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  1. Home
  2. Our Research
  3. Heather McKay

Heather McKay

Professor
Academic Appointment
Professor
Research Focus
Bones, Joints and Muscles
Degrees / Designations

PhD

Contact Info
heather.mckay@ubc.ca
604-675-2575
DrHeatherMcKay

Biography

Professor Heather McKay is passionate about community-based health research, working with community partners to find ways to scale-up effective health interventions to positively effect health at a population level. Her program of research encompasses: effective interventions and myriad factors that influence the health of children, and the physical (mobility), social (connectedness) and mental (loneliness) well-being of older adults; the design, implementation and evaluation at scale of effective community-based health promoting interventions (implementation science); and knowledge mobilization. Professor McKay has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers and accrued more than $50 million in competitive grant funding. At the University of British Columbia, she is the Active Aging Research Team lead scientist. She has been in collaboration with the B.C. Ministry of Health for more than 15 years and currently leads a multi-level partnership with researchers, government, health authorities and NGOs to enact Active Aging BC (ABC). Professor McKay’s research team is currently scaling up and evaluating ABC’s signature program—Choose to Move—across the province. Choose to Move engaged more than 90 community-based organizations as delivery partners and 7000 older adults. This program effectively enhanced physical activity, mobility and decreased social isolation and loneliness in older adults who participated.

Professor McKay convenes highly effective, interdisciplinary research teams. She connects scholars with an array of cross-sectoral community and government stakeholders to “move research into action” to positively impact the health of children and older adults. Professor McKay led eight Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Peter Wall Institute of Advanced Studies teams with more than $10 million in grant funding that focused on aspects of older adult health in different settings, such as community, built environment and assisted living. From 2006 to 2016, Professor McKay was the inaugural director of the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, a multidisciplinary centre that aims to enhance mobility and health across the life course. More recently she co-led UBC’s Healthy Aging Research Excellence cluster that convened 200 researchers, 50 trainees and 50 community partners across 10 academic disciplines to ignite collaboration in healthy aging research. Professor McKay was also recently inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

News and Awards

Research Excellence Staff Award 2023 Recipients

Jan 10, 2023

Scaling up for senior’s health: A small, successful health promotion trial goes province-wide

May 25, 2019

Ask an expert: How do I motivate the men in my life to commit to fitness?

Jun 8, 2018

Top Graduating Doctoral Student Award and Rising Star Award 2017 Recipients

May 28, 2017

People in profile: Thea Franke

Oct 1, 2015

Kids can jump, skip, spring, and run their way to stronger bones

Feb 9, 2015

People in profile: Anna Chudyk

Jan 20, 2014

Publications

  • BMC public health -

    Implementation of a co-designed physical activity program for older adults: positive impact when delivered at scale.

    McKay H, Nettlefold L, Bauman A, Hoy C, Gray SM, Lau E, Sims-Gould J
  • British journal of sports medicine -

    Bright Spots, physical activity investments that work: Choose to Move: scaling up a physical activity model for older adults.

    McKay HA, Nettlefold L, Hoy C, Bauman AE, Sims-Gould J
  • Journal of physical activity & health -

    Status Quo or Drop-Off: Do Older Adults Maintain Benefits From Choose to Move-A Scaled-Up Physical Activity Program-12 Months After Withdrawing the Intervention?

    McKay HA, Nettlefold L, Sims-Gould J, Macdonald HM, Khan KM, Bauman A
  • The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity -

    Implementation and scale-up of physical activity and behavioural nutrition interventions: an evaluation roadmap.

    McKay H, Naylor PJ, Lau E, Gray SM, Wolfenden L, Milat A, Bauman A, Race D, Nettlefold L, Sims-Gould J
  • Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research -

    Getting Ready for Scale-Up of an Effective Older Adult Physical Activity Program: Characterizing the Adaptation Process.

    Gray SM, McKay HA, Hoy CL, Lau E, Ahn R, Lusina-Furst S, Sims-Gould J
  • International journal of environmental research and public health -

    Scaling up Action Schools! BC: How Does Voltage Drop at Scale Affect Student Level Outcomes? A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

    Nettlefold L, Naylor PJ, Macdonald HM, McKay HA
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