Read more about her work here.
Assistant Professor
1. How would you describe the main idea or main takeaway from your most recent research or creative work to someone outside your field?
Older adults are a growing subset of our population who use cannabis, and people ages 55+ are also more likely to have multiple chronic health conditions. To best support healthy aging, it’s important to understand how cannabis use interacts with cardiovascular and cognitive health.
2. What is the key paper or author/performer who has most inspired your recent research/creative work?
Older adults report wanting more information about cannabis use, and I’ve been interested in the work of Dr. Iris Balodis and others at the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. I recommend their Bud Talks handout for older adults.
3. How do you see this research/creative piece contributing to new insights in the field/sparking conversation?
First, this grant is one example of work focused on older adults supported by the Psychology Department and Gerontology Center here on campus. There will continue to be huge demand within career paths serving aging adults, and I hope this project can spark more students to think about careers related to gerontology. More specifically, cannabis consumption has far outpaced what we know about how it can impact our health (in comparison, risks of alcohol misuse are well recognized), and this grant will start to help fill that gap for older adults.
4. Can you describe the contributions of co-authors or collaborators who were essential to the success of this project?
Moving forward, many graduate and undergraduate students will be essential to data collection, analyses, and disseminating study findings! I look forward to having a really dedicated team of research assistants.
5. What impact do you hope this work makes?
I hope participants in the project feel that they’ve learned about their own health and cognitive functioning; I hope research assistants gain the experience they need to inform their next career steps; and I hope we can widely present and publish the research to better inform public health on cannabis use.
6. What is on deck for you as you get started on your next project?
This grant will run for a couple of years, and as we gather results I’ll be excited to continue investigating health influences on cognitive aging.
7. Where and when do you feel you are the most productive/creative/inspired?
For me, it’s all about organizing my schedule! I’m most productive when I can work on research for a couple hours, and then plan a break to go on a walk or work on something completely different like an art project or other hobby. That helps me have fresh eyes for getting back to work. Ideas can happen at any time too, so it’s not unusual for me to have little notebooks tucked everywhere in case I need to write something down.