Dr. Susan Forwell
Conference Chair
Dr. Forwell is Professor and the Department Head of the UBC Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, a senator on the UBC Senate, Research Associate with the UBC MS/NMO clinic and the International Collaboration of Research and Discovery (ICORD), and an affiliate researcher of Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) and Fraser Health Authority (FHA). Her areas of research and teaching are in occupational science, neuro-rehabilitation, and community integration. Her recent work includes development of a model that supports life transitions from an occupational perspective. Dr. Forwell is a sub-editor of the Journal of Occupational Science and a member of the health care advisory council of the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America. Recent recognitions for her work include: Townsend-Polatajko Occupational Science Lectureship (Canadian Society of Occupational Scientists) in 2016, the Outstanding Occupational Therapist of the Year (Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists – British Columbia) in 2017 and the distinguished Muriel Driver Lectureship (Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists) in 2019.
Dr. Suzanne Huot
Conference Vice-Chair and ISOS Liaison
Dr. Huot is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of British Columbia. She is also a board member of the International Society for Occupational Science, having recently served two consecutive terms as Board Chair. Dr. Huot obtained her PhD in Occupational Science in 2011 from the University of Western Ontario, where she studied the integration of racialized French-speaking immigrants and refugees into Canadian society. Her ongoing program of research examines the relationship between daily occupations and community spaces in the social participation, and social and cultural integration of immigrants and refugees, with a particular focus on social cohesion within Canadian Francophone minority communities. Dr. Huot is co-lead of UBC Migration, an interdisciplinary research excellence cluster, and was chosen as a Leading Scholar by UBC’s Green College.
Dr. Julia Henderson
Conference Executive Director
Dr. Henderson is an occupational therapist, professional actor, qualitative researcher, and age studies scholar. In addition to her work in UBC’s OSOT Department, Dr. Henderson is also a Postdoctoral Fellow with Concordia University’s Department of Communication Studies and Ageing+Communications+Technologies Project (https://actproject.ca/) where her research involves collaborative performance creation with people living with dementia. She is also Creative Accessibilities Facilitator for Western Gold Theatre, a professional senior theatre company in Vancouver. Dr. Henderson’s research has been published in AJOT, Work, The Journal of American Drama and Theatre, Theatre Research in Canada, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, Age, Culture, Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Canadian Theatre Review, and the Thornton Wilder Journal. She has been recipient of a number of emerging scholar awards including for best paper at the Trent Aging 2019 conference. Dr. Henderson is Vice-Chair of the North American Network in Aging Studies (NANAS) Governing Council. She recently co-edited the first special issue of Theatre Research in Canada to address topic of “Age and Performance”; the issue has been nominated for two editing awards.