Dr. Frances Morton-Chang
Health System Impact Fellow Profile

Name:
Frances Morton-Chang
Host Partner Organization:
AdvantAge Ontario
Name of Host Partner Organization Supervisor:
Dan Buchanan
Location (city, province):
Vaughn, Ontario
Academic Institution:
Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto
Name of Academic Supervisor:
Dr. Whitney Berta
Duration of Fellowship:
1 Year
Title of Fellowship / Program of Work:
Seniors’ Campuses as Integrating Mechanisms for Broad Spectrum Senior Care
Contact Information:
Website: mortonchang.com; ihpme.utoronto.ca/community/post-doctoral-fellows/frances-morton-chang/
Social media page(s): LinkedIn: Frances Morton-Chang
Post-HSI Fellowship Career Profile

Biography

Dr. Frances Morton-Chang (MHSc, PhD) has diverse academic and professional experience across the broader healthcare spectrum including community, acute and long-term care, health charities and research programs. As a gerontologist she specializes in the areas of health policy, functional impairment (cognitive, physical), integrated care, and dementia-friendly design.

Frances undertook a PhD in health policy to increase the profile and evidence-base for promising approaches to integrated health and social care for complex and marginalized populations, and to equip herself to systematically understand and lead local health innovation.

Her research on Seniors Campuses as mechanisms for broad spectrum senior care at AdvantAge Ontario nicely compliments her CIHR Banting and Best sponsored doctoral research examining the mix of resources required to maintain cognitively impaired seniors (deemed eligible for LTC facility placement) safely in the community for as long as possible. Frances’ previous postdoctoral work analyzing and comparing integrated community-based primary healthcare approaches for high-needs older persons will also provide a strong foundation for this current fellowship.

Fellowship Program of Work

Dr. Frances Morton-Chang is passionate about investigating the diverse health and social care needs of older adults and innovative options to meet these needs. When Frances approached AvantAge Ontario about the possibility of hosting a CIHR HSI Fellowship, the opportunity could not have been timelier or more serendipitous.

Both Frances and AdvantAge Ontario – an association of not-for-profit homes and services for seniors – shared interest in researching Seniors’ Campus (also known as Campuses of Care or Seniors’ Villages). In fact, AdvantAge Ontario’s Board of Directors had recently identified Seniors’ Campuses – physical settings that provide a range of inter-related seniors’ services through a closely integrated and coordinated service delivery and management structure and governance – as a strategic priority for investigation.

While AdvantAge Ontario has anecdotal and tacit accounts of the benefits of Senior’s Campuses to the individual and the system, the research program Frances will undertake during the fellowship will serve to provide evidence-based knowledge around their configurations, offerings, and key policy issues in need of attention. This project will also serve as a foundation for further exploration of remaining campus priority areas identified by the Board of Directors.

This CIHR HSI Fellowship with AdvantAge Ontario provides a valuable opportunity for Frances to apply her advanced training in strategic policy analysis and evidence-based research to critical challenges faced in senior’s care and the capacity of seniors campuses to address the needs of an aging population wishing to age in place in their own communities for as long as possible while potentially dampening the need for LTC home beds.

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