Research Advisory Committee
The ASNS Research Advisory Committee is made up of dedicated and compassionate researchers, clinicians, and trainees supporting us to advance research as a strategic priority.
Current ASNS Research Advisory Committee
Chair - Dr. Melissa Andrew
Dr. Melissa Andrew is a staff geriatrician and professor of geriatric medicine at Dalhousie. She completed her MD at Dalhousie, a Master of Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and her residency training in internal medicine at Dalhousie. She also completed her interdisciplinary PhD on the topic of social vulnerability in older people.
Dr. Andrew’s research interests relate to frailty, social vulnerability, vaccinology and cognitive impairment. As an Associate Member of the Canadian Center for Vaccinology, she studies how frailty impacts vaccine effectiveness and outcomes of vaccine preventable infections. As an investigator in the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging, she studies frailty and social context in relation to dementia. She has been a long-time member of the Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia Board of Directors and Research Advisory Committees and is a member of Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI).
Dr. Katie Aubrecht
Dr. Katie Aubrecht is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at St. Francis Xavier University (StFX). Dr. Aubrecht's research program analyzes marginality and mental health, rurality and resilience, across the life span as health equity and social justice issues. This work draws on social theory, intersectional disability studies, aging studies and interpretive, decolonial and arts-informed qualitative research methods to analyze disability and care education, policy and practice.
As Director of the Spatializing Care: Intersectional Disability Studies Research Lab at StFX. Aubrecht leads a participatory health research infrastructure that supports and enhances meaningful and ethical community engagement and cross-sectoral collaboration to bridge medical, social and cultural approaches to care.
Dr. Sultan Darvesh
Dr. Sultan Darvesh is the co-founder and Director of The Maritime Brain Tissue Bank. He is a Professor in the Departments of Medicine (Geriatric Medicine and Neurology) and Medical Neuroscience at Dalhousie University and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at Mount Saint Vincent University. He is also the founder and Director of the Behavioural Neurology Program in the Department of Medicine.
He obtained his PhD in organic chemistry followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular biology at the University of New Brunswick. He completed his residency in Neurology at Dalhousie University and a fellowship in Behavioural Neurology at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care at the University of Toronto. His interest is in assessment and management of patients with cognitive impairment. His basic research involves development of innovative strategies for diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.
Frank Day
Frank (he/him) is a Speech-Language Pathology student at One Bite At A Time: Swallowing and Speech Services Inc. and a researcher at the Oral Health and Swallowing Research Lab. He received a BSc. in Neuroscience and is completing his MSc. in Human Communication Sciences and Disorders at Dalhousie University.
Frank is an Aphasia Nova Scotia Board Member and a recipient of the Speech-Language & Audiology Canada Research Scholarship. His research interests include dementia's impact on swallowing and communication, as well as communication and swallowing disorders’ impact on intimacy and relationships.
Dr. Janice Keefe
Janice Keefe, PhD is Professor and Chair of Family Studies and Gerontology at the Mount Saint Vincent University. She holds the Lena Isabel Jodrey Chair in Gerontology and is Director of the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging. Janice is an Adjunct Professor at Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine, Affiliate Scientist with Nova Scotia Health, and Associate Scientist with Maritime SPOR SUPPORT Unit.
A Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Gerontological Society of America, Dr. Keefe regularly contributes as an expert or advisor on Canadian and international initiatives like Statistics Canada’s Demography Committee, the Canadian Health Standards Organization’s Long-Term Care Committee and the European-Canada Scientific Advisory Committee of the Joint Programme Initiative, More Years Better Lives (Vice Chair). In the past 5 years, she has chaired or participated in reviews of long-term care in NS, NL and PEI. She also contributed to the Royal Society of Canada’s report on COVID-19 and Long-Term Care.
Dr. Jasmine Mah
Jasmine (she/her) is a physician and researcher who cares for older adults in Geriatric Medicine. She holds an MD from the University of Ottawa, an MSc from the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD from Dalhousie University.
Dr. Mah is a Canadian Medical Association Young Leader, recipient of the Association of Faculties of Medicine Learner Changemaker Award and winner of Dalhousie University’s Three-Minute Thesis. She firmly believes in equipping others with the knowledge and skills to succeed in advocating for their needs.
Dr. Elaine Moody
Elaine Moody PhD RN, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at Dalhousie University, Affiliate Scientist with Nova Scotia Health, and Associate Scientist with Maritime SPOR Support Unit. Her scholarship is focused on better understanding the context of health and health care for older people, particularly those with complex health and social care needs such as those with frailty and dementia.
She has an active program of research related to supporting nursing care of older people, including in acute care, primary care and community settings. She has been a registered nurse for 20 years and has a clinical background in acute care, community care, and long-term residential care.
Dr. Shanna Trenaman
Dr. Shanna Trenaman is a pharmacist, dementia researcher, and assistant professor at the Dalhousie College of Pharmacy. Shanna completed her BScPharm, MAHSR and PhD at Dalhousie University. She is an Accredited Canadian Pharmacy Resident, having completed her hospital pharmacy residency at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in affiliation with Dalhousie University.
As a clinician-scientist Dr. Trenaman’s research approaches the topic of appropriate drug use in older adults from the perspectives of pharmacology, epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology and health services research. Her research interests are in polypharmacy, deprescribing, drugs used by older adults with dementia, anticholinergic medications, sex- and gender-based differences in drug use, and medication and health services use in relation to sex and gender.