Event History – 2025

EVENTS HISTORY 2025

The following is a list of events that the IHLCDP has sponsored or presented during the year. Many of our presentations and workshops are available to view as a video or audio recording on our Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention YouTube channel, so if you missed the event you can still access the information.  For events that have a recorded presentation, just click on the button link.

November 18

Co-creating a Compassionate Campus: Conversations on Grief and Loss

National Grief and Bereavement Day

Learn ways in which members of the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO) campus community are co-creating a compassionate campus community to build awareness and skills in offering compassion to others and to ourselves. You will learn about student-led initiatives, resources to support compassionate responses, Thrive Month events, and ways you can engage and build a compassionate campus community.

Hosted by the Palliative Care Club, Student Union Okanagan; Wellbeing and Accessibility Services; Human Resources; of the University of British Columbia Okanagan

Links and Contacts:

Health and Wellbeing Resources: https://hr.ubc.ca/health-and-wellbeing

Mental Health Resources for Faculty and Staff:
https://hr.ubc.ca/health-and-wellbeing/mental-health/faculty-and-staff-mental-health-resources

Student Wellness: https://students.ok.ubc.ca/health-wellness/

Student Counseling: https://students.ok.ubc.ca/health-wellness/counselling-mental-health/

THRIVE: https://thrive.ubc.ca

UBC Student Guide to Grief – https://wellbeing.ubc.ca/griefguide

Palliative Care Club: PalliativeCareClub@ubc.ca

BARK: https://bark.ok.ubc.ca/

October 15

A Community Forum on Sleep Wellness

Panel experts lead a discussion about common sleep disorders and approaches to improve sleep.

Panel Experts

Wayne Lai, MD
Chief Medical Director, Tranq Sleep Care;
Clinical Assistant Professor, UBC

Salima Amlani, MD
Respirologist and Sleep Medicine Specialist;
Clinical Assistant Professor, UBC

Ruel Pangan, CCSH
Cert. Clinical Sleep Health Educator, Tranq Sleep Care

Jennifer Koh, BA
Art of Living / Sri Sri Yoga Instructor

Research in action: Virtual Reality (VR) for older adults

In this presentation, insights from latest research on virtual reality for older adults, focusing on creation of this novel technology with older adults and opportunities for social connection are shared.

Presenter:
Jaisie Sin, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Information Technology
Faculty of Engineering and Design, Carleton University

 
A Partnership in Research webinar
Supported by the Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention, University of British Columbia Okanagan

10 lesser-known ways your pharmacist can help you meet your healthcare goals

We typically think of pharmacists as the professionals who dispense our medications, answer our medication questions, and ensure that our medications are going to be safe and effective.  But we can utilize our pharmacists for so much more!  From prescribing for minor ailments and ordering lab tests to ensuring we are using climate conscious medications, this presentation covers some of the lesser-known ways that pharmacists can help us achieve our healthcare goals.

Presenter:
Jennifer Bolt, BScPharm, PharmD, MHA
Research and Development Pharmacist, Interior Health

 
A Partnership in Research webinar
Supported by the Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention, University of British Columbia Okanagan

March 12

Clinicians as data curators: Implications for data quality

This presentation discusses clinician roles in shaping data quality in electronic health records and digitalized health systems. Impacts on downstream data use and clinical care provision are also discussed.

Presenter:
Charlene Ronquillo, RN, PhD
School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Social Development
University of British Columbia Okanagan

 

A Partnership in Research webinar
Supported by the Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention, University of British Columbia Okanagan

Designing technologies to support learning and social connection for older adults

Joanna presents two new technologies that are being developed in her lab. HelpCall enables older adults to get technology assistance over a remote video call such as Zoom. LegacySphere facilitates intergenerational communication in embodied virtual reality.

Presenter:
Joanna McGrenere, Professor and Co-Head Department of Computer Science
University of British Columbia Vancouver

eDAPT lab: Learn More

 

May the imagined force be with you: staying strong and steady through imagined practice

Motor imagery is the imagined practice (or mental rehearsal) of a movement. In this presentation, we discuss how we can use motor imagery to help us perform smooth and steady movements as we age, and after stroke.

Presenter:
Sarah Kraeutner, PhD
Assistant Professor and Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar
Department of Psychology, Irving K Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of British Columbia Okanagan

Visit the NIMBL lab

 
A Partnership in Research webinar
Supported by the Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention, University of British Columbia Okanagan

The social experience of chronic pain

Over 8 million Canadians live with chronic pain. Dr. Holtzman reviews the latest research demonstrating a connection between social relationships and the experience of pain, as well as implications for the effective treatment of pain.

Presenter:
Susan Holtzman, PhD, RPsych
Associate Professor, Psychology
Lead Investigator of the Connection, Health and Technology (CHaT) Lab
Irving K Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
University of British Columbia Okanagan

 
A Partnership in Research webinar
Supported by the Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention, University of British Columbia Okanagan

New developments in Nav-CARE: the Compassionate, Dementia Inclusive Communities toolkit

The Compassionate, Dementia Inclusive Communities toolkit provides practical advice for organizations aspiring to improve support for persons living with dementia and their care partners using a compassionate community approach. The purpose of this presentation is to describe the theoretical and practical development of this toolkit, specifically the weaving together of three community development lenses: compassionate communities, dementia inclusion, and volunteer navigation. We also share early developments of the implementation of this toolkit in 6 unique communities in BC, Alberta, Ontario, and the Yukon.

Presenters:
Kelly Ashford, PhD
Project Manager for EU Navigate Project

Kelli Sullivan, MA
Research Facilitator – Palliative and End-of-Life research, UBC Okanagan

 
A Research to Practice Webinar
Co-sponsored by the Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention and North Okanagan Hospice Society

January 23

Child and Youth Healthy Futures: A community-engaged health equity lab

The Child and Youth Healthy Futures Lab at UBCO aims to enhance the health and wellbeing of children and youth. The lab conducts research to understand the structural and social determinants of health inequities, with a focus on underserved and equity-deserving young people. This webinar highlights some of the lab’s recent projects on youth mental health and mental health care use, population-level trends in racial discrimination experiences and adolescent mental health, and predictors of youth homelessness.

Presenter:
Carla Hilario, RN, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Nursing
Faculty of Health and Social Development
University of British Columbia Okanagan

 
A Partnership in Research webinar
Supported by the Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention, University of British Columbia Okanagan