For us to Grow.
I hope you enjoy learning in HER’OLOGY class!
EDUCATION
- Post-Doctoral Researcher – Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, McMaster Children’s Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- Research Associate – Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence & Impact (formerly Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics), McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- PhD – Clinical Pharmacology, SickKids Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- MSc – Physiology & Pharmacology, , Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
- BHSc – Health Sciences, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
MY RESEARCH TRAINING
The areas of my expertise include drugs and environmental exposures during pregnancy & breastfeeding and its effects on the developing fetus and infant, as well as, maternal and infant microbiome. Additionally, I also have training in evidence synthesis methods (i.e. systematic review & meta-analyses), evidence-based medicine, and comparative effectiveness and safety of interventions in paediatric pharmacology and microbiome research.
My PhD thesis focused primarily on understanding an infant’s gut microbiome. I, then, continued to study how certain factors, such as the use of antibiotics, changes the development of the infant’s microbiome during my fellowship.
Through my work, I discovered that giving infants a specific probiotic alleviates infantile colic symptoms, which led to a change in clinical practice where physicians now recommend using that particular probiotic to treat infants suffering from colic.
My research studies also uncovered that excessive use of antibiotics during infancy can be detrimental to the infant’s microbiome in later life leading physicians to be more mindful when prescribing antibiotics to children.
Oh, and my naiveté of motherhood led me to believe that during my first maternity leave I would have time to write a chapter in the Oxford Textbook of Paediatric Pain – Chapter 42: Principles of Pain Pharmacology in Paediatrics.
If you’re interested in learning more, you can read more about my PhD thesis HERE, my textbook chapter HERE, and my clinical study HERE!
