Lynn McDonald

Dr. Lynn McDonald is a Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto; former Director of the Institute for Life Course and Aging Collaborative Program in Aging, Palliative and Supportive Care; and Scientific Director of the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE). She currently leads a SSHRC Partnership Grant on Engaged Scholarship: Evaluation of Knowledge Mobilization for Older Adults in the Community; and an HRSDC New Horizons for Seniors Program Elder Abuse Awareness Grant entitled a National Survey on the Mistreatment of Older Canadians. Dr. McDonald has led a Public Outreach SSHRC grant on Financial Literacy and Custodial Grandparents; the NICE Elder Abuse Team: Knowledge to Action research grant; the NICE Older Women and Financial Literacy grant; and a multi-layered project on Defining and Measuring Elder Abuse and Neglect.

Dr. McDonald holds a BA in Psychology and a MSW from University of Manitoba and PhD in Sociology from the University of Calgary. In 2002, Dr. McDonald was awarded the Governor General’s Golden Jubilee medal for her contributions to Canadian gerontology. In 2007 she received the Betty Havens Award in Longitudinal Research for her contributions to research in aging.

Dr. McDonald is a co-author of Aging in Contemporary Canada, 2nd edition, and a number of other books and articles including one of the first Canadian texts on elder abuse. She has been a board director of the Canadian Association of Gerontology and served as Editor, Policy and Practice and Acting Editor, Social Sciences for the Canadian Journal on Aging. Dr. McDonald has been a board director of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, a member of the Board of Accreditation for the Canadian Schools of Social Work, and a member of the CIHR Institute of Aging, Social Dimensions of Aging Committee.

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