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CURRICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION


PhD, Ryerson University, 2015; Psychology; 4.0 GPA

  • Offered $177,000 in research awards from government and industry sources

  • Nominated for C. Ravi Ravindran award for doctoral thesis


MA, Ryerson University, 2011; Psychology; 4.0 GPA 

  • Won Canadian Psychological Association’s Certificate of Academic Excellence for Master’s thesis 

  • A+ in statistics courses


BSc, University of Toronto; Psychology Research Specialist Program; 3.5 GPA 

  • 1 of only 20 students admitted to the program


Workshops

  • Addressing Anti-Black Racism Workshop, Corus Entertainment, 2020

  • Cultural Safety in the Classroom: Anti-Indigenous Racism in Education, ICS, 2020

  • EBRASMUS Spring School, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium, 2012

  • Graduate Teaching Development Program Workshop: TA/GAing in the Multicultural Classroom, 2010

  • Graduate Teaching Development Program Workshop: Planning Effective Tutorials, 2010

  • Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Training Course, Rotman Research Institute, 2009


INTERESTS


I am a professor, neuroscientist and social venture entrepreneur with a passion for applied work with individuals with special needs. My research background is in music neuroscience. I am fascinated by the potential of music to support communication, movement, and ultimately independence in patient populations. I have examined the role of music and movement in emotional responsiveness, gait, and memory, using physiological techniques as well as EEG and fMRI. I have worked with several special needs groups including children and adults with ADHD, autism, brain damage, depression, autism, Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington’s disease, as well as with healthy individuals of all ages. I am certified to administer many standardized tests including the Ham-D, the BDI, PCL-5, WASI, the WISC-V, the MDS-UPDRS, and the MOCA.

In my teaching I focus on catering to multiple learning modes and supporting students of varying needs. I enjoy data analysis and learning new statistical methods and sharing my knowledge with students.

I run a company called EmotePlay Apps, and our mandate is to support social development using technology. Big Break: Act & Sing Game supports emotion learning through acting and singing, targeted at children with autism. 

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​HONOURS AND AWARDS


Fed-Dev Social Venture Fellowship, 2014, $30,000

NSERC Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement, 2013, $6,000 

Canadian Psychological Association’s Commendation of Excellence Award for Master’s Thesis work, 2012

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, 2012-2015, $105,000

Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2012-2013, declined, $15,000

Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2011-2012, $15,000

Ryerson University Graduate Award, 2011-2012, $4,000

Ryerson University Psychological Science Award, 2011-2012, $1,000

Ontario International Education Opportunity Scholarship, 2010, $2,500

International Conference and Research Support Fund, Ryerson University, 2010, $1,500

Ryerson University Graduate Award, 2010-2011, $7,000

Ryerson University Psychological Science Award, 2010-2011, $1,000

Ryerson University Graduate Award, 2009-2010, $7,000

Ryerson University Psychological Science Award, 2009-2010, $1,000


EXPERIENCE


PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE


Co-Founder, CEO, & Lead Developer, EmotePlay Apps Incorporated, 2014-Present

  • Designed, produced, and conduct ongoing iOS development (using Objective-C and Swift programming languages) of an iPad App based on my PhD research to support social skills in children with autism, called “Big Break: The Acting Game”, currently available in the Apple App Store

  • Made a formal partnership with the Geneva Centre for Autism


Crisis Text Responder, Kid’s Help Phone, April 2020-Present 

  • Received training in crisis response protocols

  • Responding to crisis text messages from children and adults, empower texters to deal with difficult situations with empathy


Action Editor, JournalPrep, 2012-2015

  • Edited medical journal articles on tight deadlines; familiarity with medical terminology, reference checking, and grammar


Program Evaluator: Progress Place, Clubhouse Canada, 2013

  • Spearheaded and led a grant proposal for Bell Let’s Talk

  • Evaluated programs for a set of organized “clubhouses” across Canada for individuals living with mental illness

  • Creation of a strategic plan and logic model for all clubhouses across Canada, targeting re-branding, fundraising, and research based on detailed interviews with stakeholders and market research


RESEARCH EXPERIENCE


Lead Researcher, EmotePlay Apps, EmotePlay Apps Incorporated, 2014-Present

  • Led grant applications with FedDev, the Ontario Brain Institute ONtrepreneurs Program, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute’s Age-Well Program, and the Organization for Autism Research

  • Conduct research on app for emotion learning collaborating with Ryerson University

  • Perform ongoing program evaluation of the Big Break summer camp and after school program


Postdoctoral Fellow, The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, 2015-2018

  • Projects: Investigating the role of beat perception in music-assisted gait procedures; Investigating the power of music to support memory in aging and Alzheimer’s populations.

  • Involved project management, grant writing and interim reports, supervising honours thesis students and graduate students, running the gait laboratory, advanced statistical analysis using R, Matlab, EEGlab, Labview, and SPSS, conceptualization of new projects and problem solving, choosing validated assessment tools for patients in research studies, (with Dr. Jessica Grahn & Dr. Adrian Owen)


Graduate Student, Ryerson University, 2009-2014

  • PhD dissertation project: The effects of movement mimicry on emotional understanding. Master’s project: The effects of movement on emotional responsiveness to music. (with Dr. Frank Russo)

  • Involved writing successful grants for NSERC, SSHRC, OGS, and FedDev, mentoring students, project management, conceptualization, design, analysis, and writeup of several experiments, culminating in 2 theses and several research publications.


Visiting Graduate Student, Bangor University, August-December, 2013

  • fMRI project: The role of the mirror system in perception of emotional action in humans. (with Drs. Emily Cross and Frank Russo)

  • Funded by an NSERC-CGS Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement grant, involved designing, running, analyzing data using Matlab and writing up an fMRI experiment, training in safely running fMRI experiments, mentoring Master’s and undergraduate students.


Research Practicum Project, University of California, San Diego, September to December, 2010

  • EEG project: Audiovisual integration of the mu wave.  (With Drs. Jaime Pineda and Frank Russo, and Matt Schalles)

  • Funded by an Ontario International Education Opportunity Grant I successfully wrote, involved designing, running, analyzing data using EEGlab, and writing up an EEG experiment, mentoring students.


Research Assistant, Rotman Research Institute & Lab Manager, Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, University of Toronto, & Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Hospital, 2007-2009

  • Contributed to grant applications and budgets, project management, mentored students, conducted research interviews and assessments, performed data analysis using Matlab, SPSS, and Excel, managed lab finances (with Drs. Morris Moscovitch and Gordon Winocur)


Research assistant, Neuropsychology Department, Toronto Western Hospital, 2009

  • Patient scheduling and database management; developing classification algorithm and coding patient information to make it more easily accessible for research studies (with Dr. Mary Pat McAndrews)


Research Assistant, Defence Research Canada, January-May, 2007

  • Project: Measuring the effects of emotion on political decision making.  (with Dr. David Mandel)

  • Involved running experiment, interacting with participants, data analysis using Excel and SPSS.


Fourth year Thesis, Affect and Cognition Laboratory, University of Toronto, 2006-2007

  • Project: The Effect of Amygdala Activation on the Startle Reflex, With or Without Arousal. (with Dr. Adam Anderson)

  • Involved designing, running, analyzing and writing up a physiological experiment, interacting with participants, mentoring fellow students.


Research Volunteer, Affect and Cognition Laboratory at the University of Toronto, 2005-2006

  • Research project: The role of strategy in emotion regulation, as measured through the potentiated startle reflex and galvanic skin response (with Dr. Adam Anderson and Christina Gojmerac)

  • Trained in running electromyography experiments and conducted data analysis using Excel, Matlab and SPSS.


TEACHING EXPERIENCE


Curriculum Developer, EmotePlay Apps Incorporated, 2014-Present

  • Designed and organized a summer camp for children with autism with funding from Telus, in collaboration with Ryerson University and the Geneva Centre for Autism

  • Designed a curriculum to accompany our app, Big Break, designed to support emotion learning, in collaboration with Ryerson University and the Geneva Centre


Gait Lab statistics consultant, Music Neuroscience Laboratory, The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, 2015-2018

  • Provided statistics and research writing advising for graduate thesis students 


Statistics and EEG consultant, Science of Music, Auditory Research and Technology Laboratory, Ryerson University, 2012-2015

  • Provided statistics and research writing advising for graduate thesis students 


Guest Lecturer, 2010-2015

  • Auditory Perception, Durham College. Topic: Physiology of Audition and Music, 2015

  • Statistics, Ryerson University. Topic: Bivariate regression, 2012

  • Music Cognition, Ryerson University. Topic: Music and the Brain, 2012

  • Freshman Seminar, Mirror Neurons, UCSD.  Topic: Mirror Neurons, and the role of mimicry in dance and music perception, 2010


Tutor, 2004-2015

  • University-level statistics courses, 2009-2015

  • High school Math and English, 2004-2011

  • Involved working one-on-one with students, including several with special needs, such as dyslexia, ADHD, and sensory processing disorder


Adjunct Professor, Perspectives in Psychology, Ryerson University, 2014

  • Involved giving weekly lectures to 100 students; one-on-one student counselling, helping students with disabilities get proper accommodations; assisting students with special needs by providing lecture notes online, and lecturing using multiple methods and formats, marking assignments; using Blackboard and guided online discussion forums; held exam review workshops and gave individual office hours


Teaching Assistant, Ryerson University, Psychology, 2010-2014

  • Introduction to Statistics, 2012, 2014; Perspectives in Psychology, 2011; Introduction to Psychology, 2010

  • Involved leading weekly tutorials for groups of 60 students; giving occasional lectures for 250 students; held individual office hours; advising students with disabilities and helping to coordinate accommodations; marking assignments; using Blackboard and guided online discussion forums

  • Nominated for Teaching Assistant Award, 2014


ACADEMIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE


Reviewer: Psychomusicology, 2015-2020, Psychiatry Research, 2020, SMPC, 2015-2019, Experimental Brain Research, 2015, Social, Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience, 2014, Psychological Science Peer Review Board, Ryerson University, 2010-2013, Journal of Dance Research, 2012, Music Perception, 2012

Hiring committee: Brain & Mind Institute, Western University, 2015-2016

Hiring committee: Ryerson Psychology Department, 2014-2015

Planning committee: Society for Music Perception and Cognition conference, 2015

Planning committee: Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior, and Cognitive Science conference, 2013-2014

Planning committee: Society for Music Perception and Cognition conference, 2013

Action Editor: Emotion and Perception, Psychological Science Peer Review Board, Ryerson University, 2010-2013 

Psychological Science Representative, Psychology Graduate Student’s Association, Ryerson University, 2009-2010

Psychology Student’s Association Volunteer, University of Toronto, 2005-2007

Member of Academic Seminar Committee, Psychology Student’s Association, University of Toronto, 2005-2007

Class Representative for the Psychology Student’s Association, University of Toronto, 2005-2007

OUTREACH


Featured in Ryerson Today for Big Break: The Acting Game, 2017; https://www.ryerson.ca/news-events/news/2017/08/a-new-approach-to-autism/

Invited Speaker at a documentary screening of Alive Inside, Sarnia Justice Film Festival, 2016

Invited Presentation at the London Children’s Museum with Music & Neuroscience Lab from the Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, 2015

Featured in Yonge St. Media for autism work, 2014; http://yongestreetmedia.ca/features/AutismTO082014.aspx

Featured in CBC for Parkinson’s song work, 2014; http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/music-therapy-offers-hope-for-alzheimer-s-parkinson-s-1.1286293

Blog post on autism work, 2014; http://ryersonsmartlab.blogspot.ca/2014/06/the-benefits-of-creativearts-therapies.html

Invited Presentation at The Ontario Science Centre: This is Your Brain on Pop Music, 2014

Invited Presentation at The Ontario Science Centre: Sci Fri, The Science of Rock N’ Roll, 2014

Podcast Interview with Studiofeed for SMARTLab Radio, 2013; http://www.studiofeed.com/main/studiofeed-radio-smart-lab-radio-episode-2/


PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS


Sternin, A., McGarry, L.M., Owen, A.M., & Grahn, J.A. (under review). Engagement over exposure: the effect of familiarity on neural representations of music and language. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

Ready, E. A., McGarry, L. M., Rinchon, C., Holmes, J. D., & Grahn, J. A. (2019). Beat perception ability and instructions to synchronize influence gait when walking to music-based auditory cues. Gait & Posture, 68, 555-561.

Oxenham, A. J., Honing, H., Bouwer, F., McAdams, S., Siedenburg, K., Russo, F. A., McGarry, L. M., … & Weiss, M. W. (2019). Foundations in Music Psychology: Theory and Research. MIT Press.

Livingstone, S. R., Vezer, E.,  McGarry, L.M., Lang, A. E., & Russo, F. A. (2016). Deficits in the mimicry of facial expressions in Parkinson’s Disease. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 780.

McGarry, L.M. (2015). The Role Of The Mirror Neuron System In Bottom-Up And Top-Down Perception Of Human Action [dissertation abstract]. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind and Brain.

McGarry, L.M., Pineda, J., & Russo, F. (2015). The role of the extended MNS in emotional and nonemotional judgments of human song. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 15(1), 32-44.

McGarry, L.M., Russo, F., Schalles, M., and Pineda, J. (2012).  Audiovisual integration of the mu wave.  Experimental Brain Research, 218(4), 527-538.

Talmi, D., and McGarry, L.M. (2012).  Accounting for Immediate Emotional Memory Enhancement.  Journal of Memory and Language, 66(1), 93-108.

McGarry, L.M., and Russo, F. (2011).  Mirroring in Dance/Movement Therapy: Potential mechanisms behind empathy enhancement.  The Arts in Psychotherapy, 38(3), 178-184.

Talmi, D., Luk, B., McGarry, L.M., and Moscovitch, M. (2007).  The contribution of relatedness and distinctiveness to emotionally enhanced memory.  Journal of Memory and Language, 56(4), 555-574.

SELECTED INVITED PRESENTATIONS

Ready, E.A., McGarry, L.M., Holmes, J., Grahn, J.A. (2017). In sync with the groove: How is synchronization accuracy altered by cue pace and perceived groove during rhythmic auditory stimulation? International Society for Gait and Posture Research World Congress, Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Ready, E.A., McGarry, L.M., Holmes, J.D., Grahn, J.A. (2016). Higher levels of perceived groove in music improve spatiotemporal parameters of gait during accelerated rhythmic auditory stimulation. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

McGarry, L.M., Ready, E., Rinchon, C., Holmes, J., Grahn, J.A. (2016). Walking to music: How instructions to synchronize alter gait in good and poor beat perceivers. International Conference for Music Perception and Cognition, San Francisco, CA.

Ready, E.A., McGarry, L.M., Rinchon, C., Holmes, J.D., & Grahn, J. (2016). Free-walking and synchronized Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation: Effects of individual differences in beat perception, dance and music training on gait. Talk presented at Personality and Individual Differences, 101C, 509.

McGarry, L.M., Ready, E.A., Rinchon, C., Holmes, J.D., & Grahn, J.A. (2015).  Investigating music-based rhythmic auditory stimulation for gait rehabilitation: Weak beat perceivers perform better without instructions to synchronize. BRAMS Symposium, Montreal, Canada.

McGarry, L.M., & Russo, F (2015). The Acting Game: Mimicry of emotional song and speech to enhance emotion skills in autism. Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Nashville, TN.

Vezer, E., Livingstone, S. R., McGarry, L.M., & Russo, F. A. (2014). Deficits in Spontaneous Facial Mimicry in Patients With Parkinson's Disease. Canadian Journal Of Experimental Psychology, 68(4), 258-258.

McGarry, L.M., Pineda, J., & Russo, F. (2014). EEG mu wave desynchronization during emotion judgments of human action. Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Boston, MA.

McGarry, L.M., Cross, E., & Russo, F. (2014). The role of the mirror system in processing seen and heard emotional action. Social and Affective Neuroscience Society, Denver, CO.

McGarry, L.M., & Russo, F. (2013). Simulation training using song to enhance emotion perception skills in autism. Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Singing, Toronto, ON.

McGarry, L.M., Livingstone, S., & Russo, F. (2013). Music as a tool to support mirror neuron system functioning, mimicry, and empathy. Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Toronto, ON.

McGarry, L.M., Pineda, J., & Russo, F. (2013). Mu wave desynchronization during emotion judgments of human song. Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Toronto, ON.

McGarry, L.M., & Russo, F. (2011). Dance to the Music: The effects of movement on emotional understanding. Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Rochester, NY. 

McGarry, L.M., & Russo, F. (2011). Neural mimicry during perception of emotional song. Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Rochester, NY. 

McGarry, L.M., & Russo, F. (2011). Movement as a mediator of emotional understanding in music. Rotman Research Institute and the Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit: Neuroscience of Emotion and Emotion Related Disorders, Toronto, ON

McGarry, L.M., Russo, F., Schalles, M., & Pineda, J. (2011). Audio-visual suppression of the mu wave. Cognitive Neurosciences Society, San Francisco, CA

McGarry, L.M., & Russo, F. (2010). Dance to the Music: The effects of movement on emotional experience. Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Sciences, Halifax, NS

McGarry, L.M., Rossi, S., Mah, L., and Pollock, B. (2008). Age related differences in attentional biases from emotional stimuli. Harvey Stancer Research Day, Toronto, ON.

Rossi, S., McGarry, L.M., Mah, L., and Pollock, B. (2008). Age related differences in perception of facial emotions. Harvey Stancer Research Day, Toronto, ON.


ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS


Society for Neuroscience, 2015-2016

Society for Music Perception and Cognition, 2014-2015

Social and Affective Neuroscience Society, 2013-2014

Canadian Brain, Behavior & Cognitive Science Society, 2013-2014

American Psychological Association, Graduate Student Affiliate, 2011-2012

Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Student Member, 2011-2012

Society for Music Cognition and Perception, 2011-2013

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