EDRG Staff

Our Early Development Research Group staff coordinate between our seven centers and communicate with families about participating with us. Read below about our amazing staff members.

Recruitment Coordinator Hayley Yau Pronouns: She/Her/Hers Hayley received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology in 2024. She became involved with the EDRG the same year as a research assistant at the Language Development Centre. Hayley is also a research student at BC Children’s Hospital, where she developed her own study examining how sleep disturbance can vary in children with various developmental and mental health conditions. As the Recruitment Coordinator, Hayley is responsible for managing shared resources between the seven centres and developing recruitment initiatives to promote studies at the EDRG. Enthusiastic about engaging with parents and families, Hayley is always happy to answer any questions about participating in studies at the centres. In her free time, Hayley enjoys baking, watching TV shows and café hopping! Contact: earlydev(at)psych.ubc.ca

Hospital Recruiter Lucia Youka Munoz Murakami Pronouns: She/Her/Hers Lucia completed her H.B.Sc as a Psychology Specialist student at the University of Toronto in 2021. During her undergraduate degree, she previously worked with the Biopsychosocial Investigations of Gender Laboratory (BIG Lab) as a Research Assistant under Dr. Doug P. VanderLaan; where she was the first author of a published study that assessed whether a Child Behavior Checklist 10-item screener could investigate the association between Autism Spectrum Disorder and Childhood Gender Variance in non-clinical populations. Lucia is excited about working as Hospital Recruiter for the Early Development Research Group (EDRG). She visits mothers in the Children’s hospital maternity wards to recruit newborns and their older siblings for EDRG studies and is overjoyed in gaining more experience in developmental psychology research. In her free time, Lucia enjoys various hobbies such as stand-up paddle boarding, hiking, fantasy adventure novels and shows and baking. Contact: edrg_bccw(at)psych.ubc.ca