39th CHU Sainte-Justine Research Congress

Dr. Noel's research expertise is in the area of children's anxiety/fear and pain memories as cognitive-affective mechanisms underlying trajectories of pediatric pain. The overarching aim of her research is to understand and harness the influence of cognitive-behavioral factors on children’s pain trajectories using developmental frameworks. Dr. Noel's research covers the areas of acute (e.g., painful medical procedures, experimental pain in the lab) and chronic (i.e., pain lasting for at least 3 months) pain in a variety of clinical and healthy populations (e.g., vaccination, venipunctures, surgery, chronic pain). She employs a variety of novel experimental (lab-based) and clinical methodologies as well as quantitative and qualitative approaches. She is committed to applying a developmental framework to her research and examining the broader sociocultural influences that are unique to pain in childhood. Particular emphasis is on the powerful role of parents in shaping children's pain experiences and how they are invariably affected by children's suffering and alternatively, resilience. Current research interests and projects include: children's and parents' pain memory development following major surgery and the role of memories in transition to chronicity; parent and child narratives about pain; co-occurrence of trauma and pediatric pain; vaccination pain and fear management across the lifespan; children's cognitive and social development and pain memory development.

Sophie is a management consultant and President of Gestion Solem. She is a member of the Ordre des Administrateurs Agréés du Québec, holds a B.Sc. in Microbiology, an M.B.A., a C.M.C. (Certified Management Consultant) and an RCCTM (Registered Corporate CoachTM). She has over 25 years' corporate experience in organizational performance management, coaching, multidisciplinary team management, project management, training and business development. Sophie is a lecturer at the HEC business school (Leadership & Management Practices and Becoming a Learning Organization). She is also a trainer at the Université de Sherbrooke Continuing Education Center, Concordia University (Continuing Education) and Collecto. Sophie has been collaborating for several years with the Saisons des ESP program at the Université de Montréal, where she presents time and priority management training to graduate and post-doctoral students.