UofT Talks 2016

Alex Jadad is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, where he leads the Institute for Global Health Equity and Innovation. In 2000, he moved to the University of Toronto, to transform the city into a mini-model of the world. There, he founded the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, a place designed as a simulator of the future in which it would be possible to create and spread innovative solutions to the most pressing problems of our time. Since then, his personal mission has been to nurture efforts to enable humans to live the longest, healthiest, happiest possible lives, full of love and with no regrets until our last breath.

Andrea Austen is the Lead for the City’s seniors and age-friendly initiatives, and is responsible for the development, implementation, and evaluation of the Toronto Seniors Strategy. In 2014, she was seconded to Toronto Community Housing to develop its Vulnerable Seniors Action Plan, and to improve services for older tenants and implement strategies to support tenants to remain in their homes. Prior to entering the municipal public sector, Andrea worked in the academic field and taught courses at York and Ryerson Universities; she holds a Master’s degree in Political Philosophy from York University. ​

​​Don McLean, Dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto since 2011, and Dean of the Faculty of Music at McGill University from 2001-2010, is best known as an innovative leader, faculty administrator, and professor of music theory and musicology. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal through the Canada Council in 2012 for his “exploration of the changing context of music in the academy and society, and innovations in infrastructure development and interdisciplinary teaching and research”.

Don Simpson is the Chief Explorer of a Global Expedition in Search of Modern Day Renaissance Leaders. This initiative is an innovative, customized, learning and leadership journey to identify, connect, support and promote the efforts of a select group of transformational leaders (Renaissance Pathfinders) who combine a passion for driving high performance and breakthrough innovations in their organizations with a desire to help build sustainable prosperity in their communities and in others throughout the world.

Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson holds the Sandra Rotman Endowed Chair at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and is the Interim Director of the Institute for Life Course & Aging at the University of Toronto. Esme has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications examining social determinants of health across the life course. Her research has been widely cited in the media including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Huffington Post, The Atlantic, and CBC.

Dr. Sadavoy is professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and Immediate past Psychiatrist in Chief and inaugural Pencer Family Chair in Applied General Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital where he is Director of the Cyril & Dorothy, Joel & Jill Reitman Centre for Alzheimer’s Support and Training, head of Geriatric Psychiatry, and head of Community Psychiatry services. Throughout his career, Dr. Sadavoy has integrated clinical practice in geriatric psychiatry with research and academic administration, including development of innovative mental health services for the elderly and their families and access to mental health care for ethno-cultural seniors. As Director of the Reitman Centre, his current clinical, academic, and research focus is on family caregivers of persons with dementia.

Dr. McDonald (Professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto) is Director of the Institute for Life Course and Aging, Co-Director of the Institute’s Collaborative Program in Aging, Palliative and Supportive Care, and Scientific Director of the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE), an inter-professional organization dedicated to improving the care of older adults. She currently leads a SSHRC Partnership Grant on Engaged Scholarship: Evaluation of Knowledge Mobilization for Older Adults in the Community (2012-2018), and is completing an HRSDC New Horizons for Seniors Program Elder Abuse Awareness Grant entitled a National Survey on the Mistreatment of Older Canadians. She is co-author on one of the first Canadian texts on elder abuse, and was awarded the Governor General’s Golden Jubilee medal for her contributions to Canadian gerontology.

Rafael Gomez is the Director of the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources at the University of Toronto. In 2005 he was awarded the Labor and Employment Relations Association’s John T. Dunlop Outstanding Scholar Award for exceptional contributions to international and comparative labour and employment research. In 2013-14 his book The Little Black Book for Managers was a UK business book bestseller and in Spring 2015 his book Small Business and the City was published by U of T/Rotman Press.

​Tiff Macklem became Dean of the Rotman School in July 2014. Since coming to Rotman, Tiff has also been appointed the Chair of the Board of the Global Risk Institute, Chair of Ontario’s Panel on Economic Growth and Prosperity, a Director of Scotiabank, and a member of the Asian Business Leaders Advisory Board. Prior to Rotman, Tiff served as senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, sharing responsibility with the governor and four deputy governors for monetary policy and for the Bank’s role in promoting financial stability. Tiff is a well-known expert in monetary and financial systems and has contributed articles to academic journals, as well as providing chapters and commentaries on monetary and financial sector policy and international economics in books and conference proceedings.

Tilak Dutta is a Scientist at Toronto Rehab Institute and leads the Home and Community Team. The objective of his team’s work is to give people the tools they need to age successfully in their own homes as long as possible. Tilak’s projects range from developing more slip-resistant footwear that is easier to put on and performs better on snow and ice to ensuring caregivers have the tools they need to provide care without sustaining back injuries and preventing falls for the care-recipient. The team designs, builds, tests, refines and commercializes these tools.