Team
CURRENT LAB MEMBERS
Carri Hand
Director, EngAGE Research Lab
Kristin Prentice
PhD Student, Health and Rehabilitation Science
Nada Nasir
PhD Student, Health and Rehabilitation Science
Jami McFarland
Research Assistant and PhD Candidate, Women’s Studies and Feminist Research
Jovana Sibalija
PhD Student, Health and Rehabilitation Science
Kassandra Fernandes
PhD Student, Occupational Science
Zahra Fatina
Work-Study Student/Summer Intern
PREVIOUS TRAINEES
Kate Stewart
Former Post-Doctoral Scholar
Josie Siciliano
Former MScOT Student
Rachel Gorjup
Former MSc Student, Health and Rehabilitation Science
Rachael Pack
Former Research Assistant and PhD Student, Women’s Studies and Feminist Research
Carmen Lam
Former MScOT Student
John MacKenzie
Former Research Assistant and PhD Student, Geography
Megan Roussel
Former MScOT Student
Shannon Coffey
Former MScOT Student
Alexandra Schuster
Former MSc Student, Health and Rehabilitation Science
Brennan DeMelo
Former MScOT Student
OUR SUPPORTERS
Carri is an Associate Professor in the School of Occupational Therapy at Western University. Her research explores the physical, social, policy, and cultural contextual factors that affect social engagement, community involvement, and participation in everyday occupations among older adults. The aim of her research is to develop innovative strategies to promote involvement of older adults in their neighbourhoods and to support the creation of age-inclusive communities.
Kristin is a PhD student in the Health and Aging stream at Western University and a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist. She previously worked as a recreation therapist with older adults in an adult day program, long term care, hospital, and community settings. Her dissertation focuses on exploring the role of leisure for older adults moving to new homes and how identity and sense of home may be involved in this process.
She is currently working as a research fellow with Dr. Anna Garnett on the project “Social isolation in community-dwelling older adults during COVID-19: Understanding the role of resilience”. Her other research interests include leisure and life transitions in aging, aging well, adapting to new neighbourhoods, and therapeutic recreation with older adults in retirement home and community settings.
Nada is currently a PhD student in the field of Health and Aging within the Health and Rehabilitation Science Program at Western University, supervised by Dr. Carri Hand. Her research interests include occupation, place, identity, and well-being among migrant older adults living in Canada. Nada’s educational background includes a Bachelor’s degree in Health Science and a Master’s of Science degree in Health Promotion.
Jami is a sixth year PhD candidate in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at Western University. She completed her SSHRC-funded Master of Arts degree at the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa in 2013. Jami’s current SSHRC-funded research focuses on the representation of the LGBT/Queer elder in film and television.
Jami has published several articles and book chapters on the intersection of media, sexuality, gender, age, and size, including in Feminizing Theory: Making Space for Femme Theory (forthcoming); The Future is Fat: Theorizing Time in Relation to Body Weight and Stigma (forthcoming), CinéMAS: Journal of Film Studies (forthcoming); The Journal of Lesbian Studies; Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society; and the Journal of Popular Romance Studies. In 2018, Jami also taught her original course “From Golden Girls to Raging Grannies: Feminist Perspectives on Aging” at Western University. Jami currently works as a research assistant for Dr. Carri Hand’s “Aging in Neighbourhoods” study.
Jovana is a PhD candidate in the Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Health & Aging) program at Western University. Her research focuses on family caregiving. Specifically, Jovana is interested in understanding how caregivers of persons living with stroke access and receive support from the people in their social networks and how the receipt of social support influences the caregiving experience.
Kassandra is a PhD student in the Health and Rehabilitation Sciences program at Western University currently studying aging within the field of Occupational Science. For her Master of Public Health degree, Kassandra explored older adults’ experiences participating in an indoor walking initiative in Northern Ontario. She has also worked on several projects related to dementia and age-friendly communities, as well as palliative care education for Indigenous communities. Kassandra is currently a research assistant for Dr. Carri Hand on the Oasis Senior Supportive Living: A Model for Active Aging-In-Place project.
Her research interests include exploring the socio-environmental aspect of aging, as well as community-based research, program evaluation, and knowledge translation as they relate to the promotion of older adults’ quality of life. She is also interested in better understanding older adults’ participation in meaningful occupation and how the relationship between the environment and place shapes those experiences.
Zahra is an undergraduate student in Rehabilitation Sciences. She works on the Aging in Neighbourhoods study, through the Undergraduate Student Research Internship and work-study. In the past, she has been involved in the FRESHER project for Western’s HEAL lab. She also has a passion for advocacy, particularly for ethnocultural communities and mental health, which she channels through her leadership activities on campus. She would like to continue exploring her interest in creating social change and improving individuals’ wellbeing through meaningful occupations.
Kate is a registered occupational therapist in the province of Ontario and holds a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences from the University of Toronto. Kate was a postdoctoral associate in the EngAGE Research Lab in 2019-2020, contributing to Dr. Hand’s “Aging in Neighbourhoods” project. Currently, Kate serves as the Executive Director of Daya Counselling Centre in London, Ontario.