Michelle Porter, PhD

Dr. Michelle Porter’s BPHE (Laurentian University), MSc (Community Health, University of Toronto) and PhD (Kinesiology, UWO) were capped by a multi-site MRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Boston (New England Medical Center/Tufts University) and Sweden (Lund University). 

Throughout her career she has studied many aspects of aging, including physical activity, neuromuscular function, mobility, older drivers, age-friendly environments, ageism, long-term care, vaccination decision-making and age inclusivity in higher education. For two decades she has been involved with an international research team (Candrive) studying older drivers. Her highly cited research has been funded by many agencies, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Dr. Porter is the Director of the Centre on Aging at UM, a position she has held since 2015. She is a leader in the global age-friendly university movement, and has been  instrumental in championing age inclusivity activities at Canada’s first age-friendly university. She is co-lead of the North American Region for the Age-friendly University Global Network and is part of the Age Inclusivity in Higher Education Working Group of the Gerontological Society of America. Dr. Porter has held executive positions with provincial and national community organizations, including chairing the Transportation Options Network for Seniors (TONS) in Manitoba and holding many positions with Active Aging Canada.