.jpg)
This webinar will include presentations from the finalists of the AAG SECG Helen Barrie National Prize for 2022, acknowledging their outstanding research contributions to ageing research and practice.
Attendees will have the opportunity to hear about the innovative and impactful research, published by AAG members.
Q & A (Co Convenor)
Dr Helen Barrie
Senior Research Fellow, and the Acting Director of The Australian Alliance of Social Enterprise (TAASE)
University of South Australia
As a social gerontologist and geographer, Helen’s research has a focus on Australia’s changing population and the implications of this for society and communities using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Much of this work involves an examination of the interaction between people and the built environment; community connectedness and social networks; all with a particular focus on ageing populations. She is proud to have been an AAG member for over 15 years, is a past state and national president, and now a life member. Her research has been dedicated to making ageing in a place the best experience it can be for all older people.
Co-Convened by:
Mikaela Wheeler
Associate Lecturer & PhD Candidate
The University of Queensland
Mikaela is a PhD Candidate, accredited practicing dietitian and is an associate lecturer in the School of Public Health at The University of Queensland. Her teaching focuses on nutrition across the lifespan and chronic disease. Her research aims to improve systems that impact the nutritional status and quality of life of older adults living in residential aged care and in the community. As part of her current work, Mikaela is investigating how foodservice systems in residential aged care can be designed to increase choice and flexibility for residents.
Presentations by:
Prize Winner
Gizem Gemikonakli
MD/PHD Candidate
The University of Sydney
Gizem Gemikonakli is a MD/PhD candidate, currently completing her PhD as a member of the Laboratory of Ageing and Pharmacology, at the Kolling Institute, University of Sydney. Her PhD focuses on investigating how ageing and polypharmacy impact the gut microbiome and overall function, and whether these effects can be reversed by deprescribing. Her research aims to increase our understanding of polypharmacy and deprescribing to optimise health and patient care in older adults.
Finalist
Dr Mae Lim
Postdoctoral fellow at NeuRA
Conjoint associate lecturer at UNSW
Dr Mae Lim is a Research Fellow at The George Institute and a Conjoint Associate Lecturer at the University of New South Wales. She is also a Postdoctoral Fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia.
Her research promotes adaptive ageing and empowers older people to stay independent in the community. More specifically, she leads a research program on applying the health literacy lens to preventing falls and reducing concerns about falling in older people. She developed the novel Falls Health Literacy Scale which enabled clinicians to quantify a person's health literacy in the context of fall prevention.
Dr Lim is also passionate about investigating the potential benefits of intergenerational practice in preventing frailty and falls in older people. Currently, she is the leading Research Fellow working on the NHMRC-funded large multi-site clinical trial to test the impact of intergenerational practice on improving the physical, cognitive, and psychological outcomes in older people.
The AAG SECG Helen Barrie National Special Prize for Research on Deprescribing in Ageing
Dr Kate Wang
Lecturer
RMIT University
Kate is a lecturer in pharmacy at RMIT University, adjunct senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia and a research pharmacist at Alfred Health. Kate graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Class I Honours) from the University of Queensland in 2014. After a year of pharmacy internship, she commenced her PhD at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University in 2016. She graduated in 2020 for her thesis titled ‘Contribution of medications to hospitalisations from aged care facilities’. Kate is a registered pharmacist and has worked as in both community and hospital pharmacy. Kate has research interests across aged care, geriatrics, digital health and pharmacoepidemiology.