Rahmaty, Dr. Zahra
PhD, MSN, BSN
Biography
Dr. Rahmaty is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia. Her research is guided by the bioecological model of human development, with a focus on how child health outcomes are shaped by the complex interplay of individual, family, community, and societal factors. She is particularly interested in the children’s development, health outcomes, and eating behaviors, examining how these are influenced by parental practices, psychological well-being, and access to community and societal resources. Her work also extends to child health outcomes following hospitalization, particularly in the context of critical illness and recovery.
She earned her PhD in Nursing at the University of Maryland (UMB), where she also worked at the Health Outcomes Research Center. Following her doctorate, she completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) and the University of Lausanne (UNIL) in Switzerland, where she was the PI and lead of the national PICSS-PF project, investigating the long-term effects of pediatric intensive care on children and their families. Her research on Post-Intensive Care Syndrome in Pediatrics (PICS-p) adopts a holistic lens, addressing outcomes across physical, cognitive, emotional, and social domains.
As a registered nurse and research scientist with professional experience in Iran, the United States, Switzerland, and Canada, Dr. Rahmaty brings over nine years of research and clinical expertise. She is highly skilled in advanced statistics, research design, and interdisciplinary project leadership, and has contributed to numerous national and international collaborations.
Her publications and ongoing projects span topics such as child development, parental feeding practices, family functioning, and health outcomes after critical care. She is deeply committed to advancing health research through rigorous, innovative statistical methodologies and fostering multidisciplinary collaboration.
Dr. Rahmaty has been recognized with multiple awards and honors for her academic excellence and research leadership.
Research and expertise
Dr. Rahmaty’s research focuses on child and family health, child development, and the social determinants of health. She examines how parental behaviors, psychological well-being, and access to community and societal resources shape children’s developmental trajectories, with a particular emphasis on eating behaviors and long-term health outcomes. She also studied Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS-p), using a holistic bioecological framework to evaluate child and family health outcomes across four domains: physical, emotional, cognitive, and social. Her work highlights how health outcomes are influenced by the interconnected layers of the individual, family, community, and society.
- Chronic Disease Management
- Community
- Education and Development
- Health
- Health and Well-being
- Health Sciences
- Psychology
- Statistics
- Youth
- English
- French
- Farsi
Selected publications
1) Rahmaty, Z., Johantgen, M. E., Storr, C. L., Gilden, R., Wang, Y., & Black, M. M. (2022). Patterns of caregivers' feeding practices and associated characteristics among preschool-age children in the United States. Appetite, 168, 105769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105769
2) Rahmaty, Z., Johantgen, M. E., Storr, C. L., Wang, Y., & Black, M. M. (2023). Preschoolers’ BMI: Associations with patterns of caregivers’ feeding practices using structural equation models. Childhood Obesity, 19(3), 169–178. https://doi.org/10.1089/chi.2022.0287
3) Rahmaty, Z., Manning, J. C., Perez, M. H., & Ramelet, A. S. (2023). Post Intensive Care Syndrome in Swiss paediatric survivors and their families (PICSS-PF): A national, multicentre, longitudinal study protocol. BMJ Open, 13(11), e076023. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-076023
4) Rahmaty, Z., Manning, J. C., Macdonald, I., Perez, M. H., & Ramelet, A. S. (2023). Post-intensive care syndrome in pediatrics—Enhancing understanding through a novel bioecological theory of human development lens. Intensive Care Medicine – Paediatric and Neonatal, 1(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44211-023-00009-1
5) Rahmaty, Z., et al. (2022). A new statistical methodology to investigate post intensive care syndrome in pediatric survivors and their families. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, 23(11), e574–e576. https://doi.org/10.1097/PCC.0000000000003089
6) Google Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=fr&user=Cb42uvgAAAAJ