SENIOR FELLOWS
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Richard Alvarez is a leader in Canadian health care. He is known for taking on challenging mandates and building successful organizations. As former President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Health Infoway, he was a catalyst for accelerating the development of electronic health records in Canada. He established strong, collaborative relationships with the federal, provincial and territorial governments and other stakeholders as the foundation for solid progress. He articulated a broad national vision for reforming Canada’s health care system through innovation and technology. On the international front, he has helped to position Canada as a world leader in health care renewal. Mr. Alvarez earned the Institute of Corporate Directors certification at the Rotman School of Management. In 2007 he was recognized as the 2007 National Builder Inductee to the Canadian Information Productivity Awards (CIPA) Hall of Fame for the leadership he has exercised throughout his career (with the Government of Alberta, the Canadian Institute for Health Information and at Infoway) in promoting the application of innovative technology to improve health care delivery for Canadians. Prior to his role at Infoway, Mr. Alvarez also played a key role in harnessing the power of information to improve health care. As former president and chief executive officer and ex-officio board member of the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), he helped CIHI evolve into a well-known and respected organization with strong ties to the research community. Mr. Alvarez is a frequent speaker and facilitator at national and international health care conferences and is a past recipient of the Who’s Who in Healthcare Award. He is a Board Director with Nexj Health, CANet, a Senior Fellow with C.D. Howe Institute, a Senior Fellow with the National Institute on Aging, and a Global Health Care Advisor to PwC where is advises national governments on digital strategies for healthcare.
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Keith Ambachtsheer is an internationally recognized pension expert and a Senior Fellow in Retirement Income Security for the NIA. He has been named a ‘Top 30 Difference-Maker’ by P&I, the ‘Globe’s #1 Knowledge Broker in Institutional Investing’ and ‘Top 10 Influential Academic in Institutional Investing’ by aiCIO, in the ‘Top Pension 40’ by II, ‘Outstanding Industry Contributor’ by IPE, the Lilywhite Award recipient by EBRI, the ‘Professional Excellence’ and ‘James Vertin’ Awards recipient by CFA Institute, the McArthur Industry Pioneer Award recipient by IMCA, and the Hirtle-Callghan Award for Investment Leadership. He is Adjunct Professor of Finance, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and Director Emeritus of its International Centre for Pension Management. He is a Senior Fellow at the National Institute on Ageing at Ryerson University, a member of the Melbourne-Mercer Global Pension Index Advisory Council, the CFA Institute’s Future of Finance Advisory Council, the World Economic Forum Long-Term Investing Council, the Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives Scholars Council, and the Advisory Council of the Tobacco-Free Finance initiative. He is also co-founder of KPA Advisory Services and of CEM Benchmarking Inc. KPA is a strategic advisory firm to the globe’s leading pension organizations in pension design, governance, and investing. CEM benchmarks ‘value for money’ in the investment and benefit administration functions of these organizations.
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Dr. Bob Bell is a well recognized and respected healthcare thought leader internationally.
Dr. Bell served in the Ontario government as Deputy Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, from 2014 to 2018. Prior to this, he held roles as the President and CEO of the University Health Network, COO at Princess Margaret Hospital, Chair of Cancer Care Ontario’s Clinical Council and the Cancer Quality Council of Ontario.
Dr. Bell received his Doctor of Medicine from McGill University, a Master of Science from the University of Toronto, and achieved his Fellowship in Orthopaedic Surgery in 1983. He completed sub-specialty training in Orthopaedic Cancer Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University in 1985, and the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2005.
Dr. Bell is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the American College of Surgeons and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. As an internationally recognized orthopedic surgeon, health system executive, clinician-scientist, and educator, Dr. Bell has more than 40 years of health care experience.
Today he provides expert advice to a number of private and public organizations and has published his first novel “Hip.” All proceeds from that novel benefit the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.
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Rob Brown PhD, FCIA, FSA, ACAS, retired from the University of Waterloo program in Actuarial Science in 2010 after 39 years of teaching and research.
In that time, Rob wrote seven books (most in multiple editions) and over sixty refereed papers. His research focus is the design of financial security programs in times of rapidly shifting demographics.
Rob was President of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries in 1990/91, President of the Society of Actuaries in 2000/01 and President of the International Actuarial Association in 2014.
Rob was also Research Chair for the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions in 2007-08. Further, Rob has served on three CPP Actuarial Valuation Review Panels (in 2005, 2011 and 2014) serving as Panel Chair in the last two iterations.
Rob has two married children and four grandchildren who all live in Ontario.
Rob now resides in Toronto.
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Susan Eng, one of Canada’s leading advocates, and a Senior Fellow in Advocacy for the National Institute on Ageing. She is a Toronto lawyer and former Executive Vice President of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons. During her 8-year tenure as head of advocacy, Susan led CARP to shape the public discourse and secure legislative change on key issues such as pension reform, investor protection, mandatory retirement, workplace age discrimination, home care and seniors’ poverty. Increasingly, CARP had become a trusted source of public policy input at all levels of government and in the media. In 2012, Susan was named one of the Hill Times’ Top 100 Lobbyists.
Susan was the Chair of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Services Board from 1991-1995 where she advanced issues of public accountability, police use of force, anti-racism and fiscal responsibility and initiated ground-breaking policy and organizational changes while under intense media scrutiny. Community service has been a long term commitment. Susan successfully campaigned, along with other redress groups across the country, for a Parliamentary apology and redress for 62 years of legislated racism under the Head Tax and Exclusion Acts. The year 2016 marked the 10th Anniversary of the Parliamentary apology.
Susan served on the Board of Directors of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. She was on the executive of the Chinese Canadian National Council. She was a founder of the Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care, a world renowned care centre providing culturally appropriate care for Chinese, South Asian, Japanese and Filipino seniors. Susan has served on the boards of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the YWCA of Greater Toronto. She was named a YWCA’s Woman of Distinction. She served three successive terms on the Governing Council of the University of Toronto and received the Arbour Award for her voluntary service to the University.
Susan was awarded the Law Society Medal in 2015 for outstanding service in the profession.
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Audrey Forbes is an accomplished senior business leader in the financial services sector with over thirty-five (35) years experience in the broader public service in Ontario. She served at three of Ontario’s large defined benefit pension plans, namely Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), Ontario Pension Board (OPB) and OPSEU Pension Trust (OPTrust), from which she recently retired. Her array of experiences and skills include pension administration, financial literacy and empowerment, operational policy, communications, change management, and people development.
Audrey has served as a member of the board of the Toronto Chapter of the International Society of Certified Employee Benefits Specialists, Governing Council chair of Quantitative Service Measurements (QSM), a national benchmarking study, and currently supports the United Church of Canada’s pension plan on their Pension Plan Advisory Committee. She is also chair of the Board of Achieve Potential Inc. and a member of the board of the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, Ontario.
Audrey is an inquisitive lifelong learner and feels most fulfilled when she is writing, teaching, or immersed in policy discourse. Shortly after retiring in 2023, she published a historical fiction children’s book called, The Day the Masks Went On, which she co-authored with her daughter, Kerron.
Audrey holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from York University and a master’s degree in public policy from Queen’s University. She is a defender of the common good and volunteers within her local community.
ASSOCIATE FELLOWS
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Doug Chandler is an independent research actuary based in Calgary. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. Since 2016, he has served as the Canadian Retirement Research Actuary at the Society of Actuaries, where he is responsible for developing and completing objective research on Canadian retirement systems to inform public policy development and public understanding. Previously, he worked for 25 years as a consultant on retirement plans. In addition to providing retirement plan advice to clients, his responsibilities included professional practice leadership, thought leadership and writing for internal and external publications. Doug has been an active volunteer in Canadian Institute of Actuaries task forces on topics such as pension commuted values.
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Byung Chul Yoon is a Director at the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic of Korea and has extensive experience in welfare policy, regulatory improvement, and healthcare policy. Most recently, he focused on compliance and kickbacks in the pharmaceutical field, the Korean Expenditure Report System (similar to the Open Payments of US CMS), and pharmaceutical distribution policies within the healthcare system. In December 2019, after the outbreak of COVID-19, Mr. Yoon was dispatched to the Central Disease Control Headquarters to support communications efforts. He was also in charge of supporting medical personnel at the Central Disaster Management Headquarters, which included maintaining a stable supply of medicines in the Pharmaceutical Affairs Policy Division. He previously worked as a director of public relations at the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea Republic of Korea, including during an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). He received his Master of Public Administration from the Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University, and his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Seoul.
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Dr. Matthew Downer is a medical student at Memorial University of Newfoundland with a longstanding interest in healthy aging and geriatric medicine, with a focus on older adults living with neurological disease. During his BSc(Hons) and pre-clinical medical training at Memorial, Matthew’s research focused on improving rehabilitation and promoting healthy aging in older adults living with Multiple Sclerosis or post-stroke. He recently took a break from his medical studies to complete an MSc and DPhil (PhD) at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. His doctorate focused on various outcomes in older adults with cerebrovascular disease. Matthew has also been involved in a range of health policy and advocacy initiatives at the federal and provincial level. At the NIA, Matthew has been involved in several projects, including leading a report outlining how the Opioid Crisis is affecting older Canadians and serving as the lead for data and policy analysis for the NIA’s MyCOVIDVisitRisk Webpage.
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**Dr. Ashley Flanagan** (she/her) is the Senior Knowledge Broker at the Ontario Centre for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care (CLRI) at Bruyere. She holds a PhD in Aging, Health, and Wellbeing from the University of Waterloo. Prior to her current role, Dr. Flanagan served as the Health Research and Policy Manager at the National Institute on Ageing (NIA) at Toronto Metropolitan University, where she focused on 2SLGBTQIA+ ageing and old age. Her work at the NIA aimed to advance comprehensive health and wellness policies, programs, and services for older adults with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Now, at the CLRI, Dr. Flanagan continues to focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in long-term care settings.
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Alyssa Hodder is the Director of Education and Outreach—Canada with the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. In this role, she is responsible for the successful design, development, maintenance and overall implementation of select educational programs, as well as representing and raising awareness of the Foundation through relationship management and engagement of employers, benefit funds and industry stakeholders across Canada. Before joining the Foundation, Hodder was a senior communications consultant with Eckler Ltd., providing communications support to public sector, corporate, not-for-profit, trusteed and multi-employer plans, with a special focus on member engagement and change management. Prior to that, Hodder was director of the knowledge resource centre at Buck Consultants. She also spent many years as editor/managing editor of Benefits Canada magazine, with overall responsibility for its print and online editorial operations. She earned her master and bachelor of arts degrees (hons) from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and has successfully completed the Canadian Securities Course as well as the Fundamentals in Retirement Plans and Fundamentals in Group Benefits Certificates with the International Foundation. An Associate Fellow of the National Institute on Ageing, Hodder is very active in the pensions and benefits industry and is a frequent speaker and moderator at industry events.
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Dr. Kristina Kokorelias works as the Senior Academic Program Coordinator for the Department of Medicine’s Healthy Ageing and Geriatrics Program at Sinai Health and the University Health Network. Kristina also has status appointments as Associate Scientist (Sinai Health) and Assistant Professor, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto. Her program of research aims to understand the experiences and needs of family caregivers and older adults with complex care needs with the aim of using this information to develop, evaluate, and implement timely family-centered care programs and services. Kristina received her PhD from the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto and completed post-doctoral fellowships in Implementation Science and Alzheimer’s Diseases with St. John’s Rehab within the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. As an Associate Fellow of the National Institute on Ageing, Kristina offers research consultation and methodological support.
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Barbara Sanders, FSA, FCIA, is Associate Professor of actuarial science at Simon Fraser University. A pension-consultant-turned-academic, she is best known for her investigation of risk sharing in occupational pension plans—focusing on design, management and regulation. She has published numerous articles and is frequently invited to speak on these topics. Combining quantitative research and community engagement, Barbara’s work aspires to produce actionable insights to improve public policy and professional practice. She is a member of the C. D. Howe Institute’s Pension Policy Council and past chair of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries’ Task Force on Target Benefit Plans. She holds a BSc in Mathematics, an MSc in Actuarial Science, and is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.
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Richard Shillington has been contributing to the data analysis aspects of social and economic policy analysis for four decades. His academic endeavours culminated in a Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Mathematics. He received an Alumni Achievement Award for his contributions to social policy research and advocacy. His research on seniors, their income and the tax treatment on retirement savings has led to material changes in the administration of social supports, principally auto-enrolment for the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
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Lisa Taylor, MBA, is Founder and President at the Challenge Factory and the Centre for Career Innovation. A sought-after speaker and columnist, she is an expert on Canada’s changing world of work—with a focus on how talent equity, demographics, the freelance economy, and new market dynamics present opportunities to gain strategic workforce and career advantage. In 2014, Lisa was recognized by the Urban Land Institute as one of Canada's Top 100 Women for her work in leadership, employment, and city building. She was also recognized by the Career Professionals of Canada as their 2015 Outstanding Career Leader. Lisa is the author of The Talent Revolution: Longevity and the Future of Work, The Canadian Guide to Hiring Veterans, Career Development and the Future of Work: A Conversation Guide, and the Retain and Gain—a series of career management playbooks for small businesses, non-profits, charities, and the public sector. In addition to co-hosting THE NEXT NORMAL podcast, Lisa also sits on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Regiment Association and CERIC, and chairs the Career Guidance Stakeholder Committee for the Labour Market Information Council. A member of the Canadian Council for Career Development’s Standards and Guidelines stakeholder committee, Lisa is also a representative for Team Canada with the International Centre for Career Development and Public Policy. Lisa has an MBA in Strategic Management and Public Administration from the Schulich School of Business at York University.
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Sally Shen is currently Manager of Risk Analytics and Models at CPP Investments. Previously, she was Research Manager at OMERS, where she led the creation of innovative and impactful research, enriching and extending the ongoing efforts concerning pension plans and social value. Before joining OMERS, Sally served as a Research Associate at Global Risk Institute, collaborating with top academics and the pension industry for research, and played a crucial role in establishing the National Pension Hub. Sally’s journey in academia included being an Assistant Professor at Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, China, before she moved to Canada in 2017. She earned her Ph.D. in Finance in 2015 from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and has also worked as a researcher with APG. Sally has served as an international research fellow at Netspar since the year 2009. Sally’s research interests focus on social value of pension, longevity risk, pension communication, sustainable finance and climate risk, pension risk management, asset and liability management, pension technology, strategic asset allocation, liability valuation, and pension system design.
Social Policy, Ageing and Well-being Policy Fellow
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John Stapleton has dedicated his life’s work trying to improve the lives of others. As a leader working for the Ontario Government in the Ministry of Community and Social Services for 28 years he worked on social assistance policy, Ontario’s Social Assistance Review Committee, the National Child Benefit, and numerous poverty reduction policies and strategies.
He sat on the federal government’s advisory committee on poverty reduction, was Research Director for the Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working-Age Adults and is a former Innovation Fellow at the Metcalf Foundation, a position he held for 14 years. He is former Chair of Ontario Soldiers’ Aid Commission, former volunteer with WoodGreen Community Services of Toronto, and is currently a volunteer with West Neighbourhood House. John served on the Board of Directors of the Daily Bread Food Bank and has been a policy advisor on food and poverty, and food security and seniors. He works with a number of grass roots advocacy groups including the Social Assistance Coalition of Scarborough and the ODSP Action Group. He has also published work on challenges facing immigrant seniors, ethno-racial housing displacement, disability policy, and Canada’s retirement income system from a social equity and justice perspective. He has taught courses on public policy to a wide range of students and community members including a long-standing series on low-income retirement planning at the Toronto Public Library.
John has published op-eds and articles in the Globe & Mail, National Post and the Toronto Star. He has written reviews for the Literary Review of Canada and numerous articles and reports for Ideas that Matter, the University of Toronto, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the C.D. Howe Institute, Realize, the Caledon Institute, the Wellesley Institute, The Toronto Dominion Financial Group, the Metcalf Foundation, the Ontario Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, Employment and Social Development Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Civic Action, Policy Options, Toronto.com and many others.
John is currently a member of the Council on Aging of Ottawa’s Expert Panel on Income Security. He has a wealth of experience in social policy, food policy, housing policy, disability policy, and the critical social and economic challenges facing Canada’s ageing populations, particularly marginalized seniors.
Junior Fellows
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Amber Sayed has recently joined the NIA as a Junior Fellow. She is a skilled physician-researcher, epidemiologist, and certified quality improvement specialist with over eighteen years of experience in the public and private sectors. She specializes in program planning, policy development, and the evaluation of healthcare processes and outcomes. Amber has successfully led multiple quality improvement initiatives at Alberta Health Services, enhancing healthcare services for aging populations. Her expertise spans public health, healthcare systems, and workplace safety, with a strong background in qualitative and predictive analytics. Her PhD in Epidemiology focused on oncology research, exploring cancer-related outcomes and interventions to improve patient care. She also holds a Master of Public Health with majors in Epidemiology and advanced analytics from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, where she gained international expertise in disaster management and public health. Currently she is enrolled into the occupational health and safety program at the Chang School of Continuing Education.
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Nimra Tariq recently joined the NIA team as a Junior Research Fellow. She is a fourth-year nursing student at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) with a strong passion for research. Her previous research experience includes conducting literature reviews on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models in healthcare, particularly for predicting and reducing mortality rates among hospitalized patients. Her clinical experience in long-term care has sparked a strong interest in qualitative research and the aging process, inspiring her to explore innovative approaches to improving healthcare outcomes for the elderly population.
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Nathan is a Junior Research Fellow at the NIA. Nathan has worked in various levels in the older adults field ranging from recreation work in residential care homes to policy analysis work with PHAC and municipalities. He is interested in understanding how urban planning can better the lives of older adults in their communities. In his free time he enjoys watching YouTube, martial arts, snowboarding and being the setup for improv jokes. He studied economics, Spanish, health sciences and geography for his undergraduate studies (far less impressive than it sounds) and environmental and global health for his masters. He is studying public policy and administration in his second masters at TMU.