Steering Committee

Dr. Garnett obtained her graduate degrees (MSc & PhD) at McMaster University and draws on clinical experience in community and palliative nursing. Within her research program, Dr. Garnett has an overarching focus on older adult and family caregiver health and social well-being. In addition, her research consists of sub-themes of digital health applications, and health services, as they pertain to older adult care. Many of her research projects simultaneously address more than one of these research themes and involve a range of community and interdisciplinary partnerships. Inherent across Dr. Garnett’s research program is a lens of equity, diversity, and inclusion, recognizing the need for ongoing removal of systemic barriers that negatively influence research, education, and equitable health delivery within older adult care.

Dr. Lindsay Nagamatsu is an Associate Professor in the School of Kinesiology at Western University and a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Activity for Brain Health and Aging. As the Director of the Exercise, Mobility, and Brain Health Lab, her research focuses on the bi-directional relationship between movement and cognition in older adults. With expertise in neuroimaging methods (MRI/fMRI, EEG) she is able to examine brain structure and function related to both mobility and cognition. Dr. Nagamatsu has conducted multiple randomized controlled studies examining the effects of exercise on brain health in clinical and non-clinical populations of older adults. Her current research seeks to uncover the mechanisms for how exercise impacts cognition and the brain, and to combine different lifestyle strategies to combat cognitive decline.

Angela Roberts holds joint appointments in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and the Department of Computer Science. She is also a speech-language pathologist. Dr. Roberts is the Canada Research Chair in Data Analytics and Digital Health in Cognitive Aging and Dementia. She is a founding Co-Director of Western’s Collaborative Specialization in Machine Learning in Health and Biomedical Sciences. Her impactful research program improves cognitive aging outcomes through rigorously validating connected speech signatures that detect and monitor cognitive decline, developing and validating innovative tools for measuring the effects of interventions in real-world environments, building phenotypes and predictive models of cognitive aging trajectories, and developing interventions that address communication and social engagement challenges experienced by persons with neurodegenerative brain conditions and their families. She is the Canadian lead for the SuperAging Research Initiative and a Principal Investigator for the Communication Bridge clinical trials program. Her influence extends to health charity organizations as a research board member for Parkinson Canada and an author of internationally distributed patient and family education materials.

Tina Ziebart is an Assistant Professor at Western University in the School of Physical Therapy. She is also a physiotherapist and certified exercise physiologist. She graduated her undergraduate and master’s from the University of Waterloo in Kinesiology and received her physiotherapy degree from Western University. She completed her PhD in physical therapy at Western University. Tina has built her career around teaching exercise to people with osteoporosis, both through research and clinically. In research, Tina has published several studies on non-pharmacological management of osteoporosis, as well as barriers and facilitators to engaging in exercise for people with osteoporosis. Clinically, Tina has worked as physiotherapist, specializing in working with older adults, and people with osteoporosis to reduce the risk of falls and fractures.