Seminar Series: Surim Son and Emily Dawson
PhD Thesis Proposal Defense Public Lectures
Potentially modifiable risk factors for low cognition and dementia in Canada
Surim Son, PhD Candidate
Program: Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Supervisor(s): Dr. Mark Speecley and Dr. Manuel Montero-Odasso
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Western University
Short Biography:
Surim is a PhD candidate in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She previously earned BSc in Biomedical Science and MSc in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Brock University. Her research interests include healthy aging, lifestyle risk factors, dementia risk reduction and prevention.
Abstract:
While waiting for a cure for dementia, lifestyle intervention has been spotlighted as an alternative therapeutic approach to delay or prevent dementia. No Canadian studies have estimated the population impact of modifiable risk factors for dementia, which could guide dementia risk reduction strategies through lifestyle modification. The proposed thesis will identify the combinations of modifiable dementia risk factors that could prevent many dementia cases in Canadian middle-aged and older adults and assess their associations with cognitive decline using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, which is Canada’s largest aging study. Evaluating the combinations of risk factors that are most likely to produce the greatest benefit is an important step to optimize multidomain intervention designs intended to ease the current challenge of the rising dementia burden.
Keywords: dementia, lifestyle risk factors, prevention, risk reduction
The association of waiting time with patient outcomes in hip and knee replacement
Emily Dawson, PhD Candidate
Program: Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Supervisor(s): Emil Schemitsch & Ava John-Baptiste
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Western University
Short Biography:
Emily Dawson is a PhD candidate in epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University. She joined the epidemiology MSc program in 2019 and transferred to a PhD in 2020. Emily also completed an MPH and BScH in Life Sciences at Queen’s University. Before starting at Western, she worked in research roles at London Health Sciences Centre and Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington Public Health.
Abstract:
Elective hip and knee replacement are some of the most commonly performed surgeries in Canada. Due to high demand and limited resources, patients can face long wait times for these surgeries, and can experience pain, poor joint function, and lowered quality of life while waiting. This research aims to examine the impact of wait time on patients undergoing hip and knee replacement by investigating which patients wait longest, how patient health changes during the wait period, and the association of wait times with post-operative outcomes.
Keywords: health services research, surgery, wait times, scoping review, patient reported outcomes.
Date: Friday, October 27th
Time: 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Location: PHFM 3015 (Western Centre for Public Health and Family Medicine) or via Zoom (Zoom link may be requestet at EpiBio@uwo.ca)
