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The Aging, Community and Health Research Unit (ACHRU) designs, evaluates and translates innovative community-based interventions to improve access to health care, health-related quality of life, and health outcomes for people 65 years and older with more than one chronic condition.
Our research focuses on chronic conditions such as dementia, depression, diabetes and stroke. The research program includes our valued patient and caregiver research partners, more than 40 investigators and decision-makers, staff and trainees.
Assistant Professor, McMaster University School of Nursing
Co-Scientific Director, Aging, Community and Health Research Unit
Lead (Acting), McMaster Collaborative for Health and Aging
Director, Patients Expertise in Research Collaboration (PERC)
Co-Scientific Director, Aging, Community and Health Research Unit
Dr. Rebecca Ganann is an Assistant Professor in the McMaster University School of Nursing. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Master of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Philosophy (Nursing) from McMaster. Concurrently with her PhD, she also completed a graduate diploma in Health Sciences and Policy Research. During her PhD studies, Dr. Ganann was awarded a CIHR Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Dr. Ganann completed her postdoctoral fellowship with the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit. She studied the implementation and impact of patient, caregiver, and community engagement in research teams under the supervision of Drs. Maureen Markle-Reid, Ruta Valaitis, and Carrie McAiney. She also completed strategic fellowship training in transdisciplinary primary health care research.
ACHRU was created with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Community-Based Primary Health Care Signature Initiative and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Health System Research Fund Program Award. ACHRU continues to build on this research program with funding from the Max Bell Foundation, Ontario SPOR Support Unit (OSSU), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR): Catalyst Fund and Pan-Canadian SPOR Network in Primary and Integrated Health Care Innovations (PIHCI), Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative, Labarge Foundation, McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA), and Diabetes Action Canada.
Our Co-Scientific Director Maureen Markle-Reid, is also Co-Scientific Director of the Collaborative for Health & Aging. This OSSU Research Centre in Aging, brings together world-class researchers from ACHRU and the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA). The mandate of the collaborative is to build capacity and advance Ontario’s health care system by using an integrated, coordinated, and people-centered approach.
