FACING FEAR: HELPING OLDER ADULTS OVERCOME ANXIETY

Dr. Andrea Iaboni

Dr. Andrea Iaboni is a geriatric psychiatrist and senior scientist at Toronto Rehab, University Health Network and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She is the medical lead of the Seniors Mental Health Division at the University Health Network. She recently co-led the development of national anxiety guidelines for older adults as part of the Canadian Coalition for Seniors Mental Health.

UPDATE ON THE MANAGEMENT OF INSOMNIA IN OLDER ADULTS

Dr. Sophia Benjamin

Dr. Sophiya Benjamin is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University and the Schlegel Chair for Mental Health in Aging. She is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of GeriMedRisk, a publicly funded, not-for-profit organization that optimizes medications in older adults through clinical consultations in Ontario and education of clinicians nationally and internationally. Dr. Benjamin’s work focuses on implementing and integrating evidence informed solutions at a system level for common challenges in older adults such as polypharmacy and insomnia. She was the inaugural Co-Medical Director at the Provincial Geriatrics Leadership Ontario and serves as a system leader in geriatric psychiatry. Her clinical practice is in the Waterloo region of Ontario.

Ms. Pam Howell

Pam Howell is a pharmacist, completing her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy at the University of Toronto in 1999. She has been with the GeriMedRisk team since 2020, collaborating with Specialized Geriatric Services and supporting older adult care in the Champlain region. Since 2018, she also continues to work with the deprescribing.org team supporting their efforts to create evidence-based tools and guidelines to inform opportunities to reduce problematic polypharmacy in older adults. Previous to this, she has over 20 years of experience working at Bruyère Continuing Care on the inpatient Geriatric Rehabilitation, Complex Continuing Care and Palliative Care units focusing on medication optimization within an interdisciplinary team. She is looking forward to sharing her passion for safe medication prescribing in older adults.