Katrina graduated from McGill University with a B.Sc. in Wildlife Biology. Passionate about the environment and animals, she worked as an assistant technician in a veterinary clinic while pondering the next steps in her career. It was through direct observation of parasites on and in cats and dogs that she decided to specialize in parasitology. She then pursued a Master's degree in Parasitology at McGill University, where she studied an ectoparasite of guppies.

As part of her PhD, Katrina aims to estimate, for the first time, the prevalence of four zoonotic parasites (Toxoplasma gondii, Toxocara spp., Echinococcus spp. and Baylisascaris procyonis) in humans in Canada. She will also draw on pre-existing data to estimate the prevalence of these infections in animals and the environment.