The CLSA was saddened to learn of the passing of our friend and colleague Hélène Payette on January 3, 2023.
Hélène was the inaugural site investigator of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) at the Université de Sherbrooke, and played a significant role in the planning, implementation and launch of the CLSA. She served as theme leader of the lifestyle and nutrition component of the study, through which she shared her expertise as a research leader in older adult nutrition in Canada.
Throughout her long and esteemed career, Hélène pioneered and served as principal investigator of NuAge, the Quebec longitudinal study on nutrition as a determinant of successful aging.
She was a professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Department of Community Health Sciences at the Université de Sherbrooke and a founding member of the Canadian Malnutrition Task Force.
She served as director of the Research Centre on Aging of the CIUSSS de l’Estrie–CHUS from 2001 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2011.
She is credited as a “leading architect in the development and evolution of the Quebec Network for Research on Aging” by her colleagues.
Hélène’s passion for improving the health of older adults and her mentorship of the next generation of researchers in aging will be missed.
Messages of remembrance can be shared here. Additional tributes have been shared by the Quebec Research Network on Aging, the Canadian Nutrition Society and the Université de Sherbrooke.
Our tribute video to Hélène Payette here.
