Geriatric Refresher DaysGeriatric Refresher Day

Dr. Benjamin is Associate Clinical Professor PT in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at McMaster University and the Postgraduate Research Lead for Psychiatry at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, Waterloo Regional Campus.  She is the cofounder and Co-executive Director of GeriMedRisk a non-profit consultation and education service serving clinicians across Ontario. She completed her adult and geriatric psychiatry residency training at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina. She is a geriatric psychiatrist serving seniors with dementia at the Specialized Mental Health Program at the Freeport site of Grand River Hospital. Her other clinical roles include being a geriatric psychiatry consultant for GeriMedRisk. Dr. Benjamin was the inaugural co-medical director for geriatric psychiatry at the Provincial Geriatrics Leadership Ontario from 2019 to 2021.

Dr. Manuel Montero-Odasso is Professor at the University of Western Ontario, Canada (Departments of Medicine, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics) and Director of the “Gait & Brain Lab” at Parkwood Institute (London, Ontario). He is also a geriatrician and clinician-scientist at the Lawson Health Research Institute and serves as team leader at the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) and the Ontario Neurodegenerative Research Initiative (ONDRI).

He leads the Gait and Brain Health Program with the goal of understanding mechanisms and treatments of mobility and cognitive decline in aging by focusing in the interaction between gait performance and cognition. He has established the use of “motor biomarkers” like slowing gait speed and dual-task gait to predict frailty, falls, and dementia. Currently, he leads clinical trials testing the effect of personalized medicine and lifestyle intervention to prevent dementia.

Dr. Montero-Odasso has created a successful research program while remaining an active clinician. His research has received more than $6 million of peer-reviewed funding, has published over 150 scientific articles, and has received several accolades including the Top 10 Hispanic Canadian for his contribution in Medicine and Science. He serves as executive member and upcoming Vice-President of the Canadian Geriatrics Society (CGS).

Division of Geriatrics & Palliative Care, VA Boston Healthcare System New England GRECC (Geriatrics Research Education and Clinical Center) Director, Aging and End of Life Curricular Theme, Harvard Medical School Associate Fellowship Director, Harvard Multicampus Geriatrics Fellowship Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Lecturer, Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management
Staff Physician, Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management
Mount Sinai Hospital