MIRA Members

Julia Abelson is a professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact (HEI) and Director of the Health Policy Program in the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis at McMaster University. Julia obtained her master’s degree in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health and her doctorate in social and policy sciences at the University of Bath, U.K. She is a past recipient of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator award, and an Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Career Scientist award. Her research interests are focused on older adult engagement (as citizens and patients) in health system decision making and research design, implementation and evaluation. Julia is also interested in the development of public and health policies related to ageing and older adults. View Bio

Julia Abelson

Faculty of Health Sciences

Gina Agarwal is an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. She joined the department in 2000 after training and working in England. Gina is the Principal Investigator of the McMaster Community Paramedicine Research Team and a practicing family physician at the McMaster Family Practice (MFP). Her research focuses on improving health systems for vulnerable populations. Gina is committed to ensuring adequate care is provided at the right time and place to those most in need. Her most recent research with the Community Paramedicine at Clinic (CP@Clinic) involves paramedics holding drop-in sessions at select subsidized housing buildings with high numbers of 911 calls. The results of a pilot study showed that the program significantly lowered the number of ambulance calls, improved quality of life, and lowered systolic blood pressure among older adults in subsidized housing. Gina is also involved in training family medicine residents and supervising undergraduate, masters and doctoral students. View Bio

Gina Agarwal

Faculty of Health Sciences

Baraa Al-Khazraji is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University. Baraa’s laboratory explores blood flow control and vascular physiology in blood vessels. Aging increases risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease as well as risk of other diseases, such as osteoarthritis. Baraa’s research focuses on understanding basic vascular control mechanisms across the lifespan and understanding whether different exercise training methods can protect against aging-associated declines in vascular health. She is also investigating how to improve peripheral and brain vascular imaging tools, which can influence how these technologies are used, how they are interpreted for data collection, and how to better implement them in clinical settings or community activity centres.

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Baraa K. Al-Khazraji

Faculty of Science

Elizabeth Alvarez is an experienced family/public health physician and Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact (HEI) at McMaster University. After completing her medical degree and family medicine residency at the University of Toledo in Ohio, she earned a master’s degree in public health through the Northwest Ohio Consortium for Public Health, and a PhD in Health Policy at McMaster University. She also holds a certificate in cognitive behavioural therapy (CMCBT).

Her research uses policy analysis and qualitative and mixed methods for applied knowledge translation, spanning the role of context in evidence informed decision making, public health topics, sustainable health behaviour change across the lifespan, and multidisciplinary care.

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Elizabeth Alvarez

Faculty of Health Sciences

Ellen Amster focuses on public health and the encounters between western and Islamic medicines. She seeks to understand aging through a Humanities and Social Science lens, and uses qualitative and mixed research methods to study the social, cultural, and political aspects of health, gender, and sexuality in Morocco. She has worked closely with older adults in Morocco, where she created a “determinants of health” field study program. She is an expert on transnational health issues and the social history of biomedicine.

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Ellen Amster

Faculty of Social Sciences

Laura Anderson is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact (HEI) at McMaster University. Her research focuses on areas of epidemiology and health services and systems. Laura is interested in population and public health, specifically chronic disease prevention and modifiable determinants of health in early life. She is currently analyzing data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) to support her research around the characteristics associated with obesity. The goal of this research project, which is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Space Agency and Quebec Network for Research on Aging, is to understand whether treatment and prevention strategies can be tailored to adult subgroups with obesity. Laura also supervises students in the Masters of Public Health program. View Bio

Laura Anderson

Faculty of Health Sciences

Gavin Andrews is a leading health geographer based at McMaster University’s Department of Health, Aging and Society. He was the inaugural chair between 2006 and 2011 and the Acting Director of the Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Aging from 2017 to 2018. Gavin’s multidisciplinary research explores a range of empirical themes including aging, health care work, sports and fitness, complementary medicine, health histories and popular music. Gavin asks important questions about the relationships between older people and place, and about the current state and future development of health geography. He recently co-edited a book, "Geographical Gerontology", that highlights the importance of where aging occurs, and how it is experienced differently by different people in different places.

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Gavin Andrews

Faculty of Social Sciences

Norm Archer has collaborated for many years with physicians who carry out research on the chronic illnesses most prevalent among our aging population. He helps devise technological solutions, such as an online system that supports outpatients in coping with arterial disease, and a social media tool to overcome loneliness and social isolation through cognitive behavioural therapy. Norm carries out research on electronic health applications and systems, electronic business, identity theft, supply chain management, project management, change management in eGovernment, and mobile commerce. He serves as the Program Coordinator for the collaborative Master of Science in eHealth, a joint program between the DeGroote School of Business, Faculty of Health Sciences, and the Computing and Software Department.

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Norm Archer

Faculty of Business

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.

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Carol Bassim

Faculty of Health Sciences

Pamela Baxter is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at McMaster University. Currently, Pamela is examining the issue of resident-to-resident aggression in long-term homes in Canada. Her research is focused on the impact of health policy on health service delivery for older adults living with dementia in long-term care or in the broader community. Using various research designs, she is investigating resident, caregiver and leadership issues. Pamela’s overall goals are to support, challenge and inform policies in order to promote quality care, healthy aging and improve the lives of older adults.

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Pamela Baxter

Faculty of Health Sciences

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).

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Marla Beauchamp

Faculty of Health Sciences

Sue Becker is a Professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, and the Principal Investigator of the Neurotechnology and Neuroplasticity Lab at McMaster University. She has affiliations with the Faculties of Engineering, Humanities and Science. Sue’s research focuses on cognitive neuroscience and computational studies of learning and memory. Her research on older adults aims to understand the impact of lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise, on memory, stress, and mental illness, as well as examining and developing treatments for age-related hearing loss.

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Sue Becker

Faculty of Science

Lofti Belkhir is currently an associate professor in entrepreneurship and innovation at the Walter G. Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology. He is the founder of Kirtas Technologies, which launched the world’s first automatic book scanner. Lofti is a physicist, researcher, teacher, inventor, and business leader with 17 years of industrial experience. His research and teaching focuses on total sustainable management, eco-entrepreneurship, and the environmental impact of digital convergence. As a mentor to graduate students at McMaster, Lofti aims to build leaders in innovation and sustainability. View Bio

Lotfi Belkhir

Faculty of Engineering

Patrick Bennett is the Canada Research Chair in Vision Science. Using a multidisciplinary approach, Patrick’s research explores new methods of treating visual processing problems related to age and disease. Patrick’s current research interests include pattern vision, psychophysics, neuroimaging, and perceptual learning and development. As well as being an Adjunct Member in the Centre for Vision Research at York University, Patrick serves as the director of the McMaster Vision and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab with MIRA researcher Allison Sekular. At the VNC Lab, they aim to understand the limits and functional consequences of compensatory reorganization in older adults, a process where new brain regions are recruited for tasks related to visual performance. View Bio

Patrick Bennett

Faculty of Science

Cal Biruk is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at McMaster University. Cal is also a co-applicant on a grant examining the datafication of aging, and how data and technologies, such as wearables, produce new kinds of relations, self-fashioning, and configurations of care and harm. In the past, Cal has worked on a multidisciplinary study of experiences of depression among older adults in the northeastern United States. Cal's research interests are at the intersection of medical anthropology, critical global health studies, and critical data studies. Cal's larger body of research and work examine the datafication of global health through the lens of technologies of audit and quantified metrics of health in southern Africa.

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Faculty of Engineering

Goran Calic is an Assistant Professor of Strategic Management and an Associate Member of Information Systems at McMaster University. His research focuses on understanding why some individuals are more creative and some organizations are more innovative than others. Goran is investigating how people can impact the world around them by bringing creative ideas to life through entrepreneurship. He understands that aging adults are less likely to enter into entrepreneurship, yet entrepreneurship offers financial and psychological rewards that can benefit many people, particularly as they age. His research intends to discover ways that people can enter into and succeed at entrepreneurship as they age. View Bio

Goran Calic

Faculty of Business

Lisa Carlesso is a licensed physiotherapist and an assistant professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University. Her extensive academic background in physical therapy and clinical epidemiology have shaped her research interests in common age-related musculoskeletal problems. Her most recent studies focus on improving treatment and outcomes for people with musculoskeletal disorders, such as knee osteoarthritis and chronic low back pain. Lisa is interested in understanding the mechanisms and consequences of pain as they relate to disability, mobility, participation and healthy aging.

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Lisa Carlesso

Faculty of Health Sciences

Dr. Sandra Carroll joined the McMaster University School of Nursing in 2009 and is currently an Associate Professor. She has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from McMaster University. Dr. Carroll completed a CIHR Strategic Training Fellowship in the FUTURE Program for Cardiovascular Nurse Scientists and a Post-Doctoral Fellowship through the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario/Michael G. DeGroote Chair in Cardiovascular Nursing Research.

Dr. Carroll’s research focus includes patients’ decision-making, decision support in the context of implantable defibrillators, patient preferences for cardiovascular treatments, patient engagement, and patient reported outcomes in arrhythmia care. Dr. Carroll has received operating funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Heart & Stroke Foundation, an Early Career Award from the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation, and the Hamilton Community Foundation. Dr. Carroll is Chair of Patient Engagement for the Canadian Stroke Prevention Intervention Network.

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Sandra L. Carroll

Faculty of Health Sciences

Michael Carter is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University. Michael and his MSc and PhD students, are investigating the cognitive, computational, and neural underpinnings of skilled behaviour. Their research focuses on questions related to motor interactions between human-to-human and human-to-robot partners, the neuroeconomics of action control, the impact of feedback on skill acquisition, and forgetting as an adaptive feature of the brain when learning. Michael’s research interests in aging focus on how skilled behaviour changes across the lifespan, in health and with the introduction of diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Inspired by the current replication crisis in science, his lab also uses metascience and state-of-the-art statistical techniques to evaluate current research practices in kinesiology and related areas. Michael and his lab are committed to open science practices in an effort to promote the reproducibility and replicability of their research.

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Michael Carter

Faculty of Science

Narat Charupat is a Professor and Area Chair of Finance and Business Economics at McMaster University. He is the co-author of Strategic Financial Planning over the Lifecycle, a textbook on financial planning, and his work has been published in multiple business journals. Narat’s research has explored areas of financial innovation, security designs, annuity and insurance products, arbitrage relationship, commodity investment, and behavioural finance. His recent aging research focuses on Canada’s retirement income system, examining data on Canadian Pension Plan decisions among older adults.

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Narat Charupat

Faculty of Business

Fei Chiang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computing and Software in the Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University. She is interested in exploring opportunities that investigate how data analytics and data quality can improve social services and quality of life for the aging population. Fei also leads the Data Science Research Lab, which is focused on developing tools to facilitate data cleaning, improved data quality and fostering knowledge discovery. She has worked at IBM Global Services, the Autonomic Computing Group at the IBM Toronto Lab, and the Data Management, Exploration and Mining Group at Microsoft Research. View Bio

Fei Chiang

Faculty of Engineering

Catherine Connelly is a professor for the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. She holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Organizational Behaviour and is a member of the College of New Scholars of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC). Catherine’s research explores people’s behaviours and motivations. She is interested in the attitudes, behaviours, and experiences of non-standard workers, the effects of leadership styles on leader well-being, and knowledge hiding in organizations. The Connelly Research Lab focuses on understanding how workplaces and employees are changing. Catherine is currently researching the experiences of workers with disabilities. She has published academic articles on life course differences in employment and arthritis among aging adults. View Bio

Catherine Connelly

Faculty of Business

John Connolly is the Chair and Director of McMaster University’s Cognitive Science of Language program, co-directs the Language, Memory and Brain Lab (LMBLab), and is a member of MINDS (McMaster Institute for Neuroscience Discovery and Study). John’s research examines consciousness, with applications to brain injury, such as the vegetative state, the locked-in syndrome, and coma. His work aims to develop methods to record brain activity, allowing cognitive function assessment for those who are unable to use language to communicate. Over the past 35 years, John has published extensively on cognitive neuroscience of language with a particular emphasis on the use of brain imaging techniques. View Bio

John Connolly

Faculty of Humanities

Andrew Costa is the Schlegel Research Chair in Clinical Epidemiology & Aging and an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact as well as Department of Medicine at McMaster University. He serves as the Scientific Director of the St. Joseph’s Centre for Integrated Care, Research Director of the McMaster School of Medicine (Waterloo Campus), and is an Associate Scientific Director of the Canada Longitudinal Study on Aging. His program of research makes use of health information (‘big data’) to target, develop, and evaluate models of care in home and community care, emergency departments, hospitals, and long-term care. He also leads work on digital tools for health care, including caregivers. View Bio

Andrew Costa

Faculty of Health Sciences

Vanina Dal Bello-Haas is an associate professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science and assistant dean, Physiotherapy at McMaster University. She specializes in the assessment and management of individuals with neurodegenerative diseases with particular attention to older adults. Vanina’s research interests explore amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and dementia; therapeutic interventions that maximize function and quality of life along the aging continuum; and education research on the use of web-based interfaces in teaching, peer evaluation and strategies to increase health care professionals working with older adults. She has been a researcher, educator, and physiotherapist with McMaster since 2011. View Bio

Vanina Dal Bello-Haas

Faculty of Health Sciences

Nicole Dalmer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health, Aging and Society at McMaster University. With her background in Library and Information Science, Nicole’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and AGE-WELL funded research resides at the intersection of information and care, studying how aging in place contexts, assumptions surrounding digital literacies, and evolving family responsibilities shape who is able and who is expected to be informed in care relationships. Other ongoing projects she is working on include an international collaboration examining the impact of digital infrastructures on feelings of connectedness in later life as well as an investigation into the role of community infrastructures in mitigating older adults’ experiences of social isolation. View Bio

Nicole Dalmer

Faculty of Social Sciences

Jamal Deen is co-leading the development of a Ubiquitous Healthcare Smart Medical Home. This project uses information technology, wireless communication, web-based technologies and autonomics to develop new, smart and cost-effective solutions for the health and wellness of older adults. These innovations are intended to help older adults lead independent lifestyles and to use in-home monitoring to detect early symptoms of diseases. Detecting these diseases can lead to early treatment. Jamal is the Senior Canada Research Chair in Information Technology and Director of the Micro-and Nano-Systems Lab. View Bio

Jamal Deen

Faculty of Engineering

Margaret Denton is Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Health, Aging, and Society and Sociology and the former Director of the McMaster Centre for Geriatric Studies. Margaret has examined issues related to the factors that affect community care, age inequality, retirement planning, and income, health and social services. Margaret’s research focus explores long term care facilities, income inequality, and age and gender inequality. As a Director for the Hamilton Council on Aging, Margaret Denton is leading initiatives to make Hamilton an age-friendly city. View Bio

Margaret Denton

Faculty of Social Sciences

Tohid Didar is developing the next generation of biomaterials, biosensors and medical coatings. He plans on implementing bio-functional interfaces in the forms of large-scale microfluidic systems for developing new diagnostics, drug discovery and personalized medicine platforms that will innovate different aspects of our aging world. Tohid’s lab is currently focused on engineering an organs-on chip platform that could reproduce key structural and functional properties of organs such as a lung or kidney. These personalized devices will help progress patient-specific treatments that could change the ways in which our aging population is received in health care facilities.

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Tohid Didar

Faculty of Engineering

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.

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Lisa Dolovich

Faculty of Health Sciences

Qiyin Fang is a Canada Research Chair in Biophotonics and a Professor in the Department of Engineering Physics.He is currently leading a project that retrofits the interior of a house to develop and test smart technology that will allow older adults to live at home longer. Qiyin aims to create more efficient care for our aging population by creating the means that will give older adults more independence while aging in place. Qiyin’s expertise includes microscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging, intelligent sensing for point-of-care, and environmental monitoring. View Bio

Qiyin Fang

Faculty of Engineering

Kathryn Fisher is an assistant professor in the School of Nursing at McMaster University. She is actively involved in shaping the undergraduate nursing curriculum as it relates to health sciences and evidence-informed decision making. Kathryn’s research focuses on chronic illness and multimorbidity in older adults. She is currently using her expertise in quantitative analyses to analyze population-level data with the goal of answering questions about the prevalence of chronic illness and multimorbidity, changes over time in disease prevalence, how multimorbidity shapes healthcare service use or other outcomes, measurement issues, and socio-demographic and other factors shaping the relationship between multimorbidity and service use. Kathryn is interested in improving clinical trial methods, with interests in linking quantitative results with those from implementation science, designing trials to support large-scale implementation, and linking patient-reported data with administrative data.

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Kathryn Fisher

Faculty of Health Sciences

Robert Fleisig is an associate professor at the Walter G. Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology (W Booth School) in the Faculty of Engineering. Robert is the co-leader of the IMPACT Initiative, an interdisciplinary collaboration between Engineering, Biology/Science, Occupational Therapy and Medicine, McMaster Alumni, Community Healthcare Partners, and volunteer clients. The project brings together students from various academic disciplines to encourage learning and innovation by addressing challenges experienced by the aging population and people living with disabilities.

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Robert Fleisig

Faculty of Engineering

Terry Flynn has over three decades of academic and professional communications experience. He believes helping Canadians live a healthy and productive life is central to ensuring that they understand the changing nature of their own behaviours, cognitions and beliefs. Communications plays a pivotal role in adapting to these changes as our communities and societies seek to age optimally. Terry's research looks at how and to what extent communications must change between organizations and older Canadians in order to achieve better understanding and better health outcomes. He was recently awarded the 2018 Mentor of the Year at the CPRS National Conference. View Bio

Terry Flynn

Faculty of Humanities

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.

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Rebecca Ganann

Faculty of Health Sciences

Paula Gardner is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies and Multimedia, the Asper Chair in Communications, and the director of the Pulse Lab at McMaster University. Her research interests include feminist media studies, digital culture, and biometric technological practices. Paula’s media background allows her to explore research using various production mediums. The ABLE project (Arts Based Therapies Enabling Longevity for Geriatric Outpatients) brings together researchers from five McMaster Faculties to develop technologies that will enhance the cognitive, physical and emotional health of frail older adults. View Bio

Paula Gardner

Faculty of Humanities

Fei Geng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Program Chair of the Biotechnology program at McMaster University. He completed his PhD in Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster during which he discovered a possible treatment for recurrent breast cancer. As a professor at McMaster, Fei received the McMaster MSU Teaching Award and Merit Award. His research interests include cellular mechanotransduction, tissue microenvironment and the complex interplay between autophagy and mechanotransduction in the process of aging. The findings that Fei and his research group uncover are generated through the application of biotechnology via genome editing CRISPR, pharmacological and genetic approaches, live cell imaging, fluorescence lifetime imaging and automated image analysis. View Bio

Fei Geng

Faculty of Engineering

Maryam Ghasemaghaei is an Assistant Professor of Information Systems. Maryam’s research falls in the area of effective data analytics for organization use. She is currently researching the impact of individual's cognitive age on their intention to use new technologies, including wearable fitness monitoring devices. Her Ph.D. thesis examined the impact of cognitive age on individual intention to use online agents. Maryam has also studied the potential of eHealth applications for aging in rural and remote areas. View Bio

Maryam Ghasemaghaei

Faculty of Business

Faculty of Health Sciences

Michel Grignon is a Health Economist and Associate Professor in the Department of Health, Aging and Society. He looks to assess and improve Canada’s healthcare system with regard to Canada’s aging population, which increasingly relies on public services. Michel’s work intends to bridge the divide between efficiency and equity by allocating health resources more effectively. He has found that Canada’s healthcare is constructed to serve acute conditions. Older people, though, are more likely to have permanent chronic conditions. He believes that a healthcare system looks very different when a large percentage of the population it serves will never return to full health. Michel also serves as a public commentator on issues of aging and health equity, and is helping Canadian policymakers improve how they serve our aging population. View Bio

Michel Grignon

Faculty of Social Sciences

Bhagwati Gupta started his research laboratory at McMaster University in 2004. He is currently a Professor in Biology and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Science at McMaster. His research aims to understand the mechanisms of processes and diseases tied to gene networks, such as cancer and neuronal degeneration. He focuses on understanding cell signalling, cell proliferation and cell differentiation and is currently studying microscopic worm model organisms to understand how lipid production and balanced fat can affect overall health and aging in humans. Bhagwati’s lab takes a multidisciplinary approach by collaborating with various other faculties and laboratories. View Bio

Bhagwati Gupta

Faculty of Science

Khaled Hassanein is a Professor of Information Systems, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, and Director of the McMaster Digital Transformation Research Centre at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University. His interdisciplinary research interests span the areas of digital transformation, data analytics, human-computer interaction, neuro-information systems, decision support systems, and e-Health. His research is supported through funding from federal, provincial and private sector sources in Canada. He has published over 125 peer-reviewed articles in leading conferences and journals. In addition, Khaled serves as the SSHRC leader at McMaster and supervises students and post-doctoral fellows in the DeGroote School of Business. He is a joint holder of several U.S. patents, a senior member of the IEEE and a designated Professional Engineer in Ontario.

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Khaled Hassanein

Faculty of Business

Milena Head is a professor of information systems at the DeGroote School of Business, the academic director of the EMBA program at McMaster, and the Wayne C. Fox Chair in Business Innovation. Milena’s research focuses on electronic business (eBusiness) and Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Her research interests include online trust, adoption of electronic commerce and new technologies; interface design; cross-cultural, gender and age issues related to technology use; and, the potential negative impacts of technology, including identity theft, techno-stress, and cyber-bullying. She seeks to understand how age, gender and culture impact our use and misuse of technology. Milena’s research provides practical guidelines that developers can utilize to design interfaces that better allow older adults to leverage the benefits of technology while mitigating their potential negative impacts. View Bio

Milena Head

Faculty of Business

Jennifer Heisz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology. Her research examines the interplay between brain and body fitness in the promotion of health. Jennifer leads the MacSeniors program through McMaster's Physical Activity Centre of Excellence (PACE), which studies the long-term effects of regular physical exercise on cognitive health. This research will help to determine the optimal dose and type of exercise that mitigates cognitive decline in healthy older adults and individuals with mild cognitive impairment. The ultimate goal of her research program is to understand how lifestyle choices such as exercise can be used for disease prevention. Jennifer’s research interests include health psychology and neuroscience. View Bio

Jennifer Heisz

Faculty of Science

Jeremy Hirota is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Respirology and a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Respiratory Mucosal Immunology at McMaster University. His research focuses on respiratory mucosal immunology in airway diseases. His extensive research and understanding of in vivo and in vitro models guide the research strategy of the Hirota Lab, where he is developing an internationally recognized research program in respiratory mucosal immunology focused on lung health and disease. Jeremy is interested in studying chronic respiratory diseases and the impact of exterior factors, such as cigarette smoke. He recently received infrastructure funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to advance his work on The Tissue Engineering for Advanced Medicine (TEAM) Lab: a Platform for Precision, Prevention, Diagnosis, and Medicine. View Bio

Jeremy Hirota

Faculty of Health Sciences

Todd Hoare is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Engineered Smart Materials. Todd’s interdisciplinary work in chemistry and engineering allows him to be innovative in the development of smart materials. His work with hydrogel nanofibers can be used to grow on-demand tissue patches, and has helped to improve plant immunity to diseases, which will ultimately be used to help people living with chronic conditions, specifically older adults whose immune systems have deteriorated due to comorbidities. Todd’s collaborative research efforts have also delivered innovations in a range of drugs including injectables that target cancers. View Bio

Todd Hoare

Faculty of Engineering

Benson Honig is a Professor in the Department of Human Resources and Management, and the Teresa Cascioli Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership for the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. His research focuses on business planning, nascent entrepreneurship, transnational entrepreneurship, ethics in scholarship, immigration and social entrepreneurship, social capital, and entrepreneurship in transition environments. Benson is highly knowledgeable in the area of entrepreneurship and his research has been published in various academic journals. His most recent work aims to ease the lifestyle transition for both refugees and communities. View Bio

Benson Honig

Faculty of Business

George Ioannidis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine. His clinical research area of focus is to improve the quality of life for older adults with chronic diseases. George is a biostatistician and methodologist who aims to improve methods for disease diagnosis and identifying risk factors that are predictive of disease progression. He has examined risk factors for fracture and has developed a fracture prediction tool in long-term care that can be used both nationally and internationally. He is committed to building innovative research through collaborative initiatives, and to educating and empowering older adults to regain and retain their independence. View Bio

George Ioannidis

Faculty of Health Sciences

Sharon Kaasalainen began working at McMaster University in 2002, when she joined the School of Nursing as an Assistant Professor. She is currently an Associate member of Family Medicine at McMaster and Honorary Professor at Queens University, Belfast. Dr. Kaasalainen’s research primarily focuses on improving pain management, palliative care, end-of-life communication, and quality of life for people living in long term care homes. Her current aging research involves improving the quality of end-of-life care and focuses on the role of registered nurses and nurse practitioners in caring for older adults.

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Sharon Kaasalainen

Faculty of Health Sciences

Peter Keir is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University. Peter teaches undergraduate courses in Ergonomics, Clinical Biomechanics, and graduate studies in Advances in Biomechanics & Electromyography. His extensive research examines human movement and mobility issues leading to work-related disorders. Peter’s Biomechanics Laboratory in Kinesiology is able to fully assess human movement using motion, force, and muscle activity. He aims to determine the mechanisms of work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the upper body. View Bio

Peter Keir

Faculty of Science

Courtney Kennedy is an Assistant Professor at McMaster University and the Associate Scientific Director for the GERAS Centre at Hamilton Health Sciences. As the Research Director for the Geriatric Medicine Residency program, Dr. Kennedy is largely involved in trainee development at McMaster with undergraduate and graduate students. Her extensive research in gerontology is focused on mobility in aging, falls and frailty prevention and treatment models, mind-body interventions for improving cognitive function, and strategies for applying research into practice. Her current research program, DANcing for Cognition and Exercise (DANCE), received funding from the CABHI Researcher-Clinician Partnership Program (RCP2). The GERAS DANCE program aims to research and develop dance training materials, programs, and services to improve the social, cognitive, and physical function of older adults.

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Courtney Kennedy

Faculty of Health Sciences

Michelle Kho is an Associate 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.

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Michelle Kho

Faculty of Health Sciences

Dylan Kobsar is a newly appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University. His research focuses on osteoarthritis, rehabilitation, and gait biomechanics. His work with biomechanics and human movement analyses is centred around the use of wearable inertial sensors to help track and treat musculoskeletal disorders or injuries. Dylan combines these devices with innovative analyses techniques to uncover patterns in human movement that can allow us to better understand the progression and treatment of individuals with knee osteoarthritis and running injuries.

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Dylan Kobsar

Faculty of Science

Ivona Kučerová is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Languages, as well as member to both the Centre for Advanced Research in Experimental and Applied Linguistics and the Institute on Globalization and Human Condition at McMaster University. The focus of her research lies in developing cognitively adequate methods for teaching adults Indigenous languages to improve health and well-being outcomes within Indigenous communities. Successful language revitalization increases intergenerational mobility, language mobility and societal inclusion among the community’s Elders. Additionally, Ivona’s projected research intends to investigate which language revitalization methods can better offset language attrition associated with aging, and how to maximize language revitalization benefits over a lifespan. View Bio

Ivona Kučerová

Faculty of Humanities

Victor Kuperman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Languages and the Director of the Reading Lab at McMaster University. His research focuses on psycholinguistics and quantitative linguistics, eye-movement behaviour in reading, individual differences in word and sentence processing, and statistical and experimental methods in language research. Victor’s recent work on reading and acquiring second languages focuses on the difficulties faced by older adult learners of English. His research lab studies eye-tracking, behavioural studies, large-scale norming studies and quantitative analyses of writing and speech.

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Victor Kuperman

Faculty of Humanities

Ayse Kuspinar is an Assistant Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University. She is a registered physical therapist with several years of clinical experience in health conditions including orthopedics, geriatrics and neurology. Ayse worked with the GHS Research Group on a project funded by the Canadian Network of Excellence, AGE-WELL (Aging Gracefully across Environments using Technology to Support Wellness, Engagement and Long Life), where she examined Canadian policy and regulatory issues in enabling technological innovation. Ayse studies the longitudinal changes in function and quality of life in neuro-rehabilitative conditions in older adults. She has training in both clinical epidemiology and rehabilitation science. View Bio

Ayse Kuspinar

Faculty of Health Sciences

Tara La Rose is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at McMaster University. Her research focuses on the use of digital media in social work, emphasizing professional critique, critical reflexivity and knowledge sharing. Her aging research includes working on the Rediscovering Social Work Leaders project, which aims to preserve the experiences of retired social workers by digitizing and establishing an online archive of video-based oral histories created in 1983/84. Tara has also published in the ‘geriatric psychiatry’ section of the Queer, Queering and Questioning project in partnership with Dr. Albina Veltman. Her work engages multi-modal analysis, narrative analysis and discourse analysis within critical perspectives such as post-structuralism, post-colonialism, feminist and queer theories. View Bio

Tara La Rose

Faculty of Social Sciences

Lori Letts is a Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science and the Assistant Dean of the Occupational Therapy Program. Lori's current research focuses on older adults with chronic illnesses and finding ways to help them to live with and manage their conditions while being active community-dwellers. Lori’s research has her involved in work in primary care and other community settings. She is also involved in research to identify and intervene in preventative ways so that people’s engagement occupation and health are optimized. Lori is also currently a member of the MAC H2OPE clinic Executive Council. View Bio

Lori Letts

Faculty of Health Sciences

Vladimir Ljubicic is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Neuromuscular Plasticity in Health and Disease. He is a Lab Lead at the Exercise Metabolism Research group and part of the McMaster Physical Activity Centre of Excellence (PACE). Vladimir’s research focuses on neuromuscular alterations that make older adults age fast, which is prominent in Canada’s aging population. He studies how neuromuscular diseases drive age-related deterioration, and how this impacts the way that healthcare professionals create evidence-based therapeutic strategies that will improve the lives of older adults living with neuromuscular diseases. View Bio

Vladimir Ljubicic

Faculty of Science

Cynthia Lokker is an Assistant Professor and the Faculty of Health Sciences lead for McMaster University’s Master of Science in eHealth. Dr. Lokker teaches core health sciences courses such as Fundamentals of eHealth and the Canadian Health Care System, and Research Methods in eHealth. In addition, she is also an academic advisor for students completing their thesis in the eHealth program. Her research focuses on critically reviewing medical journals and improving the use of terminology in knowledge translation. Lokker is primarily interested in evaluating eHealth applications and knowledge translation.

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Cynthia Lokker

Faculty of Health Sciences

Giuseppe Melacini

Faculty of Health Sciences

Ram Mishra is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University. His research interests include dopamine, neuropeptides, receptor function, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s Disease. Research in his lab focuses on genetic, biomechanical and molecular mechanisms. He is particularly interested in the role of dopamine receptors in neuropsychiatric disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease, a complex neurodegenerative disease commonly found in older adults. He aims to use his research to improve drug developments and treatments. In addition, Ram is the Co-Director of the School of Biomedical Engineering, and supervises many graduate students. View Bio

Ram Mishra

Faculty of Health Sciences

Zahra Motamed is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Her interdisciplinary research approaches have allowed her to form a strong collaborative network with clinical scientists, surgeons, cardiologists, engineers, and mathematicians. Zahra’s work is dedicated to the development of advanced numerical algorithms for simulation of cardiovascular mechanics and patient-specific modelling using medical imaging and clinical measurements. With eight years of industrial experience in the automotive R&D, she is currently using her vehicle design experience to develop new sensing and human health monitoring tools for future smart vehicles. Her group is working towards developing a variant of this technology for future smart houses as well. View Bio

Zahra Motamed

Faculty of Engineering

Ashwini Namasivayam-MacDonald is a clinically-trained speech-language pathologist and Assistant Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University. Ashwini completed her doctoral training at the University of Toronto where she explored the relationship between malnutrition and swallow impairments (dysphagia) in long-term care. Her overarching research goal is to develop a more comprehensive and collaborative approach to dysphagia management that unites the biomedical and psychosocial aspects of care. Her current research focuses on developing multidisciplinary interventions to prevent impairment and maintain swallowing function in older adults, and understanding dysphagia in older adults with dementia as well as dysphagia-related caregiver burden in caregivers of older adults. Ashwini is highly motivated to conduct clinically salient research that impacts patient care in order to improve health and quality of life. View Bio

Ashwini Namasivayam-MacDonald

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Reza Samavi

Faculty of Engineering

Pasqualina Santaguida is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact (HEI) and a Clinical Associate in the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at McMaster University. Pasqualina’s research interests center on musculoskeletal disorders and most recently on factors contributing to disability and wearable sensors for improving exercise training in people with osteoarthritis. Her research also focuses on knowledge translation, both implementation and evidence syntheses, to identify effective strategies for older adults and health care providers when implementing evidence-based interventions. In addition, Pasqualina is working with the Canadian Physiotherapy Association (CPA) under the Seniors Health Division (SHD), to build strategies that equip the membership in evidence-based competencies for the care of older adults in homecare, long-term care and private practice settings. View Bio

Pasqualina Santaguida

Faculty of Health Sciences

Karen Saperson is a professor of psychiatry and Associate Chair, Education in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences. She is the academic head of the division of geriatric psychiatry at McMaster University and the current chair elect of the Royal College Geriatric Psychiatry Specialty Committee. Her research focuses on medical education, particularly in the area of assessment and education policy development. Karen specializes in geriatric psychiatry, and her most recent publication highlights collaborative care for older adults with psychiatric disorders. Karen has held several medical education leadership positions and received various teaching awards for her contributions to medical education in Canada.

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Karen Saperson

Faculty of Health Sciences

Imran Satia is a post-doctoral clinical research fellow at McMaster University. His research involves a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate the effects of aging, risk factors, impact, and burden of disease at a population level with respiratory symptoms such as chronic cough. Imran’s main objectives are to understand the neuro-physiological and neuro-immune mechanisms of chronic cough and his long-term vision is to develop novel treatments for patients suffering with such respiratory symptoms to reduce their impact and burden of disease on patient lives. Imran is also a respiratory physician with expertise in the neurophysiology of airway nerves, clinical and experimental research and epidemiological observational cohort studies.

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Imran Satia

Faculty of Health Sciences

Henry Schwarcz is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Geography & Earth Sciences at McMaster University. He is interested in investigating various aspects of fundamental properties of bone. Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of sections of bone prepared using ion beam milling, he has made many new discoveries about the ultrastructure of bone. His research has led to studies on the effects of osteoporosis on bone ultrastructure, where preliminary work has shown that significant changes in bone ultrastructure can be recognized in osteoporosis patients. View Bio

Diana Sherifali

Faculty of Health Sciences

Gurmit Singh is a Professor of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster University. His research through the Singh Laboratory focuses on experimental therapies for breast and prostate cancer, with a specific interest in bone mestasis. Singh’s most recent research has focused on Oncodynamics, a term used for understanding how cancer cells effect the body. Dr. Singh aims to understand cancer-induced pain and develop pain management treatments, which could greatly affect aging adults suffering from cancer. In addition, Singh is involved in a variety of national and international research foundations and associations. He served as chair of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (Ontario) and is currently a member of the National Board of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

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Gurmit Singh

Faculty of Health Sciences

Henry Siu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. He currently practices as a family physician out of Stonechurch Family Health Centre, where he received the Educator of the Year Award in 2016. Henry also works as an attending physician at long-term care facility, Regina Gardens in Hamilton. His clinical interests include both complex patient management and care of older adults. Henry’s current research endeavours involve enabling medication concordance in community dwelling older adults, deprescribing, and research in long-term care including auditing advance care planning rates and assessing clinician barriers to long-term care. In 2018, Henry was awarded the Undergraduate Family Medicine Clerkship Tutorial Leadership Award at McMaster and has recently received grants from the Canadian Frailty Network to pursue his research interests. View Bio

Henry Siu

Faculty of Health Sciences

Deborah Sloboda is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, an associate member of the Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Pediatrics, and the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in perinatal programming. Her research in the Sloboda Lab focuses on early life origins of health and disease, particularly understanding the impact of early life adversity on the mother and the developing fetus. She is interested in how fetal adaptations to adversity influence the risk of chronic disease in aging individuals. Deborah is a highly accomplished researcher with multiple awards, including the International Society of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Nick Hales Award and the Hamilton YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in Science Trade and Technology.

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Deborah Sloboda

Faculty of Health Sciences

Xu-Dong Zhu

Faculty of Science

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