Andrew Wister
Site principal investigator, Surrey
Site principal investigator, Vancouver Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) Site
Andrew Wister, PhD, is the Director of the Gerontology Research Centre, and a Professor in the Department of Gerontology, in which he has been a faculty member for 33 years. He is an internationally recognized expert on aging research, issues, policies, and training. Dr. Wister is the past Chair of the National Seniors Council of Canada. He was awarded the Distinguished Member Award, Canadian Association on Gerontology in 2014; the prestigious SFU University Professorship award (2015-2020); Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America; and recently named SFU Distinguished Professor (2024-2029). Dr. Wister was the primary architect of the MA and PhD Programs in Gerontology at SFU, and has served on the committees of over 80 successful graduate students. His extensive research career has produced over 300 publications, including over 160 highly-cited peer-reviewed articles, in addition to numerous books, reports and other publications in the areas of population and individual healthy aging. Four noteworthy books include: Baby Boomer Health Dynamics: How Are We Aging? (2005) published by University of Toronto Press; Aging as a Social Process: Canada and Beyond, 8th Edition (2024) published by Oxford University Press; Fact Book on Aging in BC and Canada, 8th Edition (2023) published by the GRC; and Resilience and Aging: Emerging Science and New Frontiers. (2020) (with T. Cosco, Eds.) published by Springer. Dr. Wister has extensive experience in the collection and analyses of health and social data addressing areas including healthy aging, resilience and aging, social isolation and aging; environmental adaptation among older adults; patterns of family and social support; life-course trends and transitions; and applications of the above areas to the COVID-19 pandemic.