Speakers:

• Dr. Josephine McMurray
• Dr. Frank Knoefel
•  Jay Reinstein
• Dr. Arlene Astell
• Dr. Bryan Hong

Description: By 2031, the number of Canadians living with dementia is expected to reach 937,000 – a 66% increase from today. AgeTech can help people manage with tools like smart-home systems, and medication and daily life management apps. Technology-based solutions can also promote cognitive health, and transform the way we assess it.

Webinar participants will learn about:

• New ways to monitor cognitive health and detect changes
• Innovations that offer proactive approaches to managing cognitive health issues
• How to protect your brain health, and the role technology can play.

Speaker Bios:

Dr. Josephine McMurray is Associate Scientific Director at AGE-WELL and Associate Professor at the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University. She teaches in the Business Technology Management Program in the School of Business & Economics, and is a member of the Community Health Faculty. Her research is focused on issues at the intersection of health care, technology & management, and her current grants explore the implementation of geo-location technologies in long-term care, employers’ perspectives on the use of technology to accommodate employees diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment & dementia, and the use of AI in disability management.

Dr. Frank Knoefel is the Cognitive Health & Dementia Challenge Area lead at AGE-WELL and Co-founder of the AGE-WELL National Innovation Hub on Sensors and Analytics for Monitoring Mobility and Memory (SAM3). He is a Physician at the Bruyère Memory Program and holds the University of Ottawa Brain & Mind Research Institute – Bruyère Chair in Primary Healthcare Dementia Research. He holds appointments in the

Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa, and Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University. His research focuses on the use of technology to help older adults to age in place. His recent work included: a sensor system to reduce the risk of night-time wandering in persons living with dementia, extracting information about cognitive ability from game playing, and sensors to monitor mobility and driving ability.

Mr. Jay Reinstein is a Board Member with the Alzheimer’s Association, Voices of Alzheimer’s, and Alliance for Aging Research. He lives with early onset Alzheimer’s disease and is an outspoken advocate for those diagnosed with Younger-Onset Alzheimer’s. Mr. Reinstein spent 25 years in local government, most recently serving as the Assistant City Manager in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He was appointed to the Alzheimer’s Association’s National Board of Directors in Chicago and served until October 2021. He was also selected to serve as a member of the Alzheimer’s Association 2019-2020 National Early-Stage Advisory Group and was selected as the national advocate of the year for the Alzheimer’s Association in March 2023.

Dr. Arlene Astell is Director of the Dementia Aging Technology Engagement (DATE) lab at The KITE Research Institute–University Health Network, an Associate Professor in Occupational Therapy & Occupational Sciences and Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and Full Professor in Psychology at the Northumbria University, UK. A long-time AGE-WELL researcher, Dr. Astell is the Staying Connected Challenge Area lead for the network. She came to Ontario from the UK after establishing a successful career innovating with older adults at the Universities of St. Andrews and Sheffield. Her research focuses on the creative application of technology to support people to live and age as well as possible, irrespective of cognitive or physical impairment.

Dr. Bryan Hong is Co-founder and Chief Science/Product Officer of Dynamic Memory Solutions, creators of a validated smartphone-based memory aid called HippoCamera that allows users to create and review reminiscence cues for real-world events from their lives. He is also a Postdoctoral Fellow studying the cognitive neuroscience of memory with Dr. Morgan Barense at the University of Toronto. Dr. Hong’s research investigates how we remember – specifically, how does the associative structure of memory affect how we encode, organize and retrieve information? He is President of the AGE-WELL HQP Advisory Committee.