MIRA Members

Elizabeth Alvarez is a licensed physician and experienced health professional with a focus on public health and health policy. Elizabeth works closely with health promotion and chronic disease prevention and management strategies by researching healthy lifestyle programs, physician assistants in health promotion, health behaviour theories in health promotion, and exercise and nutrition affecting the mobility of older adults. She has worked in healthcare settings around the world and is currently an assistant professor at McMaster’s Master of Public Health Program.

Carol Bassim is the Scientific Manager for the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). She graduated Dental School in 2004 from the University of Florida, then spent several years with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and the NIDCR of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a Clinical Research Fellow. Carol’s research explores oral health in older adults and the interdependent relationships between tooth loss, food choice, weight loss and frailty. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact at McMaster University and a Section Editor for the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Dr. Beauchamp is a Physical Therapist and Assistant Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster.  She is also an Associate Member in the Department of Medicine.  Marla completed her PhD in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Toronto (2012) and her postdoctoral training in outcomes measurement at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

The overall objective of Dr. Beauchamp’s research program is to develop evidence-based strategies to improve mobility among older adults. Her research has two key arms related to this aim: 1) advancing the assessment of mobility problems among older adults; and 2) personalized rehabilitative interventions to optimize late-life mobility. Dr. Beauchamp’s ongoing research is supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canada’s Aging and Technology Network (AGE-WELL NCE), the Canadian Respiratory Research Network (CRRN), and the Labarge Centre for Mobility in Aging within the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA).

Jackie Bosch is primarily focused on the area of clinical adult neurological rehabilitation. She began her work with large clinical trials at the Population Health Research Institute where she completed her Master’s in Clinical Epidemiology, which focused on functional recovery post-stroke. She currently acts as co-investigator on both primary and secondary trials on the prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Her research also examines cardiovascular disease prevention and studies improving function. Jackie has over 65 peer reviewed publications.

Lisa Dolovich is the Research Director and Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine. She is a scientist with the Centre for Evaluation of Medicines at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. Lisa co-leads Health TAPESTRY, a research program and health intervention which aims to help older adults stay healthy longer and to age well in their own home and community. This approach is identifying people at risk before they require emergency medical care or hospitalization, which reduces health care costs and improves outcomes for older adults in health care facilities. The program has successfully been funded to expand to new communities across Canada. Lisa’s expertise is based on the emerging eHealth discipline, population health, and community-based primary health care interventions.

Rebecca Ganann is a full-time Assistant Professor at McMaster University's School of Nursing. She teaches in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. After completing her PhD, Dr. Ganann completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit (ACHRU) to study the impact of patient, caregiver, and community engagement in research teams under the supervision of Dr. Maureen Markle-Reid, Ruta Valaitis, and Carrie McAiney.

Dr. Ganann is an early career researcher with ACHRU and the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA). Her research focuses on the real-world impact of patient, caregiver and community engagement on older adults.

Andrea Gonzalez is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences. Her research aims to understand the mechanisms by which early human experiences are transmitted across generations and how preventive interventions may affect this transmission. Andrea looks to identify biological, neuropsychological and psychosocial risk and resilience factors contributing to parenting and subsequent child developmental outcomes. Andrea’s research is an important key for understanding links between intergenerational trauma and how some people live longer, healthier lives based on their biological makeup.

Lauren Griffith is an associate professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster. She holds a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree in biostatistics from the University of Michigan. Her research interests include physical functioning, injury and aging as well as the harmonization of longitudinal data. Since joining the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) in November 2007, Dr. Griffith has worked on the analysis and reporting of several feasibility studies and the development of the CLSA protocol. In 2011, she served as interim national manager of the CLSA, and is currently the lead of the Hamilton Data Collection Site.

Michelle Kho is an Assistant Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science. Her research focuses on effective and creative methods of physiotherapy such as in-bed cycling, to help patients stay as strong as possible while they are in the intensive care unit (ICU). She is also a clinician-scientist who cares for patients at St. Joseph’s Healthcare ICU. Michelle holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Critical Care Rehabilitation and Knowledge Translation. As our population ages and the demand for critical care increases, Michelle’s rehabilitation research may help improve function and quality of life in ICU survivors.

Carrie McAiney is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behaviour Neurosciences. She serves as the head of research for the Seniors Mental Health Service at St. Joseph’s Healthcare. Carrie is involved in health services research and evaluation aimed at enhancing quality of care and quality of life for older adults, particularly individuals living with dementia. She is involved in health services research and evaluation aimed at enhancing quality of care and quality of life for older adults, particularly individuals living with dementia. Carrie believes in the importance of participatory research involving community organizations, individuals living with dementia, family members, providers and policy makers.