Long-term Life Care at Home: Research to Drive the Future of Aging in Canada

Dr. Justine Giosa is a research scientist and health care leader with a 10-year track record of bridging the knowledge-to-practice gap in aging research and health care delivery. In her role as Managing Director, SE Research Centre, Justine oversees a diverse research portfolio and leads a team of researchers, ensuring they are supported to execute high-quality research, evaluation and knowledge mobilization work. Justine is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo, where she actively collaborates on research grants with the Geriatric Health Systems Research Group and participates in both undergraduate and graduate-level teaching, training and mentorship. Justine completed her PhD in 2018 in Health Studies and Gerontology at the University of Waterloo and has held both a CIHR Doctoral Research Award and CIHR Masters Award. Her research focuses on integrated geriatric care planning and delivery across the continuum of care and authentic engagement of older adults, family/friend caregivers and health and social care providers in health system change. 

Dr. Margaret Saari is an applied health services researcher working with the SE Research Centre and Professional Practice teams to help move research evidence into practice. Dr. Saari has 10+ years of experience in research to improve effective utilization of routinely-collected data to support clinical and operational decision-making, increasing engagement of clients and families in care planning as well as the design of new home and community care programs, and the integration of community services to improve the quality and experience of community care. Margaret completed her PhD at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto where she now holds Adjunct Faculty status. Margaret is also a Fellow with interRAI, an international collaborative of health and social services researchers and professionals that promotes evidence-informed clinical practice and policy decision making through the collection and interpretation of high-quality data about the characteristics and outcomes of persons served across a variety of health and social services settings. Prior to moving to a career in research, Margaret worked clinically as a registered nurse in ambulatory care settings and as a hospital-based care coordinator facilitating client transitions back to the community.