Team

Team

Last update: 30 Septembre 2025

The NuAge Database and Biobank are under the responsibility of a Steering Committee currently composed of five researchers, two of whom are responsible for the general administration of each bank, namely:

  • The Database, located at the Research Center on Aging from the CIUSSS de l'Estrie-CHUS (Sherbrooke, QC, Canada)
  • The Biobank, located at the CHUM Research Center (Montreal, QC, Canada).

These two institutions act as trustees of the bank they host.

The Steering Committee is also supported in its duties by an Advisory Committee, composed of three members, whose mandate is to advise the Steering Committee in the planning of medium and long-term scientific activities.

The current funding for the NuAge Data Banks (Fonds de recherche du Québec [FRQ]: $1.8M for 2019–2025; $1.57M for 2026–2031) supports the maintenance and enhancement of their infrastructure, management, outreach, and partnership development, notably through the employment of qualified research professionals. This funding also enables internal initiatives aimed at enriching the NuAge Data Banks with new data on NuAge participants, in close collaboration with partners and the team of 16 researchers involved in these enrichment efforts.

Steering Commitee

The Steering Committee performs both general management and development duties of the NuAge Database and Biobank, more specifically, to define strategic and scientific orientations, to approve measures to be put in place for optimal bank use and for the maintenance of their activities, to ensure bank funding, and to approve access requests and scientific communications arising from the bank use.   

Eléonor Riesco, Ph.D.

Lead Investigator of the NuAge Database and Biobank since 2025

Administrator of the NuAge Database since 2025

  • Full Professor, Faculty of Physical activity sciences, Université de Sherbrooke
  • Scientific Co-Director and Researcher, Research Centre on Aging, CIUSSS de l’Estrie – CHUS

Eléonor Riesco is a Full Professor in the Faculty of Physical Activity Sciences at the Université de Sherbrooke. She is the Scientific Co-Director and a researcher at the Research Centre on Aging of the CIUSSS de l’Estrie – CHUS. Since February 2025, Professor Riesco has been the Administrator of the NuAge Database and the Lead Investigator for the NuAge Database and Biobank.

Elle détient un doctorat en physiologie de l’exercice et a poursuivi sa formation postdoctorale au Centre de recherche sur le vieillisement. Physiologiste de l’exercice, ses travaux de recherche visent à optimiser les interventions non médicamenteuses pour les personnes aînées ayant des profils de santé variés et complexes. Depuis le début de sa carrière, elle a publié plus de soixante articles scientifiques, formé près de trente personnes étudiantes graduées, et supervisé plus de quinze étudiants et étudiantes de premier cycle. En dehors du milieu académique, Pre Riesco s’engage activement dans la mobilisation des connaissances avec les communautés et les professionnels de la santé, tant par les nombreuses entrevues médiatiques qu’elle donne que par les activités organisées avec la Chaire de recherche pour un vieillissement en santé.

Felix Camirand Lemyre, Ph.D.

Co-investigator in charge of the NuAge Banks (starting January 2026)

Co-administrator of the NuAge Data Bank (starting January 2026)

  • Associate Professor, Faculty of Science, Université de Sherbrooke
  • Researcher, Research Centre on Aging, CIUSSS de l’Estrie – CHUS

Félix Camirand Lemyre is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Université de Sherbrooke, Co-Scientific Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Group in Health Informatics, and Director of the Statistical Consulting Centre at UdeS. He completed his PhD in Mathematics at the Université de Sherbrooke in 2016, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Statistics at the University of Melbourne in Australia, completed in 2018.

His research interests primarily focus on the development of methods for fitting statistical models using distributed, multisource data (e.g., from hospitals or distinct institutions). They also include the implementation of statistical procedures for studying chronic exposure factors that are measured imperfectly and intermittently, such as nutritional intake.

Pierrette Gaudreau, Ph.D., FCHAS

Administrator of the NuAge Biobank

Principal co-investigator of the NuAge Study since 2003

  • Full Professor, Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal
  • Researcher, Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal Research Centre
  • Associate Researcher, Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal Research Centre
  • Academic Vice-Dean – Fundamental Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal

Pierrette Gaudreau is a Full Professor in the Department of Medicine at Université de Montréal (UdeM) and an investigator at the Centre hospitalier de l’UdeM Research Centre. She is co-investigator at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal Research Centre and Adjunct Professor at the McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging. She received her doctoral training at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD) and has a PhD in Pharmacology from Université de Sherbrooke. She completed a postdoctoral training in neuroendocrinology at UdeM.

She was Director of the Quebec Network for Research on Aging from 2010 to 2019 and was Co-Director from 2020 to 2023. She was the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal on Aging from 2020 to 2022, she is the associate editor of Frontiers in Endocrinology - Neuroendocrine Science since 2014 et of Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences since 2023. She is one of the principal co-investigators of the NuAge cohort and Administrator of its Biobank. Frontiers in Endocrinology – Neuroendocrine science since 2014 et du Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences since 2023. She is co-principal investigator of the NuAge cohort and administrator of its biobank.

Her research is aimed at studying molecular and cellular mechanisms contributing to healthy aging using preclinical approaches and cohort monitoring. She is a member of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Stéphanie Chevalier, R.D., Ph.D.

  • Associate Professor, School of Human Nutrition, McGill University
  • Graduate Program Director, School of Human Nutrition, McGill University
  • Associate Member, Department of Medicine, McGill University
  • Medical Scientist, Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre

Stéphanie Chevalier is an Associate Professor and the Graduate Program Director at the School of Human Nutrition, McGill University, an Associate Member of the Department of Medicine and a Medical Scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. After earning her degrees in nutrition (BSc, MSc and PhD) from Université de Montréal and professional dietetic licensing (member of ODNQ), she pursued postdoctoral studies in nutrition and metabolism at McGill University. 

Dr. Chevalier’s main research area is protein metabolism and the role of dietary proteins in aging and certain diseases such as cancer, obesity and diabetes. Her research goal is to better understand the metabolic alterations leading to muscle mass and function loss and develop strategies to counteract it. 

She sits on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Society for Nutrition as Director at Large (elected). She led the Nutrition thematic group of the Quebec Network for Research on Aging from 2013-2018.

Gustavo Duque, M.D. ,Ph.D.

  • Professeur, Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé, Université McGill
  • Chercheur, Institut de recherche du Centre universitaire de santé McGill

Professor Gustavo Duque, MD, PhD, FRACP, is a geriatrician and biomedical researcher specializing in the mechanisms, therapies, and biomarkers associated with bone loss, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, osteosarcopenia, and frailty. His research also explores the effects of vitamin D, exercise, and protein intake on bone and muscle health.

Trained in internal medicine at the Universidad Javeriana (Colombia) and in geriatrics at McGill University (Canada), Professor Duque earned his PhD there in 2003. After practicing at McGill, he continued his career in Australia, where he became Professor of Medicine at the University of Sydney, and later Director of the Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science at the University of Melbourne.

Since 2022, he has been Full Professor and holder of the Dr. Joseph Kaufmann Chair in Geriatric Medicine at McGill University, Director of the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Senior Health (CEDurable), and Principal Investigator at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences.

As a clinician-researcher, Professor Duque has founded several fall and fracture clinics and leads clinical trials on both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for age-related musculoskeletal conditions. Author of over 280 scientific articles, he has also published several books, including two dedicated to osteosarcopenia.

Isabelle Dufour, inf., Ph.D.

Administrator of the medico-administrative data of the NuAge Database since 2025

  • Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Université de Sherbrooke
  • Researcher, Research Centre on Aging, CIUSSS de l'Estrie - CHUS

Isabelle Dufour has been an Assistant Professor at the School of Nursing at the Université de Sherbrooke since September 2023 and holds a Junior-1 Researcher Award from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS). A registered nurse since 2011, she has clinical expertise in the care of older adults. She completed her PhD at the Université de Sherbrooke in 2020, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University.

Her research aims to enhance the use of Quebec’s medico-administrative data, particularly those related to home care, to support health decision-making. She focuses on the care trajectories and transitions of vulnerable older adults, especially those experiencing loss of autonomy or major neurocognitive disorders, as well as the co-occurrence of complex conditions such as severe mental illnesses.

Ndeye Rokhaya Gueye, Ph.D.

  • Full professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Université de Saint-Boniface, Manitoba
  • Vice-Dean, Faculty of Sciences, Université de Saint-Boniface, Manitoba

Ndeye Rokhaya Gueye is full professor and vice-dean of the Faculty of sciences at the Université de Saint-Boniface in Manitoba. She was a statistician and researcher at the Research Centre on Aging of the l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Sherbrooke from 2005 to 2011. During this time, she worked as a statistician in the Prisma study (Programme de recherche sur l'intégration des services de maintien de l'autonomie) and the NuAge study and she was also a lecturer at the Department of Mathematics and the Centre universitaire de formation en gérontologie at the Université de Sherbrooke.

She holds a Master's degree in applied mathematics and a Certificate of Advanced Study in probability from the Université Gaston Berger of Saint-Louis (Senegal), in addition to a Master's degree and a doctorate in statistics from Université de Montréal.

Her research interests include epidemiological and multidisciplinary health studies involving diverse populations: adolescents, young adults, the elderly, immigrants and Francophones in minority situations.

Previous Members of the Steering Committee

Nancy Presse, R.D., Ph.D.

General Director of the NuAge Database and Biobank and Administrator of the NuAge Database and Biobank from 2018 to 2024

Professor Nancy Presse was an epidemiologist and registered dietitian-nutritionist, and a member of the Ordre des diététistes-nutritionnistes du Québec (ODNQ). She led the Laboratory on Nutrition and Aging and Geriatric Nutrition and served as General Director of the NuAge Database and Biobank from January 2018 to December 2024, overseeing ethical and legal governance as well as the administration of the data bank. Her research focused primarily on the screening, diagnosis, and risk factors of vitamin B12 deficiency in older adults, the prevention and treatment of weight loss among long-term care residents, and the identification of community-dwelling older adults at risk of nutritional vulnerability. She notably led the development and implementation of the “Nutrition as Medication” approach in several long-term care facilities across Québec.

Dr. José A. Morais, MD, FRCPC, CSPQ

Co-chercheur principal de l’Étude NuAge de 2003-2025

  • Internist – Geriatrician, McGill University Health Centre
  • Full Professor, Department of Medicine, McGill University
  • Senior Investigator, Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre
  • Director, Division of Geriatric Medicine, McGill University Health Centre

Dr. Morais has been an Internist – Geriatrician at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) since 1996 and is a senior investigator at the Research Institute of MUHC. He is also a Full Professor of Medicine at McGill University. Dr. Morais holds an MD degree from Université de Montréal (1987). Following residency in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the MUHC, he completed a research Fellowship at the McGill Nutrition and Food Science Centre from 1993-96.

He is Director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine since 2009 and was Associate Director of the Quebec Network for Research on Aging from 2019 to 2023. His research interests range from the assessment of dietary energy and protein requirements with age to muscle and whole-body protein metabolism. At the same time, he also studies the effects of insulin-resistance. The goal of his research is to prevent frailty and muscle loss (sarcopenia) associated with immobility and aging.

Hélène Payette, Ph.D.

Université de Sherbrooke

Designated Principal investigator of the NuAge Study from 2003-2017

Dr. Payette was a Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of Université de Sherbrooke from 1993 to 2017. She was an investigator in the Research Centre on Aging, which she led for 8 years. She held a Merck-Frosst chair in geriatrics and was a specialist in nutrition, epidemiology and aging. From 2003 to 2017, Dr. Payette was designated principal investigator and manager of the Quebec Longitudinal Study on Nutrition and Aging (NuAge) database and biobank and, from 2009 to 2017, was principal investigator of the Sherbrooke site of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. In 2013, she and her colleagues earned the Betty Havens Award from the Canadian Association on Gerontology for longitudinal research in the field of aging.

Bryna Shatenstein, R.D., Ph.D

Université de Montréal

Principal co-investigator of the NuAge Study 2003-2019

Dr. Bryna Shatenstein was one of the five principal co-investigators of the NuAge Study. She is a registered dietitian and member of the Ordre des diététistes-nutritionnistes du Québec and Dietitians of Canada. She has a B.Sc. in zoology and psychology from McGill University (1970), studied dietetics and nutrition at Macdonald College, McGill (1975-76) and completed her internship in dietetics at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal (1976-77). Dr. Shatenstein obtained her Master’s degree (1979) and Ph.D. (1992) in nutrition at Université de Montréal and completed two postdoctoral fellowships: the first in Social Medicine at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1992-93) and the second in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McGill (1993-95). During her active career, she was a tenured Professor and, from 2015-2017, the Head of the Department of Nutrition, Université de Montréal, and a researcher in clinical and epidemiological nutrition at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal.

Katherine Gray-Donald, Ph.D.

McGill University

Principal co-investigator of the NuAge Study from 2003-2017

Dr. Gray-Donald was an Associate Professor (now retired) at the School of Human Nutrition, McGill University.

https://www.mcgill.ca/nutrition/staff/retired-professors/gray-donald

Advisory committee

The mandate of this committee is to advise the Steering Committee in the planning of medium and long-term scientific activities of the NuAge Database and Biobank, in particular to maximize their dissemination in Canada and internationally (collaborations and partnerships). These members were selected among researchers working in the aging field in Canada (outside Quebec) and in France and having expertise and a contact network relevant to the Biobanks.

Current members on April 1st, 2021
  • Jane Rylett, Scientific Director of the Institute of Aging (Canadian Institute of Health Research), Professor at the University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
  • Dr. Yves Rolland, Professor at the Geriatric Center of the Gérontopôle de Toulouse, CHU Purpan, France
  • Catherine Féart, Chercheuse à l’Institut de recherche INSERM – Université de Bordeaux U1219, Bordeaux Population Health (BPH), France

Co-Researchers and Collaborators of the NuAge Database and Biobank
(financement FRQ jusqu'en 2025)

The team of 16 researchers from various universities in the Province of Quebec (Canada) are working in close collaboration to enrich the NuAge Database and Biobank with new data from the NuAge participants (see the objectives of FRQ funding in News).

Co-principal investigators :

  • Eléonor Riesco, Université de Sherbrooke
  • Pierrette Gaudreau, Université de Montréal
  • Dr. José A. Morais, McGill University

Co-investigators and collaborators :

  • Université de Sherbrooke : Alan Cohen, Isabelle Dionne, Mélanie Levasseur, Benoit Cossette, Manon Guay
  • Université de Montréal: Sylvie Belleville, Nathalie Bier, Guylaine Ferland, Dr. Marie-Jeanne Kergoat
  • McGill University : Stéphanie Chevalier, Nancy Mayo
  • Université Laval : Edeltraut Kröger
  • Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières : Hélène Carbonneau

Other NuAge Database and Biobank Team Members

Esther Marie Fafard, M.A.

NuAge Database and Biobank Coordinator

Esther Marie Fafard coordinates all NuAge Database activities and is a research officer in the Elderly Diet and Geriatric Nutrition Laboratory directed by Pre Nancy Presse since June 2023. Esther completed a bachelor's degree in business administration at the Université du Québec à Montréal, a master's degree in applied sociology at American University, and doctoral courses in the sociology of education at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to joining NuAge Database and Biobank, she worked in data management at Westat in the U.S. on national data collection and research projects related to health and education. She has also worked as a research assistant at various Canadian and American universities.

Patricia Larcher, B.Sc.​

NuAge Biobank Coordinator

 

Ms. Patricia Larcher has been the Coordinator of the NuAge Biobank since 2004. She is a research professional at the Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal Research Centre in Dr. Pierrette Gaudreau’s laboratory. She holds a Bachelor of Biological Sciences from Université de Montréal (1997-2000). Since then, she has accumulated clinical laboratory (2000), preclinical research (2000-2002) and fundamental research (since 2002) experience.

Adeline Fontvieille, Ph.D

Administrative and technical support for the NuAge Database and Biobank

 

Adeline Fontvieille has provided administrative and technical support for the NuAge Biobank since November 2018, working alongside Professor Nancy Presse as a research assistant at the Research Centre on Aging. She completed her PhD in Physical Activity Sciences at the Université de Sherbrooke. Her research focuses on the effects of physical exercise on cancer-related fatigue during adjuvant chemotherapy and on understanding the underlying physiological mechanisms.

Isabelle Reid, M.Sc.

Isabelle Reid is a research officer at the Laboratory on Nutrition in the Elderly and Geriatric Nutrition, directed by Pre Nancy Presse. She will be responsible for the final follow-up with survivors of the NuAge cohort. Isabelle is a member of the Ordre des diététistes-nutritionnistes du Québec. She holds a bachelor's degree in nutrition (2000) and a master's degree in clinical and preventive nutrition from the Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal (2003). She has developed particular expertise in assessment and design of educational tools for community intervention programs.  

She has over 20 years of experience as a research professional involved in the rigorous and methodical coordination of studies focusing on nutritional risk in seniors with or without cognitive impairment living in long-term care facilities or at home. She is active in the transfer of knowledge resulting from clinical studies to improve the quality of life of seniors and clinical practices.  

She stands out for her smile, gentleness and reassuring approach to seniors and their families.

Remerciement

Valérie Turcot, Ph.D.​

Valérie Turcot coordinated the overall activities of the NuAge Database from 2018 to 2023 and was a research officer in the Elderly Diet and Geriatric Nutrition Laboratory directed by Pre Nancy Presse. Dr. Turcot was actively involved in developing, implementing and monitoring the strategic and scientific orientations of NuAge Database and Biobanks. She ensured quality control and validity, and coordinated the integration of new data into the NuAge Database, and provided outstanding support to NuAge Database and Biobank researchers and users.