Students
Mentorship, built on a good question.
Dr. Shanthanna supervises graduate students in health research methods and mentors clinical fellows in anesthesia and pain medicine — training rooted in the same rigour that shapes his own research.
"The best research questions come from trainees who are still willing to ask why we do things the way we do. My job is to help sharpen that question into something answerable — and then get out of the way."
Trainees in his group work across the full arc of clinical research: from formulating a question at the bedside, through the methodology that Dr. Shanthanna trained in under Dr. Lehana Thabane, to publication and, where the evidence warrants it, a change in practice. Whether the project is a systematic review, a pilot trial, or a mechanistic study, the expectation is the same — rigorous method in service of a question that matters to patients.
Areas currently open to graduate students & fellows.
These mirror the lab's active project areas. If one of them resonates, it's a reasonable place to start a conversation.
Perioperative pain in older adults
Enhanced recovery and opioid-sparing pathways after major orthopedic surgery.
Chronic pain measurement
Building and validating quantitative tools for pain assessment beyond self-report.
Evidence synthesis
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses feeding into clinical practice guidelines.
Four conversations, roughly, before a project begins.
A short email — who you are, what you're curious about, and why.
A conversation about your interests against the lab's current open themes and capacity.
Turning a broad interest into a study question that's answerable within your program timeline.
Through methodology, writing, and — where the work supports it — publication and presentation.
Prospective students & fellows are welcome to write in.
Include a line on your background and the research theme you're drawn to.