St. Joseph's Care Group

Team Biographies

The research team is headed by the Director of Research and the Manager of Learning, Research and Professional Practice. In addition there are four full-time, permanent positions, including a Research Statistician, an RAI-MH Coordinator, a Research Services Coordinator and a Research Coordinator. The work our research department is further complimented by a number of individuals recruited for specific projects.

Michel Bédard
Scientific Director

Michel Bédard holds a Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Aging and Health (2003-2013) and is Professor in the Master of Public Health (MPH) Program and Northern Ontario School of Medicine at Lakehead University. He is Director of the Centre for Research on Safe Driving (CRSD) and Scientific Director at St. Joseph's Care Group, a rehabilitation, mental health, and long-term care network. Along with his colleagues, he has received more than 12 million dollars in funding, leading to more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and 150 presentations at scientific conferences. In addition to the CRC award he holds, Michel received the R K Dewar Medical Research Award in 2003, a Premier's Research Excellence Award (PREA) from the Province of Ontario in 2002, and a research award from the International Psychogeriatrics Association in 1997. Michel was voted as one of Lakehead University's top 40 researchers in it first 40 years of existence (2006) and is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (2009).

Sacha Dubois
Research Statistician

Sacha Dubois is the Research Statistician for St. Joseph's Care Group and is also an Associate Member of the Centre for Research on Safe Driving at Lakehead University. Sacha has over 15 years worth of experience in health research methodology, data management, and analysis. As the Research Statistician, Sacha applies specialized knowledge of both research methodology and advanced statistical principles to research, analysis, and educational activities. His research interests include driver safety, medication usage, health services need and delivery, and methodological and statistical issues. Alongside his research portfolio, Sacha actively teaches in the community. Currently he holds teaching positions with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine's Post-Graduate Family Medicine and Royal College Specialty Training Programs. He is also a sessional lecturer with the Master of Public Health Program at Lakehead University. Sacha holds a Master of Public Health degree and has published in the fields of Public and Mental Health, Cancer Care, and Geriatrics. Publications indexed by PubMed can be found here

Carrie Gibbons
Research Coordinator

Carrie Gibbons works as the Research Coordinator at St. Joseph's Care Group and has been with the Research Department since 2001. Carrie coordinates various research projects from conception through to publication of results including preparing grant submissions, liaising with researchers, completing ethics applications, supporting data management and output and facilitating research dissemination. This includes multi-site randomized controlled trials, a number of externally-funded studies, as well as various projects initiated from within SJCG. She holds a Masters degree in Public Health and she has a number of publications related to driving, and mental health issues.

Hillary Maxwell
Research Coordinator

Hillary Maxwell has been a research coordinator with St. Joseph's Care Group since 2008. She has been involved with the management of all phases of research, from the formation of the initial research question to the dissemination of results. Hillary's research experience includes the study of driver safety, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, and various other health-related issues. Hillary holds a Master of Public Health and an HBA in psychology from Lakehead University.

Geri Vainionpaa
Director - Learning, Research & Professional Practice

Geri Vainionpaa is the Director-Learning, Research & Professional Practice. Geri provides management support to the Research Department. She has a clinical background as a physiotherapist and has a Bachelor of Science, Physical Therapy from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Arts in Management from the College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minnesota. She is a member of the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario. Geri has 30 years experience in health care in clinical and management roles and is also a Past-President of the Ontario Physiotherapy Association. Geri is a strong supporter of practice-based research, with clinical questions developed and investigated by front-line clinicians. She served on the Practice-Based Research Advisory Committee for Health Sciences North, Thunder Bay and provided internal support for clinicians participating in practice-based research initiatives through this program.

 

-- Updated: November 18, 2011 --