For her outstanding contributions to their network and in the AgeTech sector, Faculty of Health Dean and School of Public Health Sciences Professor Dr. Lili Liu received the AGE-WELL NCE (Aging Gracefully across Environments using Technology to Support Wellness, Engagement and Long Life, Networks of Centres of Excellence) Honorary Fellow Award at their conference yesterday.
As a network investigator with AGE-WELL, Liu examines how technology can best be used to help older adults, their caregivers and health care professionals. Her team is dedicated to areas of research that lead to the creation of safe environments for older adults with complex care needs. Liu has also remained an engaged member of AGE-WELL's Early Professionals, Inspired Careers (EPIC) training program, which encourages innovators to consider economic, social, environmental and ethical impacts of their work.
"This recognition is a testament of what my team of co-op students, master's and PhD students, post-docs, staff and older adults can do with resources and opportunities provided by AGE-WELL," said Liu.
She leads the Aging and Innovation Research Program (AIRP) at Waterloo, which currently develops products such as policy briefs and educational materials to enhance the capacities of first responders and communities to manage the risks associated with missing persons living with dementia.
Her team is analyzing data from four sources to understand missing incidents in order to recommend systematic local approaches to data gathering to inform a national picture of dementia-related missing occurrences. The AIRP works with health and social service providers, first responders, industry members, policy makers, other researchers and persons with lived experiences and their care partners.
She currently has three funded research projects with a focus on missing persons with dementia. One project examines the acceptance and adoption of a Health Canada licensed innovation for persons living with dementia and their care partners.
