Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Dean Tripp, Ph.D.

Dr. Tripp completed his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Dalhousie University in 2000. He joined the Department of Psychology at Queen’s shortly afterward and has been cross-appointed with the Department of Anesthesiology and Urology. He teaches courses in Health Psychology, Interpersonal Therapy, Pain, and Introduction to Psychology and has established his Psychology Pain Research Unit. Dr Tripp has won the prestigious Frank Knox Teaching Excellence Award in 2009 at Queen’s University and has been nominated for several other teaching awards during his time at Queen’s. Dr. Tripp was also recently awarded the Canadian Pain Society Early Career Award (2008) and has been a Clinical Consultant as well as active researcher over the past decade. He has practiced in hospital settings and in the private sector, treating a variety of patient populations (depression, anxiety, diabetes, G.I., HIV, injured athletes, acute and chronic pain patients).

Jess Ginting

Year of study: PhD 4

Area of research: My dissertation focuses on the role of social support in men with Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CP/CPPS) and women with Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome.  Particularly, I am examining whether or not different types of social support influences the associations between pain and quality of life, depressive symptoms, and disability.  Further, I am also examining whether or not the influence of social support on the associations between pain and the aforementioned variables differs between these men and women.

Aspirations: In the future, I plan to have a clinical career working with adults with mood and anxiety disorders.

Laura Katz

Year of study: PhD 2

Area of research: I am interested in how psychological factors impact individuals with chronic pain conditions. More specifically, my thesis examines factors associated with specific aspects of disability reported by women suffering from Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome. Factors that are likely to be important predictors include psychological variables (i.e., pain catastrophizing, depression, anxiety), physical symptoms (i.e., pain severity, urinary urgency and frequency, pain type), and environmental factors (i.e., social support from family, friends, or spouses).

Aspirations: I am interested in how various aspects of disability affect women with Interstitial Cystitis and wish to create an psychosocial intervention to help improve the quality of life in these women. I hope to continue researching how psychological factors impact individuals with various chronic illness conditions and apply these findings in a clinical setting.

Adrijana Koljuskov

Year of Study: MSc 2

Area of research: I am interested in the impact of psychosocial factors on patient quality of life (QoL) outcomes. In particular, my thesis will investigate pain appraisals and behavioural coping strategies as predictors of mental and physical QoL, as well as mechanisms of the pain–QoL relationship, in a sample of men diagnosed with Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CP/CPPS).

Aspirations: I hope to one day have a career in a clinical setting, working with adults suffering from mental health issues and comorbid chronic pain conditions.