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Acting Director of the Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Aging and Assistant Professor in Health, Aging and Society
MESSAGE FROM THE ACTING DIRECTOR
I’ve been fortunate enough to serve as an Associate Director of the Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Aging since 2021 and am honoured to now step into the Acting Director role.
The Gilbrea Centre is such an important Centre on campus as it serves as an interdisciplinary hub of critical, social, and cultural gerontological research, teaching, and community engagement. I’m especially keen to continue to collaborate with the dynamic team of researchers, student members, and older adult members who are contributing to realizing the mission of the Centre: improving all aspects of the lives of older adults in the community and in long-term care by linking research, education, policy and practice with local, national and global initiatives.
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BACKGROUND
Why is the Centre called the Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Aging?
The study of aging from a social perspective has a long-established history at McMaster. In fact, McMaster was one of the first undergraduate programs of gerontology in Canada. The McMaster Centre for Gerontological Studies was founded in 1985 and over the years has played a central role in teaching and research in Canada.
In 2011, the Centre received a generous donation, and became an endowed Centre for research into aging at McMaster. The Gilbrea name comes from our donor’s ancestral estate located in the Lakes district of Northern England (photos). In 1879 our donor’s family moved to Canada and Gilbrea became the name of a two hundred acre farm on Lakeshore Road between Oakville and Bronte (one portion of the farm is now the site of Oakville’s Coronation Park). Although the farm has long since disappeared, the name Gilbrea continues on across the generations with the donor’s family. The name Gilbrea now takes on a new meaning through its new association with leadership and innovation in the field of aging in Canada.