Scientific Director of the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE)
Professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
Co-Director Director of the Institute for Life Course and Aging Collaborative Program in Aging, Palliative and Supportive Care
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 a major Canadian textbook, Aging in Contemporary Canada, 2nd edition (2008), 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.
She also 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.
In addition, her expertise has been sought by the Canadian Senate, Special Senate Committee on Aging, in the preparation of their report on Canada’s Aging Population: Seizing the Opportunity; and by the National Judicial Institute as a speaker for their conference on Judging Women; Aging, Mental Health and Culture.
Dr. McDonald has a long history of teaching excellence, and conducts graduate courses at both the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and the Institute for Life Course and Aging.
In her capacity as Professor and as Principal Investigator of multi-million dollar grants, she has taught and trained hundreds of graduate students and served as supervisor or thesis committee member to dozens of doctoral and masters students.
