Message from Dr. Jane Rylett

I am pleased to begin my first term as Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Aging. I am humbled by the challenges that lie ahead and excited by the potential for creating a positive influence on the research community that studies aging and its impact on the lives of Canadians.

Although this a new role for me, I am in familiar territory. I bring to this position my years of experience as a member and Chair of the Institute of Aging’s Advisory Board. I was Executive Vice-Chair of the College Chairs, which were established to provide oversight of CIHR’s College of Reviewers. I was also an Associate Director with the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging, the main national research initiative under the CIHR’s Dementia Research Strategy.

Yves Joanette has provided inspiring leadership over the past eight years and has left a remarkable legacy as a collaborative force in the aging community. I am indebted to Yves and the previous Scientific Directors, Réjean Hebert and Anne Martin-Matthews, for their contributions over the last two decades to building a strong research community in Canada that studies the impacts of aging. I am extremely grateful to Yves Joanette, his Assistant Director Joanne Goldberg and the rest of the team for their support as we transition the Institute.

As the new Scientific Director, I will endeavor to build on their achievements and seek to further increase researcher and decision-maker capacity, patient and community engagement, with attention to equity, international collaborations, and partnership development.  

I look forward to working with my CIHR colleagues and with our broad research community, policy-makers, funders, providers, patients, and community members to improve health care and the health of Canadians. 

Dr. Jane Rylett
Scientific Director
CIHR Institute of Aging

Date modified:

2019-08-08