As Canada’s population becomes older and the demand for surgery among older adults continues to increase, McMaster University is launching a new research initiative to better understand how aging, pain and surgery intersect.
Luciana Macedo has been appointed Academic Lead of the new Aging, Pain & Surgery Collaborative Research Initiative, a partnership between the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA), the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Pain Research and Care (IPRC) and McMaster’s Department of Surgery. In this leadership role, Macedo will provide strategic direction for new research at the intersection of aging, pain, and surgery. Working with fellow researchers across the three organizations, she will help identify research priorities, foster new connections, support mentorship opportunities and advance funding initiatives that can accelerate innovation in care.
“The links between pain and aging, aging and surgery, surgery and pain, are all critical factors in well-being,” says Macedo. “But we will only fully understand their interrelationship by looking at all three topics together. McMaster has robust expertise in these topics and a deep culture of creating meaningful impact through interdisciplinarity and collaboration.”
The appointment builds on Macedo’s record of research leadership at McMaster. A physiotherapist and associate professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science, she recently completed a term in a similar role as the Academic Lead of the joint MIRA-IPRC Aging & Pain Program of Research, where she successfully expanded research capacity between the two institutes and created new opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, leading to the successful funding of a new program of research looking at pain assessment and management in long-term care.
By bringing together expertise from aging, pain and surgical research, the new initiative will further strengthen McMaster’s leadership in improving health outcomes and quality of life for older adults through innovative, collaborative research.
