TORONTO, September 17, 2008 -- The International Day of Older Persons is Wednesday October 1, 2008. Experts from a range of disciplines at York University’s Faculty of Health are available to comment on the topic of graceful aging.
Members of the media are invited to contact faculty directly or through the media relations department at (416) 736-2100 ext. 22938.
KINESIOLOGY
Joseph Baker
- Aging and age-related decline, age-related performance
- Older athletes
- “Successful aging”
- Social stereotypes about growing older and their influence on health later in life
Contact: (416) 736-2100 ext. 22361, bakerj@yorku.ca
William Gage
- Arthritis/osteoarthritis
- Biomechanics and motor control
- Joint replacement
- Effects of pathology and aging on the control of movement
- Relationship between altered mobility and health-related quality of life
- Community-based exercise and activity interventions to treat hip and knee osteoarthritis
Contact: (416) 736-2100 ext. 33027, whgage@yorku.ca
PSYCHOLOGY
Ellen Bialystok
- Development of executive processes across the lifespan
- Effect of bilingualism on cognitive aging, lifelong bilingualism as protective factor against cognitive decline
- Bilingualism as protection against the onset of dementia
Contact: (416) 736-2100 ext. 66109, ellenb@yorku.ca (Not available September 30th and October 1st).
Shayna Rosenbaum
- How very old memories of personal experiences, facts, and places learned long ago are represented in the brain
- How these different types of memory change with healthy aging and when normal brain function is disrupted, such as in stroke or dementia
- How to detect and manage these changes with compensatory strategies
- The relationship between episodic memory for personal experiences (episodic memory) and imagining future or other people's experiences
Contact: (416) 736-2100 ext. 20449, shaynar@yorku.ca (Not available September 30th and October 1st).
Susan Murtha
- The relationship between structural and functional changes in normal aging and in mild cognitive impairment
- Methods of focusing attention and facilitating attention and memory in older adults
- Healthy aging populations and those in the early stages of dementia
Contact: (416) 736-2100 ext. 66132, smurtha@yorku.ca
HEALTH POLICY AND MANAGEMENT
Joel Lexchin
- Use of prescription drugs by the elderly
- The elderly and emergency departments
Contact: (416) 736-2100 ext. 22119, jlexchin@yorku.ca (Not available September 30th and October 1st).
NURSING
Mary Fox
- Effects of bed rest and reasons for bed rest
- How bed rest leads to functional decline in older adults
- Orthostatic hypotension (a drop in blood pressure and dizziness when you get up), a major cause of falls in the elderly
- Interventions to prevent and rehabilitate bed rest dependency and functional decline in older adults
- Testing if revised self-report standardized surveys improve responding in older adults
Contact: (416) 736-2100 ext. 23088, maryfox@yorku.ca
Mitzi Mitchell
- Gerontology
- The lived experience and effects of relocation on the elderly
- Relocation of the elderly and quality of life
Contact: (416) 736-2100 ext. 20069, mitzim@yorku.ca
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as more than 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 24 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
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Media contact:
Killeen Kelly, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22938 / killeenk@yorku.ca
