Heather Keller RD PhD FDC FCAHS is the Schlegel Research Chair in Nutrition and Aging at the University of Waterloo. She is an internationally recognized expert in geriatric nutrition, assessment, and treatment. Research areas focus on nutrition risk and malnutrition identification and treatment across care sectors; improving nutrition care processes and implementing screening and other best practices; supporting food intake of diverse groups living in the community, including those living with dementia; and improving hospital and residential food and promoting food intake and the mealtime experience in these settings. Professor Keller has led several national research and knowledge translation projects, including the landmark Nutrition Care in Canadian Hospitals, More-2-Eat and Making the Most of Mealtimes in Long Term Care studies. Professor Keller has published more than 225 peer-reviewed articles and translates much of this evidence into practice with tools and resources. As a founding member and past chair/co-chair (2009-2018) of the Canadian Malnutrition Task Force, she is involved in translating research into practice and advocating for improvements in nutrition care. She is currently the chair of the primary care working group for CMTF and involved in several national and international expert groups advancing the prevention, detection and treatment of malnutrition.
Should the knowledge I have created be translated? Is there a meaningful change that can be made as a result of my research? These are questions researchers and trainees alike contend with when thinking about the steps after conducting their research. A wide range of knowledge translation opportunities exist, but not all are worth pursuing, depending on your research findings. This discussion will provide a broad over of what knowledge translation to practice is provide opportunity for the group to discuss challenges and successes in their approaches to making their knowledge creation come to life.