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.

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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 Humanities

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

Marla Beauchamp is a physical therapist and Assistant Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Sciences, and an Associate Member in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University. Marla looks to develop evidence-based rehabilitative assessment and treatment strategies to enhance mobility among older adults and those with chronic disease. She is currently developing a research program to assess and train for fall prevention strategies among older adults with chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD. Marla’s research is supported by the Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative, The Canadian Respiratory Research Network and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

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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 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Associate Professor at the Walter G. Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology. He is the founder of Kirtas Technologies, which launched the world’s first and fastest 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 teacher and 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 aims to explore new approaches to 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

Gary Bone has been a Faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University since 1994. He is involved in the development and application of sensing technologies and robotic technologies to enhance people's daily lives. He is particularly focused on better understanding the needs of aging adult communities and working with collaborators on technological solutions that can be applied to their daily lives. Gary teaches undergraduate courses on robotics, control systems, design, manufacturing processes, and kinematics. He is a member of the McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute. View Bio

Gary Bone

Faculty of Engineering

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.

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Jackie Bosch

Faculty of Health Sciences

Dawn Bowdish is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster University. Motivated to keep her children’s grandparents healthy, Dawn started to look at how streptococcus pneumonia affects older adults. Hospitalizations and deaths due to pneumonia are unacceptably high in the elderly. Dawn’s research focuses on developing a better understanding of how the immune system fights this infection in older adults. Her research question asks why older adults are particularly susceptible, and her research lab explores ways in which age-related changes in immune response contribute to increased susceptibility to infection and diseases. Dawn strives to extend lives by developing new therapies that bolster the body’s own natural defence mechanisms. View Bio

Dawn Bowdish

Faculty of Health Sciences

Since 2002, Ian Bruce has worked within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McMaster University. He is a Professor for the McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering, Associate Member of the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour and Associate Director of McMaster’s LIVELab. His research focuses on applications of biomedical engineering and neuroscience approaches to hearing and hearing disorders. As the Director of the Auditory Engineering Laboratory, he is looking to improve assistive devices for the hearing impaired, specifically older adults. By using engineering methods to understand the physiological mechanisms that contribute to hearing loss, he aims to study and improve the lives of hearing impaired individuals. View Bio

Ian Bruce

Faculty of Engineering

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

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 an Assistant Professor and Schlegel Chair in Clinical Epidemiology and Aging in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University. He also serves as the Research Lead at the DeGroote School of Medicine, Waterloo Regional Campus. He is currently developing and evaluating models of care for affordable emergency room use for older adults. Andrew’s work aims to promote evidence-based care and policy while utilizing health information. His research program has the expertise to create better care and support systems for older adults in health care facilities. View Bio

Andrew Costa

Faculty of Health Sciences

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Vanina Dal Bello-Haas

Faculty of Health 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

Tom Doyle is the Director of McMaster University’s eHealth Graduate Program and Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His recent research has focused on remote and predictive medicine as well as hearing prosthetics to improve autonomous control by the person using the device. Using machine learning and mobile devices he has been looking at various ways to provide advanced support for the health and wellness of various populations, and at the importance of autonomy in relation to assistive devices which allows the user to have control over technology. Having assistive devices respond to their users allows for the independence of vulnerable populations, such as older adults in health care facilities.

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Tom Doyle

Faculty of Engineering

Department chair and urban geographer James Dunn believes in the importance of building environments that allow marginalized populations, such as older adults and people with disabilities, to navigate through their neighbourhoods. He studies living communities as they undergo transformations, and explores how built environments affect the mental and physical health in neighbourhoods and communities. His current research programs focus on how economic and social policies influence social aspects of population health, as well as the importance of building accessible communities which can directly affect the health and mobility of people living within those communities.

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James Dunn

Faculty of Social Sciences

Evelyne Durocher is an Occupational Therapist and Assistant Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University. Through her work with older adults in inpatient rehabilitation and complex continuing care, Evelyne became interested in ethical issues in older adult health and social care. Her current research focuses on ethics and rehabilitation practice, specifically relating to questions of justice, vulnerability and equity in healthcare services for older adults. Her goals is to improve the health and social care experiences of older adults, family members and healthcare professionals.

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Evelyne Durocher

Faculty of Health Sciences

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Margaret Fahnestock

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

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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

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Rebecca Ganann

Faculty of Health Sciences

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Paula Gardner

Faculty of Humanities

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

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James Gillett

Faculty of Social Sciences

Anne Gilsing is a nutritional epidemiologist with the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). She examines the role of nutrition in aging and obesity. Anne is interested in the controversy that exists around the definition of obesity in older people, called the "the obesity paradox" or the harm of being overweight in older age. She is also interested in the need for obesity treatment in older adults. At the CLSA, Anne is helping to define age-appropriate BMI cut points that optimally reflect the health risks associated with obesity in older adults, as well as examining how menopause impacts mental health and well-being. View Bio

Anne Gilsing

Faculty of Health Sciences

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.

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Andrea Gonzalez

Faculty of Health Sciences

Kathryn Grandfield is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering and School of Biomedical Engineering at McMaster University. She leads the Grandfield Research Group, is Vice-President of the Microscopical Society of Canada and is the 2017 recipient of Petro Canada’s McMaster University Young Innovator Award, among other accolades. Her age-related research focuses on improving bone implants, such as dental implants and hip replacements, in older adults with bone disease. View Bio

Kathryn Grandfield

Faculty of Engineering

Amanda Grenier is the Director of the Gilbrea Centre for the Study of Aging where she explores the social constructs and challenges of an aging population. Amanda is using subjective interpretations of aging to examine and improve public policies and organizational practices. She has studied older adults’ lived-experiences and narratives with regards to late life transitions, impairment, and frailty in order to explore how these narratives can inform contemporary planning efforts. She is focused on how we frame and address aging in Western societies, and how these interpretations are subject to time, place, and contexts of aging and late life. Amanda is currently working on several research projects and developments, such as exploring the intersections of aging and homelessness in Montreal, and bridging the gaps between concepts, research, and practice in social gerontology.

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Amanda Grenier

Faculty of Social Sciences

Meridith Griffin’s research uses interviews, observations, and ethnography to understand the barriers and facilitators that older adults experience when they participate in new physical activities. Meredith believes that, although the physical and social benefits of fitness and exercise are generally well-known, research has yet to unravel why many people spend their lives aware of how to stay healthy and exercise, but not taking the appropriate action to do so. As an Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Chair of the Department of Health, Aging and Society, Meridith is doing innovative work to destabilize long-held self-perceptions to help increase physical participation in older populations. Meredith’s research explores qualitative methods and social aspects of taking up physical activities in later life, and the intersections of disability and physical activities such as sports participation. View Bio

Meridith Griffin

Faculty of Social Sciences

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.

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Lauren Griffith

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

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Bhagwati Gupta

Faculty of Science

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

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

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

Anju Joshi has over 30 years of experience working in the field of gerontology, and teaches courses such as Continuum of Care, Death and Dying in Later Life and Perspectives on Disabilities, Chronic Illness and Aging. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health, Aging and Society, and focuses on experiential learning, where she aims to get students out of the classroom and into real-world world situations. A founding board member of the Hamilton Council on Aging, she has also served on the board of the Hamilton Community Care Access Centre, the former Visiting Homemakers’ Association, and the National Case Management Network. Currently, she is Chair of the Improving Access to Ethno-Cultural Seniors project and a board member of the Hamilton Community Foundation. View Bio

Anju Joshi

Faculty of Social Sciences

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Sharon Kaasalainen

Faculty of Health Sciences

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Peter Keir

Faculty of Science

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Courtney Kennedy

Faculty of Health Sciences

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.

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Michelle Kho

Faculty of Health Sciences

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

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

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Cynthia Lokker

Faculty of Health Sciences

Maureen MacDonald is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Dean of the Faculty of Science. Her research focuses on the role physical activity plays in altering arterial structure and function. Maureen is a lab lead at the Exercise Metabolism Research group and part of the McMaster Physical Activity Centre of Excellence (PACE). Maureen is currently undergoing research in the CHAMPS Study, which aims to gain a better understanding of factors that impact individual risk for future stroke. She is examining new non-intrusive tests to determine risk factors for strokes in older adults. Her research is widely published and often cited in journals such as Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise and Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism. View Bio

Maureen Macdonald

Faculty of Science

Derelie (Dee) Mangin is a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, where she holds the distinguished David Braley Nancy Gordon Chair. She is interested in polypharmacy among older adults with an aim to promote methods for successful deprescription. She has wide clinical research experience in primary care, including observational and interventional quantitative research methods and community randomized control trials (RCTs) of innovative models of care. Dee has experience leading RCTs of clinical interventions in areas such as antidepressant use, community acquired pneumonia, antibiotics in urinary tract infections, and deprescription trials. Her current research interests include rational prescribing; innovative models of primary care delivery; effective incorporation of evidence into patient centred practice; and the influences of science, policy and commerce on the nature of care. View Bio

Dee Mangin

Faculty of Health Sciences

Maureen Markle-Reid is a Professor in the Department of Nursing and holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Person-Centred Interventions for Older Adults with Multimorbidity and their Caregivers at McMaster University. She is an internationally-recognized researcher in the area of health and economic evaluations of complex health and nursing interventions. Her program of research focuses on the promotion of optimal aging at home for older adults with multimorbidity and to support their family caregivers, as well as refining methods and measures for determining the effectiveness of interventions and translating effective interventions into clinical practice. Her most recently CIHR-funded trials focus on nurse-led interventions for community-living older adults with depression, diabetes, stroke and dementia. View Bio

Maureen Markle-Reid

Faculty of Health Sciences

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.

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Carrie McAiney

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 Health Sciences

Aimee Nelson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Sensorimotor Control. The purpose of Aimee's research is to develop a fundamental understanding of the cortical control of the human hand and upper limb. She leads the Neurophysiology and Imaging Lab under the Department of Kinesiology. Multiple cortical areas receive and process somatosensory input, yet little is known about the role of these areas in the control of human hand movement. Her research program is primarily focused on investigating the role of somatosensory loci in the control of hand movement in healthy and clinical populations, such as individuals with spinal cord injury. View Bio

Aimee Nelson

Faculty of Science

Bruce Newbold is Director and Professor in the School of Geography and Earth Sciences (SGES) at McMaster University. Bruce has studied population issues and their relation to immigration, migration, health, and aging. Recent research has focused on the role of migration in the development and transfer of human capital and income across space, commuting and sustainability questions, the income benefits associated with migration, immigrant health, and immigrant settlement processes. View Bio

Bruce Newbold

Faculty of Science

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Michael Noseworthy

Faculty of Engineering

Doug Oliver is an Associate Professor and Medical Director at the McMaster Family Practice. Doug is passionate about older adult health care and age-friendly home care services. He has developed several programs including a Long-Term Care clinical rotation for medical residents and a successful annual CME event entitled "Care of the Elderly: Perspectives for Primary Care". His clinical commitment to this patient population continues with weekly nursing home rounds and house-calls to older adults with frailty. Doug has developed and implemented an Advanced Access booking model for primary care patients. This model allows patients better access to their primary care team by having the majority of booking spots available for same day appointments. View Bio

Doug Oliver

Faculty of Health Sciences

Antonio Paez is a Professor in the School of Geography and Earth Sciences. His research and academic work focuses on transportation and mobility issues that affect older adults and the ways they navigate in their local communities. He has written several scholarly articles on accessibility, built and social environments, travel behaviour, and social networks and decision making. Antonio is interested in analyzing spatial economic planning and structuralized location analysis. View Bio

Antonio Paez

Faculty of Science

Alexandra Papaioannou is a Professor in the Department of Medicine and the lead investigator for the Long-term Care Ontario Osteoporosis Strategy. Papaioannou is a leading researcher with expertise in clinical practices that involve osteoporosis and frailty in older adults, as well as long-term care and community dwellings. She is the Executive Director of the Geriatric Education and Research in Aging Sciences (GERAS) Centre and serves as the Co-Director of the Hamilton Canadian Multi-Centre Osteoporosis Study (CaMos) and the Fracture Think Osteoporosis project. Papaioannou has authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles. Her expertise is in clinical practices involving osteoporosis and frailty in older adults. View Bio

Alexandra Papaioannou

Faculty of Health Sciences

Gianni Parise is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science, Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and the Lab Lead at the Exercise Metabolism Research Group. A focus of Gianni's laboratory involves revealing the mechanism(s) underlying the progressive loss of muscle mass associated with aging. Gianni’s research shows that a loss of muscle mass with aging, and a blunted hypertrophic response to chronic exercise in older adults, is likely a result of age-related muscle stem cell dysfunction and/or age-related loss of muscle stem cell number. His research program aims to examine potential age-related impairment of muscle stem cells, as well as the molecular and cellular events that lead to dysregulation of muscle stem cells in advanced age. View Bio

Gianni Parise

Faculty of Science

Christopher Patterson is a Professor Emeritis in the Department of Medicine and a specialist in internal and geriatric medicine. He has served as chief examiner in Geriatric Medicine for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and was a member of the steering committee of the third Canadian Consensus Conference on Diagnosis and Treatment of Dementia. From 2006 to 2011 Patterson held the role of Health Sciences Editor for the Canadian Journal on Aging. He has served on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Aging, one of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Currently, Christopher is a co-investigator with the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). View Bio

Christopher Patterson

Faculty of Health Sciences

Stuart Phillips is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Skeletal Muscle Health. He is Director of the Physical Activity Centre of Excellence (PACE) and the McMaster Centre for Nutrition, Exercise, and Health Research, and Lab Lead for the Exercise Metabolism Research Group. Stuart's research is focused on the impact of nutrition and exercise on human skeletal muscle protein turnover. He is keenly interested in diet- and exercise-induced changes in body composition. Stuart believes that a little bit of exercise is better than no exercise, and aims to encourage more physical activity in older adults. He has more than 24,000 career citations, and 220 original scientific research and review papers. View Bio

Stuart Phillips

Faculty of Science

Jenny Ploeg is a tenured Professor in the School of Nursing and Scientific Director of the Department of Health, Aging and Society (ACHRU). Her interdisciplinary research drives community initiatives in aging and intends that aim to develop community-based primary health care interventions. Jenny’s research focuses on the importance of at-home aging for older adults with multiple chronic conditions, and the ways in which family caregivers can and should be supported. Jenny is focused on changing the way health services are delivered and centralizing a community-based framework to maximize the healthcare of vulnerable populations. View Bio

Jenny Ploeg

Faculty of Health Sciences

Janet Pritchard is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology. Her research explores the interaction between type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis using MRI and microscopy. She is currently working in aging-related research and experiential learning opportunities focused on aging for students in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Her research focuses on bone health in adults with diabetes and protein intake in older adults. Janet has published several academic articles on osteoporosis and is a CIHR-funded scholar. She aims to pursue a research program that will allow for a widespread standardization of clinical decision support systems that reflect current guidelines for osteoporosis care and fracture prevention. View Bio

Janet Pritchard

Faculty of Science

Cheryl Quenneville is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Her work in injury biomechanics endeavours to quantify the effect of impact loading on the human body. Cheryl’s research goal is to define tolerance limits for bones, and to develop appropriate injury criteria. She is interested in characterizing the effect of factors such as strain rate, angle of load application, gender, age and protective wear on fracture tolerance. Cheryl aims to establish a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence injury risk, for the purpose of improving current safety limits. View Bio

Cheryl Quenneville

Faculty of Engineering

Parminder Raina is a Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, Lead Principal Investigator of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and Scientific Director of the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA). In 2018, he was appointed to the National Seniors Council. As well, Parminder holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Geroscience and the Raymond and Margaret Labarge Chair in Research and Knowledge Application for Optimal Aging, and is one of the founding members of the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal and the Ontario Research Coalition of Aging Institutes/Centres. Parminder specializes in the epidemiology of aging with emphasis on developing the interdisciplinary field of Geroscience to better understand aging from cell to society. He has expertise in epidemiologic modeling, systematic review methodology, injury, and knowledge transfer. View Bio

Parminder Raina

Faculty of Health Sciences

Julie Richardson is a Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science. She is interested in interventions to promote mobility and lower-extremity functioning in older adults as well as risk factor assessment for mobility decline and functioning with aging and the health transitions that older persons undergo in the process of disablement. Julie is focused on identifying persons at risk for functional decline and rehabilitation interventions to maintain their health for those with chronic illness. She works with family physicians around the assessment of preclinical disability to teach seniors how to avoid falls and maintain their mobility. Julie’s recent work has involved clinical trials examining complex rehabilitation interventions in primary care. View Bio

Julie Richardson

Faculty of Health Sciences

Larry Roberts is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University. He leads the Human Neural Plasticity Lab which uses brain imaging and acoustic training methods to better understand how music alters brain activity. Larry has studied neural plasticity in the human auditory system using musicians as models and has investigated the role of neural plasticity in tinnitus, which is the chronic ringing in ears and affects the quality of life of older adults and populations worldwide. Larry’s insight in researching tinnitus shows us how the brain generates the sensation of sound, and how auditory disabilities affect the ways in which people age well. View Bio

Larry Roberts

Faculty of Health Sciences

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Reza Samavi

Faculty of Engineering

Allison Sekuler is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Behaviour. She was the first to be appointed Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience at McMaster University. Allison’s research challenges traditional understandings of brain development. Allison and her colleagues have explored research that continues to demonstrate that the brain retains tremendous plasticity well into adulthood and explains how the human brain processes visual information, and how that processing changes with age. She has discovered that even very brief visual experiences can produce lasting physical changes in our brains.

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Allison Sekuler

Faculty of Science

Ravi Selvaganapathy is a Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at McMaster University. He is the Canada Research Chair in Biomicrofluidics. Ravi’s research focuses on developing microfluidic devices for application in drug discovery, drug delivery, diagnostics and artificial organs. He has more than 20 years of extensive experience in the micro/nano fabrication and microfluidics in the areas of medical and environmental diagnostics, drug delivery and drug discovery which has resulted in ~75 publications, in the top journals in the field. In addition, he has published more than 50 refereed conference papers and has presented 25 invited talks at conferences, universities and other forums.

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MIRA Members

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