UTSC grad turns curiosity into a clinical psychology career

New graduate Kaynaat Abrar built an extensive research portfolio through hands-on experiences across multiple UTSC labs. She will return this fall as a PhD student in clinical psychology. Photos by Don Campbell.

Kaynaat Abrar just graduated with a double major in population health and psychology, and an absolutely stacked research portfolio.

It all began with an email she got in her first year – one advertising the Department of Psychology’s Budding Scholars Program. She was paired with Konstantine Zakzanis, a professor in the Department of Psychology, and later landed funding through the Budding Scholar Research Extension Award. That experience, she says, “built basically everything I've done since.”

“He was really able to help me foster skills that I would not get anywhere else,” Abrar says, noting that included learning neuropsychology assessment techniques students don’t usually come across until graduate school. 

Zakzanis has now supervised Abrar in multiple courses, independent projects and her honours thesis. 

“Kaynaat is among the most intellectually gifted, independent and academically accomplished undergraduate students I have encountered in my career,” says Zakzanis, whose research targets developing ways to make diagnoses more accurate.

A thesis experience 'unique to UTSC'

Abrar received an Honourable Mention in Sciences for the 2025 UTSC Undergraduate Research and Creative Prize for a thesis she hadn’t originally planned to pursue but was encouraged to undertake by faculty. Her study looked at how clinicians can better interpret symptoms that may look like a concussion on the surface but have different underlying causes. 

She said the thesis experience felt “unique to UTSC,” and added that UTSC is “huge on their research.” She also received the DHS Community Engagement Award and the DHS Leadership Awards, awarded more broadly for the work she’s done on campus and beyond. 

“The UTSC community is very supportive and I didn't think I'd want to leave that given how well it has worked for me,” Abrar says. 

Impactful research in prominent labs 

During her time as an undergrad, Abrar has worked at several of the campus’ most distinct labs, including the TEMPO Lab, and in Professor Mark Schmuckler’s Laboratory for Infant Studies, where she contributed to a study that explored whether children aged three to five will adjust their walking pace to match the beat of a metronome, even when the metronome changes tempo (turns out they do). 

Another of Abrar’s impactful research roles was with Mariana Bueno, assistant professor, tenure stream in the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, with whom she is still working on looking at barriers and facilitators for children in the NICU. She is also working on a health research project with Pablo Galvez-Hernandez, assistant professor, tenure stream, looking at social connection and how it’s measured across Canada.

Abrar still found time for extracurriculars and in her second year founded the Child and Youth Mental Health Initiative at UTSC, which aims to teach young adults how to notice potential mental health issues in the children in their lives. Coming from a large family, she’s worked with and mentored kids since she was a child herself. That also spurred her to volunteer with Kids Help Phone, which she still does to this day. 

She has primarily balanced her demanding schedule by replacing part-time jobs with paid research roles and awards. Through her professors she learned of the University of Toronto Excellence Award, which gives undergraduate students direct research experience and funding for 14 to 16 weeks of summer. Although initially hesitant due to the competition, she applied and was successful.

Work-study roles were another way she doubled up on her goals, two of which she did at CAMH. Again, through her supervisors she heard of the CAMH Undergraduate Awards, a full-time 12-week placement under a CAMH scientist, which she applied, ultimately receiving the award. 

Continuing her research journey

This fall, her research journey continues, as she becomes the first in her family to pursue a PhD and will be among the first to study in the Myron and Berna Garron Health Sciences Complex. 

Zakzanis says it’s “unsurprising that she has been accepted into our highly competitive graduate program” – he’ll again be Abrar’s supervisor when she returns this fall as a PhD student in the clinical psychology program. 

“I'm confident that she will continue to make meaningful contributions to both psychological science and clinical practice throughout her career,” he says.

Originally published by U of T Scarborough