Mélissande is a Vanier Scholar pursuing her postdoctoral research fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University, under the supervision of Dr. Andrea Gonzalez. Her fellowship is financed by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation. Her research focuses on the cognitive and emotional development of maltreated children, as well as the effect of parenting and rearing contexts on children’s development within marginalized communities. She is actively invested in projects focusing on trauma-informed interventions and culturally sensitive approaches. Mélissande is also the founder of Koze Jenès, an organization committed to preventing sexual and interpersonal violence within the Haitian community through awareness campaigns and knowledge transfer activities.
