| |
Sherry L. Dupuis, Ph.D.
Special Recognition Award
Sherry Dupuis is the Director of the Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program (MAREP), the Director of the Collaborative Ph.D. Program in Aging, Health and Well-Being, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo. She holds adjunct positions in the Gerontology Program at McMaster University and in the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition at the University of Guelph.
 |
| L to R: Sherry Dupuis and Richard Nakoneczny, President of the ASC Board of Directors |
Guided by an authentic partnership approach and a number of years experience working in long-term care, Sherry's research program has focused primarily on identifying ways to improve the quality of the lives of persons living with dementia and their families and to ensuring that the voices of persons with dementia and their partners in care are represented in research, education, and practice. Her research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), the Alzheimer Society of Canada (ASC), the Alzheimer Society of Ontario and local chapters, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, and the Homewood Foundation. Her research program on responsive behaviours, for example, has lead to legislative changes that recognize the meanings behind the actions of persons with dementia.
Sherry is committed to ensuring her research is translated into action and culture change through the use of participatory research approaches and the development of alternative representations of research that are relevant and accessible to diverse audiences in the dementia context, including persons living with dementia.
Of particular note to the Alzheimer Society, is Sherry's work in spear–heading the development of an international forum called A Changing Melody which is designed by and for persons with early stage dementia working directly with family and professional care partners. An outcome of this project, the Changing Melody tool-kit, is now being used by regional Alzheimer Chapters and organizations in the development of similar forums in local communities across Canada and beyond. Other research-based resources, including the DVD I'm Still Here and its accompanying teaching-learning guide and a series of guides created by persons with dementia (i.e., the By Us For Us series), have been requested by persons with dementia, family members, professionals, researchers, policy makers and libraries across the globe. These innovative knowledge translation initiatives are having a profound impact on changing images and understandings of dementia and actions in dementia care that recognize the humanness, continued presence, and persisting strengths and abilities of all those who are diagnosed with an illness causing memory loss.
|
