Research Interests
Nicole Winch completed her Master’s of Science degree in September 2021 from the School of Public Health Sciences. Her main research explored factors that build cognitive reserve and protect against dementia in aging adults. Using an epidemiological approach, with the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, she explored how multilingualism may protect against cognitive impairment in middle to older adults.
During her undergraduate studies, she developed a passion for aging and dementia research. As a volunteer in connection with the Bruyère Research Institute, she worked with the Garbarino Girard Centre for Innovation in Seniors Care. This experience contributed to her honour’s thesis work, which explored how visuomotor balance training helped reduced fall risk in seniors with cognitive impairment.
Education
BHSc 2019, Health Sciences, University of Ottawa (Summa cum laude)
Honours Thesis: Visuomotor balance training with the Biodex platform: A longitudinal pilot study of older adults with cognitive impairment
MSc 2021, School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo
Thesis: The Association Between Multilingualism and Executive Function in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging: Results from the Baseline Comprehensive Cohort
Selected Presentations
Winch N, Oremus M, St. John P, Tyas S. The multilingual mind: The association of number and similarity of spoken languages with executive function in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics 2021: Meeting the Demands of a Rapidly Changing World, June 1 – 3, 2021.
Winch N, Baker A, Goubran R, Wallace B, Knoefel F, Fraser S. Visuomotor balance training with the Biodex platform: A longitudinal pilot study of older adults with cognitive impairment. Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences Graduate and Honours Student Research Day, University of Ottawa, ON, April 6, 2018.
Branigan T, Winch N, Zukowski A. The association between oral health status and myocardial infarction: A structured literature review. Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Ottawa, ON, December 1-2, 2017.
Awards
- Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s (CGS-M), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Fall 2019
- President’s Graduate Scholarship, University of Waterloo, Fall 2019
- Lyle S. Hallman Graduate Research Scholarship, University of Waterloo, Fall 2019
- Applied Health Sciences Scholarship, University of Waterloo, Fall 2019