番茄社区

This forum for local participants of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) was presented on April 25, 2024 at the 番茄社区 with an option for participants to join the livestream. The forum showcased some of the studies being conducted with data provided by study participants to the CLSA, presented by 番茄社区 faculty and graduate students.

In the Spring of 2023, IALH’s Brain Health Research Cluster hosted a Brain Art competition that was open to faculty, post-doctoral fellows, undergraduate and graduate students, research assistants, and staff from all departments at UVic. The goals of the event were to bridge science and art and to encourage creative approaches to visualizing what brain health means.

Submissions needed to be: a) focused on the brain; b) inspired by research; and c) original. However, they could focus on the whole brain, a favourite brain structure, brain cells, mental health, brain changes over the lifespan, or the aging brain.

A showcase of all entries can be found at .

The 2023 Masterminds Series was presented by the 番茄社区 Retirees Association and the Institute on Aging and Lifelong Health.

• April 12: You Are What You and Your Gut Bacteria Eat by Ed Ishiguro  **This talk was not recorded.
• April 19: by Kathy Gaul
• April 26: by PJ Naylor

The 17th annual, and final, Lafayette Health Awareness Forum entitled Our Planet, Our Health was presented October 6, 2022 at Christ Church Cathedral, and via livestream.

After nearly 20 years of bringing top experts in all fields of health to the Victoria Community, this culminating evening explores our existence and the connections of our health and that of our precious planet.

The members of the Lafayette String Quartet proudly host Katlia Lafferty, Canada’s first Poet Laureate in Climate Change; Dr. Valeria Stoynova, one of the first proponents of “nature prescriptions” and one of the top researchers on the effects of Climate Change on human health; and Dr. Suzanne Simard, author of “Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest”, a great researcher and voice illuminating the powerful and collaborative connections of trees and other living things. In this last year of their career as an ensemble, The Lafayette String Quartet performed several times throughout the evening. On this timely topic as was the initial inspiration for this forum, we are better together as “What affects one of us – affects us all”.

Presented by visiting scholar, Denise Cheung, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong - August 2022

Presentation description:

Telomere and telomerase are hallmarks of cellular aging, which is believed to be involved in the onset of numerous age-related diseases. Lifestyle interventions are known to modulate the aging process and age-related diseases. Thus, they might also have potential to affect telomere length and telomerase activity. In this presentation, Dr. Cheung summarizes the current state of knowledge regarding the association between lifestyle interventions and the telomere/telomerase system, and shares her experience of using telomerase activity in a randomized controlled trial of Qigong in abused women. The presentation is mainly based on Dr. Cheung’s manuscripts published in Psychoneuroendocrinology and JAMA Network Open.

About the speaker:

Dr. Denise Cheung is a registered nurse and Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at The University of Hong Kong. Her research focus is on complementary and alternative therapies, with particular emphasis on populations in need of symptom management, such as survivors of intimate partner violence, cancer patients, and caregivers. Dr. Cheung visited the 番茄社区 for a collaborative research study on physical activity in cancer survivors with the Digital Health Lab, led by Dr. Sam Liu, and Behavioural Medicine Lab, led by Dr. Ryan Rhodes.

Even if we have long-term conditions like arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, or Parkinson’s Disease, we want to continue doing the things we need and want to do. At the same time, there are challenges such as pain, depression, fatigue, disability, and/or anxiety. Relationships with friends and family change and we may not know how to use our limited time with health care providers. This session began by finding out the major concerns of the audience and became the focus of the session. It is hoped that each person left with new ideas and the commitment to try a new tool to manage their long-term condition.

Speaker: Dr. Kate Lorig, founder of the Self-Management Resource Center self-management programs, Professor Emerita, School of Medicine, Stanford University.

Recorded June 1, 2022 as a hybrid event with both live and online audiences.

Watch the recording on our YouTube Channel:  

Dr. Laura Booi is a Gerontologist and Research Fellow at Leeds Beckett University’s Centre for Dementia Research in the United Kingdom. In this webinar, she discusses risk factors and innovative research ventures examining brain health in both at risk populations and the general public.

Recorded on April 22, 2022 for an online audience. 

Watch the recording on our YouTube Channel: 

• by Student Affiliate Nathan Lewis
• - by Dr. Karen Courtney 
• by Student Affiliate Jamie Knight
• by Dr. Brandon Haworth
• by Dr. Sam Liu
• by Dr. Elizabeth Borycki
• by Dr. Jodie Gawryluk
• by Dr. Brian Christie
• by Dr. Stephanie Willerth
• by Student Affiliate Amr Farghali
• by Dr. Jie Zhang
• by Dr. Nancy Clark
• by Dr. Marie-Ève Tremblay
• by Dr. Ryan Rhodes
• by Dr. Alison Murray
• by Dr. Denise Cloutier
• by Student Affiliate Cynthia McDowell
• by Dr. Debra Sheets
• by Student Affiliate Tomiko (Tiko) Yoneda
• by Student Affiliate Ashley Mollison
• by Dr. Sarah Nutter 
• by Student Affiliate Jessica Percy-Campbell

The 16th annual Lafayette Health Awareness Forum, recorded October 7, 2021 as a hybrid event with both live and online audiences. 

Guest speakers include: 

• Dr. Danuta Skowronski, Epidemiology Lead of Influenza and Emerging Respiratory Pathogens at BCCDC, Clinical Professor in the UBC School of Population and Public Health
• Dr Jesse Greiner, Medical Director of the provincial interdisciplinary clinical care network’s first Post-Covid-19 Recovery Clinic at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, BC.
• Dr. Shannon McDonald, Acting Chief Public Health Officer, First Nations Health Authority in BC
• Dr. Matthew Chow, President, Doctors of British Columbia

Watch the recording on our YouTube channel: 

Watch Kelli Stajduhar and Damien Contrandriopoulos, Professors in UVic's School of Nursing, Cynthia Yamamoto, PhD student at the University of Manitoba, and special guest Andre Picard, Candian health jounalist for the Globe and Mail as they discuss the current state of Canada's home care services and ways to move forward while in a constant state of crises, and in the midst of a global pandemic.

A showcase of current research projects by our six 2020 student research award recipients: Matilde Cervantes, Jamie Knight, Colleen Lacey, Nathan Lewis, Cindy McDowell, and Ashleigh Parker.

Watch the recording on our YouTube channel: 

Led by Drs Debra Sheets, Stuart MacDonald, Andre Smith, and Mary Kennedy (UVic), Dr Helen Kivnich (University of Minnesota), Dr Carl Asche (University of Illinois), and Erica Phare-Berg (St Andrews High School), Voices in Motion is an intergenerational community choir for persons with Alzheimer's Disease, and their family caregivers, that will explore the impact of participation in an intergenerational choir on quality of life, well-being and social networks. 

Watch the recording on our YouTube channel: