Meet Batu Kaya, Science Communicator for the North American Pain School 2026

Editor’s Note: Five NAPSters are participating in the NAPS Science Communicators program, for which they will be conducting interviews/podcasts and creating social media posts throughout the week!

One of the participants is Batu Kaya from the University of Toronto Canada. Learn more about Batu below.

‘Hi fellow NAPSters! I’m Batu Kaya and I’m a 4th year PhD candidate working with Dr. Massieh Moayedi at the Centre for Multimodal Sensorimotor and Pain Research at the University of Toronto. My research sits at the intersection of sex, gender, body image and pain, specifically in the context of gender affirming surgery. The central question driving my work is deceptively simple: “If surgery reshapes how people perceive and relate to their body, could this change also affect how they perceive post-operative pain? » To answer this question, I worked with trans and gender diverse individuals across their full surgical journey, and I cannot wait to share what I found in a few of weeks.
My approach is mixed methods, meaning that I draw on both qualitative and quantitative tools to capture the full breadth of the patient experience. Brain scans, pressure pain thresholds, self-report surveys and semi-structured interviews – I use them all! Learning how to bring these very different approaches together has been incredibly informative and intellectually stimulating. If you’d like to learn more about mixed methods and how it can contribute to your work, chat me up!

I love leading a full life outside of academia. To me, this looks like going birding with fellow nerds, volunteering in local organizations, cycling to the beachside to watch sunsets, and deep diving into sci-fi and fantasy lore of some of my favourite books and movies.

See you all soon in Montebello, Quebec. I cannot wait!’