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2nd prize: Phetsamone Vannasing, Université de Montréal

Phetsamone Vannasing has been a research professional at CHU Sainte-Justine since 1993, where she has held the position of research coordinator and technician in the Neurodevelopmental Optical Imaging laboratory (LION) since 2013. She is responsible for the implementation of research protocols and the acquisition and analysis of the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG) data for all studies on cerebral, cognitive and language development in healthy children and in young patients with various clinical conditions (prematurity, congenital heart disease, epilepsy).
 
Phetsamone is passionate about her work, constantly seeking to improve data acquisition and analysis methods in brain imaging. Her experience includes setting up a state-of-the-art multimodal recording platform combining EEG, NIRS, eye tracking and electrodermal systems. In addition, in order to meet the specific needs of various projects by ensuring uniform data quality, she has developed comfortable and very stable NIRS-EEG helmets for newborns, children and adults. Her interpersonal skills allow her to obtain the cooperation of parents and participants during brain recordings, even with the most agitated and difficult children.
 
The scientific excellence of her work and her outstanding critical thinking are evidenced by an impressive number of publications (41 articles, with 3 as first author and 6 as second author), including several in leading journals (Cerebral Cortex, Neuropsychologia, Epilepsia etc.). Finally, she received the 2010 Justine Award in recognition of her important contribution to the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre.