GRC Outreach Activities
John K Friesen picture

John K. Friesen has contributed vision and leadership wherever he has lived and worked. In British Columbia, he has a distinguished record of public service with many organizations and is a major contributor to the Gerontology Research Centre’s research, teaching, and information dissemination activities. He established the John K. Friesen Conference in Gerontology to provide an important source of professional development to those working with seniors and to act as a catalyst for new research
Ellen Gee Fund Photo Dr. Ellen Gee, one of Canada’s most distinguished social demographers, feminists and gerontologists passed away suddenly in November 2002. To commemorate her accomplishments, an endowment fund has been established with an initial $5000 contribution from the university to support the Ellen M. Gee Memorial Lecture Series in Gerontology. The lectures are held as close to the anniversary of Ellen’s death as possible.

 

From 1997-2001 the GRC hosted the Secretariat of the organizing committee for the 2001 World Congress of Gerontology.

In the succeeding four years (2001-2005) the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics' (IAGG) Secretariat was located at the GRC.

The GRC was the headquarters for the BC Network for Aging Research (BCNAR) from 2005 to 2010.

The GRC was home to the Secretariat for the 2010 7th World Conference of the International Society for Gerontechnology (ISG2010).

As of February, 2010, the Secretariat of the International Network for Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) .
On February 1, the GRC's founding director Dr. Gloria Gutman, was elected President of the International Network for Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA). INPEA was founded in 1997. Its mission is to increase society's ability, through international collaboration, to recognize and respond to the mistreatment of older people in whatever setting it occurs, so that the later years of life will be free from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Its objectives are to 1) increase public awareness of the issue; 2) promote education and training of professionals and paraprofessionals in identification, treatment and prevention, 3) further advocacy on behalf of abused and neglected older persons and 4) to stimulate research into the causes, consequences, prevalence, treatment and prevention of elder abuse and neglect.