GRC News — December 2022
READ THE WHOLE ISSUE HERE.
We are pleased to distribute the December 2022 issue of the GRC News.
GRC Director Andrew Wister's Foreword:
On behalf of the Simon Fraser University Gerontology Research Centre (GRC), I wish all of you a safe and enjoyable holiday season. It is my pleasure to share with you the December Volume 41, Issue 2 of the GRC News. The GRC began in 1982, with the gerontology program starting the following year in 1983, under the first director Gloria Gutman. We are thus celebrating the 40th anniversary of gerontology at SFU in 2022 and 2023, starting with the recent Fall Lecture Series and Ellen Gee Memorial Lecture, and culminating with the upcoming Friesen Conference (June 1 & 2, 2023).
Yet, we must not forget that we have experienced almost three years of the most impactful pandemic for a century. Indeed, it has identified and magnified many social, psychological, and health-related problems facing those reaching advanced ages, especially marginalized and under-served groups. The GRC has been at the forefront of research addressing numerous cutting-edge issues facing older Canadians as the result of COVID-19. The lessons learned from the pandemic can now be transformed into positive change; however, the window of opportunity resulting from this attention to aging-related problems is narrow. As Director of the GRC, I challenge all gerontological communities to work together to make significant improvements to the lives of older adults, their social networks, the communities in which they live, and to the access, efficacy, and effectiveness of community-based and health care systems serving them. This edition of the GRC News presents several articles and events covering a wide range of innovative projects, grants, and publications involving GRC and Gerontology Department faculty, post-doctoral fellows, other research staff, students, and many academic and community collaborators. I hope that you find these useful in your own work and personal lives. Additional information pertaining to the mandate, major research projects and community implementation activities of the GRC can be found on our website (https://www.sfu.ca/ grc.html). I also want to take this opportunity to announce the appointment of the new Associate Director of the GRC, Habib Chaudhury, who brings extensive administrative and research expertise, the latter spanning the sub-field of environment and aging. Finally, my gratitude is extended to our Research and Communications Officer, Sarah Qiu, who has again co-edited an informative and insightful issue of the GRC News.