MEET OUR TEAM

The National Institute on Ageing’s (NIA) National Seniors Strategy research and development team includes a constantly evolving team of health, social and financial policy researchers – working with the objective of providing evidence-informed strategic thinking to promote, debate and explore policy options that can support the development and ongoing evolution of a National Seniors Strategy.

We are grateful that this work was originally financially supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Evidence-Informed Health Care Renewal Grant entitled, Creating a Sustainable System of Care for Older People with Complex Needs: Learning from International Experience that was granted to Drs. Samir Sinha and Dr. Geoffrey Anderson in 2013.

The following paragraphs provide more details on the members of our current research team.

Dr. Samir K. Sinha MD, DPhil, FRCPC, AGSF

Dr. Samir Sinha is the Director of Geriatrics at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and the Director of Health Policy Research at Ryerson University’s National Institute on Ageing.

A Rhodes Scholar, Dr. Sinha is a highly regarded clinician and international expert in the care of older adults. He is the Architect of the Government of Ontario’s Seniors Strategy and in 2014, Maclean’s proclaimed him to be one of Canada’s 50 most influential people and its most compelling voice for the elderly. Dr. Sinha was recently appointed to serve as a member of the Government of Canada’s National Seniors Council, and is also leading the development of new National Long-Term Care Standards for Canada.

Beyond Canada, Dr. Sinha is a Fellow of the American Geriatrics Society and a member of the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council. Dr. Sinha has further consulted and advised hospitals and health authorities in Britain, China, Iceland, Singapore, St. Kitts and Nevis, Taiwan and the United States on the implementation and administration of unique, integrated and innovative models of geriatric care that reduce disease burden, improve access and capacity and ultimately promote health.

Caberry W. Yu, BHSc, MD(C)

Caberry W. Yu is a medical student at Queen’s University and a researcher in health policy and geriatric medicine. As a Junior Research Fellow, she supports the NIA in its research across health, finance, and social service sectors. Caberry has led medical student efforts in health policy across Canada, including representing Kingston and the Islands as a Daughter of the Vote in 2019. She continues to advocate for improving care for older adults in her community. Caberry holds a BHSc from McMaster University. She was the research lead and author for the Affordable Housing (Evidence Brief #3) and Inclusive Transportation (Evidence Brief #4) sections of the National Senior Strategy. Caberry was a main editor of the updated 2020 National Seniors Strategy.

Ivy Wong, MPA, M.P.A, BA

Ivy Wong is a Senior Advisor for the NIA. She is also Senior Lead, OHT and System Integration for North York Toronto Health Partners, an Ontario Health Team, and is based at North York General Hospital in Toronto.

Previously, she was the Network Director for BeACCoN (Better Access and Care for Complex Needs), a federal initiative funded by CIHR (Canadian Institutes for Health Research) SPOR (Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research) connecting research and evaluation to policy and practice to improve outcomes, quality and efficiency of care for high needs, high cost patients and their caregivers in the community.

Ivy spent several years as a senior civil servant in the UK, including at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the Department of Health in the UK, as Head of Commissioning Policy and Incentives for the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Her focus was on funding reform, integrated care and financial incentives. Before working in health policy, Ivy was an IT consultant, specializing in financial services, and also worked as an Account Director in digital marketing and advertising.

Ivy holds a Master of Public Administration from the London School of Economics, a Master of Public Affairs from L’Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and a BA cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania. Ivy provided policy advice on the development of the 2015 and the updated 2020 National Senior Strategy.

Stephanie Callan, BA

Stephanie Callan is a Communications Specialist with Choosing Wisely Canada and supports the campaign’s external and digital communication efforts. Stephanie received her Honours Bachelor of Arts from McMaster University, double majoring in Communications and Multimedia and completed her post-graduate studies in Corporate Communications at Sheridan College. She has a special interest in creating and supporting various multimedia projects, specifically for health and education initiatives. Stephanie has provided all of the graphic design work for the 2015 and Updated 2020 National Senior Strategies as well as the ongoing National Senior Strategy social media campaign.

Original Contributors to the 2015 National Seniors Strategy

Dr. Geoffrey Anderson, MD, PhD

Dr. Geoffrey M. Anderson is a Professor in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Dr. Anderson has been involved in health services research for over 30 years. His research has been funded by provincial, national and international research agencies and he has published over 200 articles. . He is actively involved in research on health and social care for older people and is the Research Lead for BeACCoN a CIHR-funded network that is focused on innovations in primary and community-based care. Dr. Anderson along with Dr. Samir Sinha were the Principal Applicants for the CIHR funding opportunity which originally supported this work.

Bailey Griffin, MSc, BHSc

Currently based in Accenture Canada’s Health and Public Service practice in Toronto, Bailey acted as overall research lead for the National Senior Strategy, first edition in 2015. During this time, she was based at the Institute for Health Systems Solutions and Virtual Care (WIHV) at Women’s College Hospital and oversaw a number of key long-term initiatives, including acting as Program Manager of Virtual Care, and the Network Manager for the Ontario-wide Better Access and Care for Complex Needs (BeACCoN) Network, Ontario’s CIHR SPOR initiative in primary and integrated health care innovation.

Thom Ringer, Hon BA, MPhil JD, MD

Thom Ringer is a medical student and award-winning medical researcher in geriatric medicine at McMaster University. In 2015, he received McMaster’s 2015 Medical Student Research Award and the Canadian Geriatric Society’s Willard & Phoebe Thompson Award. Previously, Thom served as a Senior Consultant in the strategy practice of a global management consulting firm, with a focus on health care and public sector engagements across Canada. He has also held managerial roles in the Ontario government, advising its senior leadership on a range of strategic initiatives. Thom has a law degree from Yale University, and a Master’s from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Thom acted as the research lead and author for the Informed Health Decision-Making & Advanced Care Planning Brief (Evidence Brief #8) within the National Senior Strategy.

Christina Reppas-Rindlisbacher, Hon BSc, MD

Christina Reppas-Rindlisbacher is a geriatric medicine resident and researcher at the University of Toronto. Her work has been published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and she has received awards for her scientific presentations at various conferences. She is completing graduate training in clinical epidemiology and pursuing a career as a clinician scientist with a focus on studying the interface between delirium and dementia. Previously, she advised on a strategic plan for enhancing access to specialists at the University Health Network and helped develop policy recommendations for the Ontario Ministry of Health in support of unpaid caregivers. She obtained a BSc in Life Sciences from Queen’s University. Christina acted as the co-research lead for the Support for Caregivers Policy Briefs (Evidence Briefs #13 and #14) within the National Senior Strategy.

Dr. Emily Stewart, Hon BSc, MD, MHA (c)

Dr. Emily Stewart is a PGY-5 Emergency Medicine resident physician at the University of British Columbia who is passionate about the interface of evidence-based policy, health administration, and acute care medicine. She obtained her BSc at Dalhousie University and her MD at the University of Toronto. She recently served resident physicians nationally as the 2019-2020 President of Resident Doctors of Canada (RDoC). Dr. Stewart is also a graduate student in UBC’s Master of Health Administration program. She received the Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) scholarship in medical school to pursue graduate courses in policy, clinical leadership, and health systems. As a medical student, she worked in the Office of the Premier of Ontario with the senior policy advisor to develop policy recommendations for the Ministry of Health in support of unpaid family caregivers. She has been recognized for her research about policies on access to care for refugees by the Federation of Medical Women in Canada (FMWC), and her work was used in the Federal Court of Appeal. Dr. Stewart acted as the co-research lead for the Support for Caregivers Policy Briefs (Evidence Briefs #13 and #14) within the National Senior Strategy.