Celebrating future leaders in aging research: Transforming health research through partnership
Congratulations to our most recent fellowship recipients
The Partnership in Research Fellowship was established to support trainees to meaningfully partner with older adults and caregivers as experts and advisors in their aging-focused health research projects. Below, our winter 2024 fellows share their unique journeys that have led them to patient-engaged research and what drives their passions along the way.
Sophia Werden Abrams
Program: Rehabilitation Science (PhD)
Supervisor: Dr. Ashwini Namasivayam-MacDonald
Project: Engaging People with Lived Experience to Improve Hydration in People with Dementia who Drink Thickened Liquids
Sophia is a speech-language pathologist and doctoral trainee in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University’s Aging Swallow Research Lab. Sophia’s research, funded by the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, is focused on investigating how to improve hydration and health for long-term care residents with dementia and swallowing impairments. Sophia is passionate about clinically meaningful research where interdisciplinary collaboration and partnerships with patients and families are central.
Helana Marie Boutros
Program: Health and Society (PhD)
Supervisors: Dr. Anthea Innes and Dr. Matt Savelli
Project: Exploring Coptic Women’s Lived Experiences of Spiritual Health
Helana is a Coptic Christian Indigenous woman currently pursuing a PhD in McMaster’s Health and Society stream. Her research thesis intersects at spiritual health, community health, intergenerational Coptic women’s well-being, diasporic lived experiences, indigeneity and the Coptic Orthodox Tradition. Outside of her thesis, Helana holds two research positions – at Wilfried Laurier University and ICES seconded to the Métis Nation of Ontario – where she does work pertaining to the health of Black older adults and Métis health and wellness. When she isn’t working, Helana often spends time with her Coptic community, reading, painting, hiking or writing poetry.
Bridget Marsdin
Program: Social Work (PhD)
Supervisor: Dr. Randall Jackson
Project: Exploring community needs, values, and expectations in Six Nations of the Grand River
Bridget returned to McMaster University after several years of working in community organizations dedicated to social justice. She has extensive frontline experience in sexual health, HIV/AIDS, STBBI (sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections), reproductive justice, trauma, sexual violence, gender-based violence, harm reduction and community-based research. She is currently a PhD student in the School of Social Work at McMaster University, where she is involved in several community-based initiatives. Bridget’s doctoral study focuses on community participatory research with Six Nations of the Grand River to explore Haudenosaunee cultural responses to sexual health and wellbeing.
Visit our funding page to learn more about the McMaster Collaborative for Health and Aging Partnership in Research Fellowship, available to trainees at accredited universities across Ontario.
To learn more about all our trainee members, visit the trainee members page.