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I was born and grew up in Hamilton, Ontario. I did my undergraduate degree in geography at the University of Toronto (B.A. Honours, 1975) before going to the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) to do my M.Sc. (Geography, 1976) and Ph.D. (1980). I taught at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Ottawa and Carleton University and worked as a pollster with Angus Reid and a research consultant with J.F. Hickling Management Consultants before joining the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s in 1985.

During my sabbatical leaves, I have been a visitor in the Departments of Geography at the LSE (London, England), the University of Nottingham (Nottingham, England), Department of Health Care and Epidemiology and the Institute of Health Promotion Research at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, British Columbia) and the Department of Geography at the University of Canterbury (Christchurch, New Zealand).

In 1999, I received the Canadian Association of Geographers’ Award for Service to the Profession of Geography. I was a 2001 Visiting Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. I was the inaugural award winner for Excellence in Graduate Supervision at Queen’s in 2006. In 2008, I was made an Honorary Professor in the  Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research. More recently, I was the Anderson Lecturer in Department of Geography at University of Florida in March 2010. In the same year, the Chinese Academy of Sciences made a Visiting Professor for Senior International Scientists. Based on a nomination from the Canadian Association on Gerontology, I received a Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. In 2012, I also became the Canada Research Chair in Development Studies and an Adjunct Professor in the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.

I am a past Chairperson of the International Geographic Union (IGU) Commission on Health and the Environment, Secretary-General of the North American Regional Council of the International Association of Gerontology and Treasurer of the Canadian Federation of Demographers. I also served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal on Aging, was a North American Editor of Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy. I am currently the Co-chair of the  Scientific Steering Committee of the Earth System Science Partnership on Global Environmental Change and Human Health and a Steering Group Member of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change Advisory Group on Human Health. I am currently on the editorial boards of Canadian Public Policy and Health and Place.

Links:

• The Geographies of Aging Laboratory (GAPLab)

Research Interests:

In the field of ageing and population studies, I have been engaged in a series of studies examining changing demographic, socio-economic and geographic characteristics of various groups within the Canadian population. These studies have included research on the older population, the demographic profiles of Ontario's disabled population and the characteristics of their everyday lives, where immigrants go once they arrive in Canada, and various aspects of  the health and access to services among older Indigenous Peoples. Much of this research was funded by a ten year program of research on Canada’s ageing population as part of a broader program of research entitled the Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population (SEDAP I – 2000 to 2004 and SEDAP II 2005  to 2009) funded by the SSHRC.

I completed a four year multidisciplinary study entitled Aging across Canada: Comparing Service Rich and Service Poor Communities funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). This project looked at how those people responsible for delivering services, advocates for seniors and key decision makers in communities see the strengths and weakness of their communities in providing services for seniors. In another project funded by the SSHRC,  we examined whether middle size cities in Ontario and the decision makers in them see their communities as “age-friendly” and how they see the future of their communities.

We are now starting new projects on the geographies of opportunity among younger and older Indigenous people across Canada, various aspects of health and health care among the rural older population, and the links among social deprivation, health, health care, and aging in both Canada and in China. What ties all of these projects together is their direct links to current debates in public policy. This is reflected in both the sources of funding I receive and the places where my research is published.

Curriculum Vitae (pdf, 811 kB)