Louise Lafortune
Associate Professor, Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact

Louise Lafortune is Associate Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact at McMaster University. Her research focuses on understanding healthy brain aging, and evaluating community-based interventions designed to promote healthy aging and equity.

Dr. Lafortune has a leading role in the Aging Brain Strategic Initiative of the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA). Using a multidisciplinary lens, she is developing a new research portfolio on the aging brain from a lifecourse perspective, drawing on MIRA’s rich data platform. She is also building on her long-standing research programme on age- and dementia-friendly communities to examine the social value of interventions and technologies that enable people to remain independent and engaged as they age.

Louise serves on the WHO Technical Advisory Group for Measurement, Monitoring and Evaluation of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing. She is well versed in applied research approaches to build capacity for evidence-based public health policy and practice, and holds several years of industry experience in clinical trials and health economics. She has extensive experience in leading large-scale collaborative research initiatives and supervising diverse cohorts of students, researchers and professional learners.