Meet the team

The STICS project is co-led by Dr. Andrea Iaboni and Dr. Shehroz Khan, and the study is being conducted in collaboration with scientists from locations across Ontario. This group of researchers is divided into three subgroups addressing the clinical, technology, and implementation aims of the project. This study relies upon community partners to form an advisory panel that guides the researchers in the study design, development of the study goals, and the identification of implementation outcome measures. The panel also is engaged in identifying potential ethical issues involved in the use of RTLS systems in LTC settings, potential barriers to clinical implementation, and ways to minimize or resolve these barriers in the ethical design of STICS.

CO-LEADS

DR. ANDREA IABONI

Dr. Iaboni is a geriatric psychiatrist and clinician researcher based at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (TRI). She is the lead scientist in the Dementia Rehab group as part of the Walter and Maria Schroeder Institute for Brain Health and Recovery based at Toronto Rehab. She is interested in innovative technology for dementia care, with a focus on the development and clinical evaluation of technology for the management of falls risk and neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia.

DR. SHEHROZ KHAN

Dr. Khan is a computer scientist at TRI with a focus on machine learning for the development of assistive technologies in aging. As a member of the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics research team, his main research focus is in the development of machine learning and deep learning algorithms within the realms of ARIAL (Aging, Rehabilitation, and Intelligent Assistive Living). He is also a post-graduate affiliate at the Vector Institute in Toronto.

CLINICAL GROUP

DR. KATHERINE MCGILTON

Dr. McGilton is a senior scientist in nursing research at TRI with expertise in best care practices in long-term care and a Professor at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto. The focus of her work is on enhancing the care of older adults, especially those with dementia, through the development and application of interventions, outcome measures and models of care in practice.

DR. CHARLENE CHU

Dr. Chu is an Assistant Professor at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and affiliate scientist at KITE-TRI with expertise in technology in long-term care. Her research disciplines include geriatrics, rehabilitation, person-centered care, user-centered design, and technology for clinicians in various healthcare applications to improve care. Her research also supports the role of the Registered Nurse in long-term care by examining the processes, structures, and outcomes related to nursing care both nationally and internationally.

DR. ALASTAIR FLINT

Dr. Flint is a Senior Scientist in the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, and a Professor and Vice-Chair Research in the University of Toronto Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Flint’s research focuses on geriatric mental disorders, including late-life depression, late-life anxiety, and dementia. Also, he has an interest in the interplay between affective disorders and balance, mobility, and falls in older adults.

DR. CAITLIN MCARTHUR

Dr. McArthur is an assistant professor in the School of Physiotherapy at Dalhousie University. Her research focuses on improving effectiveness of and access to rehabilitation for people living with chronic health conditions across the continuum of care, particularly home and long-term care. She is interested in fall and fracture prevention and improving functional mobility. With a passion to improve mobility and quality of life of clinically complex older adults, she is a lead instructor of the continuing education course Bone Fit™ hosted by Osteoporosis Canada which teaches exercise professionals about safe movements, physical activity, and exercise for people with osteoporosis.

DR. Jennifer Bethell

Dr. Bethell is an epidemiologist and health services researcher, interested in using large health administrative and survey datasets for research and reporting on health outcomes. To date, her work in this area has been focused on topics related to mental health, injuries and prescription medication use and how these issues influence health across the life course. She is now developing work in the area of social connection and health, and in particular, how aspects of social connection influence health in different populations, including people living with dementia, older adults and long-term care home residents.

IMPLEMENTATION

DR. JOSEPHINE MCMURRAY

Dr. McMurray is a senior implementation scientist and associate professor at Wilfred Laurier University with expertise in the use of mixed methods to evaluate the adoption of intelligent assistive devices by older adults. Her research explores critical societal issues at the nexus of business, technology and health and aging. She also examines the influence of intelligent non-human agents on human behaviour in domestic environments.

DR. KRISTINE NEWMAN

Dr. Newman is a nursing researcher in knowledge translation in dementia care and an associate professor at Ryerson University. Her research explores healthy aging and dementia, with a focus on knowledge translation/health evidence, assistive technologies to detect agitation in persons with dementia and awareness, intergenerational relations, and caregivers in dementia.

DR. ANDRIA BIANCHI

Dr. Bianchi is a clinical ethicist and scientist based at TRI. Her research interests focus on ethical implications related to persons with dementia, such as the ethical benefits and potential vulnerabilities of new artificial intelligence technologies, decisions related to feeding and risk, and sexual decision-making.

DR. ALISA GRIGOROVICH

Dr. Grigorovich is an Assistant Scientist at KITE-Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, UHN. By training she is an interdisciplinary health services and policy researcher who studies the role of stigma and other social factors driving health inequity in institutional and home care settings. She is particularly interested in the ethical, social and policy implications of new technologies and other innovations that are introduced to improve the quality of care and quality of life for older adults.

DR. Lynn Haslam-Larmer

Dr. Haslam-Larmer is the implementation HQP and a post-doctoral fellow at TRI, her PhD is in Aging & Health. Her research explores utilization of technology in older adults, specifically in those with cognitive impairment. She is also interested in utilizing knowledge translation strategies to support clinician implementation of activity monitor technologies.

PROJECT SUPPORT

LEIA SHUM

Leia completed her MASc. in Biomedical Engineering at UBC, BASc. in Mechatronics Engineering at UWaterloo, and is interested in realizing novel engineering technology in rehabilitation applications. Leia joined the Dementia Rehab Lab at UHN to coordinate the STICS Project.

Noor Malik

Noor is a clinical research analyst at KITE TRI. She completed her Honours Bachelor of Science at the University of Toronto and is a certified clinical research professional. Her research specialties include psycho-social oncology, psycho-education, and neuro-psychiatry in geriatrics.

Yasser Karam

Yasser completed his double major undergraduate in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering at the University of Witwatersrand and completed his MASc in Biomedical Engineering in September 2024 at the University of Toronto. He is continuing work on the team as a PhD candidate, actively working on investigating location data for predicting infection risk and optimizing prevention measures.

Zain Hasan

Zain is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto working at the intersection of machine learning and biomedical engineering. He is an engineer by training, and founded Vinci Labs, developing a digital health platform that leveraged machine learning to remotely monitor chronically ill patients using data from their medical devices. He is passionate about the field of data science and machine learning and loves to share his love for the field with anyone interested in the domain.

Sagnik Som

Sagnik is working towards a MASc in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dr. Shehroz Khan and will continue work on describing patterns of rest-activity rhythms in wider LTC and aged care settings.

FIONA BARNES-BRISLEY

Fiona is the graphic/web designer of the STICS project at UHN.

TECHNOLOGY PARTNER

tenera care

https://tenera.care

Tenera Care is a Nova Scotia-based company with a mission to improve quality of life for seniors, care staff, and families. Their automated nurse call technology provides the project with a precise, real-time indoor positioning system that was developed specifically with long-term care and senior living facilities in mind.

advisory panel

Long-term care

Christy Nickerson-Rak

Research & Innovation Lead; Partnership Lead

Shannex Incorporated, Halifax

Mark Dager

Director of Long-term Care

Oxford County, Woodbridge

Pauline Robinson

Executive Director

Revera Inc. Dover Cliffs Long-Term Care Home, Port Dover

Debby Riepert

Chief Operating Officer

Trinity Village, Kitchener

AMIT Joshi

Director, IT Innovations and Data Strategy

Advantage Ontario

Nasrin Eshraghi Ivari

Data Scientist

Shannex Incorporated, Halifax

Steve Robertson

Director of Technology and Innovation

Responsive Group, Ontario

Clinical/Specialists

Debbie Hewitt-Colborne

Advanced Practice Nurse

Behavioural Supports Ontario

Amy cockburn

Service Coordinator on the Specialized Dementia Unit

Toronto Rehab – University Health Network

Melissa McVie

Director of Communications

Ontario Association of Residents’ Councils

Sophiya Benjamin

Geriatric Psychiatrist

GeriMedRisk

Industry/Technology

Stephen fitzgerald

Chief Executive Officer

Tenera Care, Halifax

Adam Sobol

Founder/CEO

CareBand Inc., Chicago