William Gage and Sherry Grace, both professors in York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science in the Faculty of Health, have recently been appointed as York Central Hospital (YCH) research scientists.
Their goals over the following year are to establish or facilitate solid working relationships between York University faculty members and YCH clinicians and researchers; to engage in project development and collaborative research with YCH clinicians and researchers; and to establish a foundation for a culture of collaborative research between the two institutions.
Right: William Gage
Gage’s research is focused on seniors’ health – particularly on mobility in patients with musculoskeletal and neurological conditions, including arthritis and stroke. He currently holds associate scientist appointments at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and the Centre for Stroke Recovery at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He is also an affiliate investigator with the Arthritis Community Research & Evaluation Unit. He has had over 40 publications and conference presentations and has secured over $500,000 in competitive research funds. His interest in posture, balance and gait research applies directly to issues of mobility across patient populations, directly and significantly impacting quality of life.
Development of research capacity in the area of seniors’ health is critical to enhancing patients’ lives and preventing future disease, says Gage. He hopes to develop new insights and knowledge related to expression of injury and disease in terms of human movement and control of movement, and to provide new methods of understanding early detection and prevention of disease as well as disease processes and the effects of treatment.
During his first year as a research scientist, Gage is looking to establish a core group of interested clinicians, scientists and students to assemble at YCH to develop salient hypothesis-driven research projects. The purpose of this group will also be to disseminate research and knowledge within the hospital.
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Left: Sherry Grace
With support from ongoing collaborations, Gage will work toward establishing formalized research-focused collaborative linkages between YCH and other institutions, such as the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. In addition, she hopes to develop a multi-institutional application for funding to a national agency, such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, with YCH as a lead institution.
In addition to her role as a kinesiology professor at York, Grace is a scientist with the Women’s Health Program at the Toronto General Research Institute’s Behavioural Sciences & Health Division and a professor in the University of Toronto’s Psychiatry, Health & Disease Program in the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine.
Grace has an active research interest in chronic disease management with a particular focus on cardiac psychology and rehabilitation. She has held grant funding totalling approximately $5 million, has published approximately 70 peer-reviewed papers and has collaborated on government reports and clinical practice guidelines.
She is also an editorial board member with the Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention. She is currently collaborating with clinicians at YCH on studies to promote maximal and equitable flow of chronic disease in-patients and their health information to secondary preventive services and then to primary care for optimal long-term management. Starting in May, Grace will work to further develop collaborative research in the area of chronic disease management.