Dr. Farnia is the Co-Principal Investigator of the TOHOL project. She is an Adjunct lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. She has over two decades of experience conducting longitudinal research to investigate the early risk factors and adverse childhood experiences that may relate to later poor cognitive, language, social-emotional, and mental health outcomes. Her work focuses mainly on marginalized populations who live in socially and geographically isolated, hard-to-reach communities. Dr. Farnia is a clinician and is committed to evidence-based trauma-informed practices, and interprofessional team efforts and collaborations. She has written and spoken in areas related to the overlap of language impairment and psychopathology, child, adolescent and family mental health, and domestic and international adoption. She is also a Registered Psychotherapist and sees children and youth (birth to 18-years-old), and their families.
Dr. Geva is the Co-Principal Investigator of the TOHOL project. She is a Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. Dr. Geva is a licensed psychologist. Her extensive research, publications, and graduate teaching focus on (a) the development of language and literacy skills in students from diverse linguistic backgrounds, (b) second language [L2] students with learning difficulties, and (c) cultural perspectives on children’s psychological problems. She has presented her work internationally, served on numerous advisory, policy, and review committees in the US and Canada concerned with policy and research on literacy development in culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents. She has published numerous chapters and research articles in these areas. Dr. Geva is a Canadian Council on Learning Minerva Scholar.
Dr. Im-Bolter is an Associate Professor at Trent University and a Co-Investigator of the TOHOL Project. Her research interests include higher order language skills in children and adolescents as well as language and cognition of diverse population of children and adolescents, including both typical and atypical development (e.g., psychopathology, developmental language disorders, reading disability, ADHD, autism). Dr. Im-Bolter’s research also focuses on the relation between language and numeracy in early childhood; investigating the contribution of language to different aspects of social cognition, in particular theory of mind, in typical and atypical development; as well as the relation between language and reading and the measurement of executive function (i.e., inhibition, working memory, mental flexibility). Although most of her research involves children, Dr. Im-Bolter is also interested in the relationship between language and cognition across the life span. This includes investigating and evaluating assessment techniques and tools for children, adolescents, and adults.
Dr. Cohen is one of the Co-Investigators of the TOHOL Project. She is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto and was the Director of Research at the SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health. Dr. Cohen is a researcher, clinician, and teacher who has written and spoken in areas related to child, adolescent and family mental health, attachment, language impairment, child and adolescent psychopathology and domestic and international adoption. She is one of the developers of the Handle with Care programs designed to promote the mental health of infants and young children. Dr. Cohen has spoken and led workshops about children’s mental health for parents, educators, frontline caregivers and mental health professionals. She had a part-time private practice where she saw children, adolescents and their families.