DR. IVAN CULUM

WELCOME

Greetings!

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I'm a researcher in the health sciences focusing on healthy aging across the lifespan.  Presently, I teach in the Health Studies undergraduate program at Western University as well as in the Health Studies and Nursing graduate programs at Athabasca University. I started in dementia and aging research but have broadened my scope to examine aging as a lifelong phenomenon. We tend to think of aging as something that happens to us in later life, but we age from the moment we're born - it just gets a lot more noticeable over time.

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Recall that practically invincible feeling of childhood and adolescence? Did you pay much attention to how nutritious food was? Did you make a conscious effort to exercise? Did your joints ache for seemingly no apparent reason? Chances are that you answered no to these questions. But, if your upbringing was similar to mine, you had someone else do the thinking and worrying for you - most likely a parent. They selected the most nutritious food that they can afford. They made sure you got your exercise, either through school, sport, or simply making sure that you played outside. But how many of these behaviours stuck with you into adulthood? How can we encourage the longevity of these behaviours to in turn increase your own longevity? We're living well into our eighties and beyond, but I'm interested in living well, into my eighties and beyond. But, while there's much one can do to improve their own health outcomes, there are multiple factors outside of one's control. I am mostly interested in addressing health from a population perspective - to address issues beyond a single individual's control.

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Together, we can work on these issues.