2026 Keynote Speakers
Matteo Cesari
Building Global Capacity for Healthy Ageing: Prioritizing Research, Workforce Development, and Strengthened Geriatric Care
Dr. Matteo Cesari is a Scientist in Geriatrics and Gerontology at the World Health Organization (WHO, Geneva, Switzerland). He is also Professor of Geriatrics at the University of Milan (Italy; currently on leave), where he had been serving as Director of the Geriatric Fellowship program before joining the WHO. His research activities are strongly focused on the management of frailty and strategies aimed at preventing the onset of functional impairments in older people.
Dr. Cesari has published more than 650 articles in scientific peer-reviewed journals in the field of geriatrics and gerontology (h-index>100). He also played the role of Editor-in-Chief/Associate Editor in several peer-reviewed scientific journals and Coordinator of international task forces and working groups for scientific societies.
Dawn Skelton
Mobility: Assessment, Interventions and the Link With Falls
Dawn Skelton (FRCP Edin, Hon FCSP, M.D.h.c) is an exercise physiologist and is currently Professor in Ageing and Health at Glasgow Caledonian University. She is an academic with a strong interest in exercise programme implementation (dose, fidelity, motivation, adherence, choice) and in the development of apps with older people.
She was a coauthor on the World Falls Guidelines and received the British Geriatrics Society Marjory Warren Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in translating falls prevention research into practice. She has chaired the Older Adults Panel of the Chief Medical Officers Physical Activity for Health Guidelines and the Royal Osteoporosis Society’s Consensus Statement on Exercise for Osteoporosis. She is also a Director of Later Life Training, a not-for profit training company.
2026 Plenary Speakers
Andrew R. Frank
Anti-Amyloid Therapies for Alzheimer’s Disease – Arrival in Canada
Dr. Andrew Frank is a cognitive/behavioural neurologist and researcher at Bruyère Health Memory Clinic at the Élisabeth Bruyère Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario.
After finishing his Bachelor’s degree in Honours Biochemistry at the University of Calgary, Dr. Frank completed his M.D. at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He completed his residency in Neurology at the University of Ottawa. Following this, Dr. Frank undertook a subspecialty fellowship in Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Dr. Frank’s clinical practice is focused on the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. His clinical interest lies in the early detection of cognitive disorders, such as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). As President of the C5R, a national cognitive research network, Dr. Frank’s research interest centers on investigating new pharmacologic treatments and technologies for Alzheimer’s disease.