Description
Melissa Northwood is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing and early career researcher with the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit (ACHRU). The focus of her program of research is health- and social-care integration for older adults with clinical complexity and their caregivers. The themes of Melissa’s program are to understand the factors, correlates, and outcomes of clinical complexity for different populations of older adults across different health-care settings; develop best practices for nurses and interprofessional teams to assess and care plan for older adults in a person- and family-centred manner; and co-design, test and scale nursing and interprofessional interventions that support an integrated health care system. Her current research explores the implementation of standardized self-report assessments in community support services and specialized geriatric services to identify older adults at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. Melissa’s overall aim is to conduct highly embedded research with health- and social-care partners to improve the quality of life and well-being of older adults.