Oluwakemi (Kemi) Amodu is dedicated to advancing the reproductive and sexual health of the Hausa women in displaced persons camps in northern Nigeria.
Sixty percent of people living with dementia go missing at least once, and among them, some will get lost repeatedly. In Indigenous communities, the rates of dementia are disproportionately higher than in the general Canadian population.
Even before the commitment was made on paper and then solidified in ceremony, talk of Indigenous reconciliation had been taking place in the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Health. However, it took the hire of an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper to give shape to a process that is sometimes not well understood and often difficult to begin.
Trisha Cho is not only a powerhouse on the ice, but an excellent student who embodies leadership and hard work. A varsity hockey player who is graduating this spring with a BA in Recreation and Sport Business and a minor in Event Management, she joins 587 Faculty of Health students at this term’s convocation celebrations. She will return in the fall to begin a master’s in Recreation and Leisure Studies.
A deep dive into mental health survey data by researchers at the University of Waterloo shows that almost a quarter of Canadians are still reporting anxiety and suggests that the mental health impact of the pandemic might still be observed for a few years to come.
Often, when a person is diagnosed with dementia, available supports are not enough. Most people feel overwhelmed, and they don't get the support, resources and help they need. A new five-country collaboration has developed Forward with Dementia to fill in those gaps and provide the individuals and their families the tools they need to move forward with their lives.
This fall, 274 Faculty of Health graduands will celebrate their achievements as students and begin their journeys as alumni of the University of Waterloo. Some will pursue graduate studies, others will be embarking on new careers – but all will be doing what Health graduates do: Improving the health and well-being of individuals, communities or populations.
We asked a couple of graduating students to tell us what motivated them during their studies and what they will miss most as they move on to a new phase of their lives:
Every day in 2020, it is estimated that 75 Canadian women were diagnosed with breast cancer, says Marina Mourtzakis, a Kinesiology and Health Sciences researcher at the University of Waterloo. “That’s approximately 27,400 women with a diagnosis, representing 25 per cent of all new cancer cases in women.”
Many things change when a person is diagnosed with dementia, but one thing that doesn’t have to is the ability to exercise.
Dementia-Inclusive Choices for Exercise (DICE) is a cross-Canada research team, led by the University of Waterloo, that has developed a new series of tools and resources to help exercise providers create inclusive programs and spaces for people living with dementia and support their knowledge and confidence to continue or begin exercising.
As 457 undergraduate and 86 graduate students from the Faculty of Health prepare to virtually cross the stage this spring to convocate, we celebrate the hard work, perseverance, friendships and community it took to arrive at that moment – especially during a year that threw out the rule book on how courses should be delivered, how research is performed and how we interact socially with our peers.
We asked some of our award-winning graduates what it took for them to find success in a tough environment and what advice they would give to others who are currently studying.