Research Faculty
Area of Focus:
- Breastfeeding
- Co-parenting
- eHealth
- Implementation
Area of Focus:
- Faculty Development for simulation-based experiences, pre-briefing for simulation experiences, creating psychological safety in simulation experiences, using simulation experiences for formative and summative evaluations
- Cultural awareness
Area of Focus:
- Supporting Physiologic Birth
- Evidence Synthesis in Maternity Care
- Building Research Capacity in Clinicians
Links:
View the most up-to-date publications
Overview of the program of research:
~ Coming soon!
Area of Focus:
- Community Health Nursing
- Mental Health / Psychiatric Nursing / Crisis Intervention
- Maternal Mental Health / Maternal Risk Assessment
Area of Focus:
- Virtual Simulation development & learner competency
- Virtual Simulation & teaching empathy & social justice in healthcare education
- Virtual Simulation & learner outcomes associated with wound care and virtual OSCES in nursing education
Area of Focus:
I work with people with intellectual and
developmental disabilities and their supporters
(e.g.family, caregivers, communities, health
care providers) with a focus on health
promotion, disease prevention and the social
determinants of health. In doing so, I aim to
positively impact the lives of people with IDD,
their supporters, and the education of health
care providers (current and future).
Area of Focus:
- Pediatric Nursing
- Sleep Sciences and Chronobiology
- Randomized Controlled Trials, Knowledge Synthesis, Knowledge mobilization
- Working to improve sleep outcomes for a variety of populations
Dr. Winnie Sun completed her PhD in Nursing and collaborative graduate program in Health Services and Policy Research at the University of Toronto, Canada. From 2015 to 2016, Dr. Sun was awarded a Post-Doctoral Fellowship from AGE-WELL (Canada’s Technology and Aging Network) to support her training and development of expertise in technology co-design, ethics, accessibility, usability test, evaluation and implementation, with focus on assistive technology for older adults. Since 2016, Dr. Sun is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences in Ontario Tech University, and she is holding a research appointment as the Co-Research Director of the Advancement for Dementia Care Centre (ADCC), partnership between Ontario Tech University and Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences in Canada. In 2024, Dr. Sun received the Research Excellence Chair Award in Healthy Aging and Dementia Care, where she is leading the development of technology-enabled innovations using virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) to promote aging in place and brain health.
In June 2025, Dr. Sun and her colleague Dr. Shilpa Dogra as Co-Principal Scientific Directors received $1 million funding over 6 years from the Sienna for Seniors Foundation to help shape the future of aging through the Sienna Senior Living Research Fund, to co-create the establishment of Sienna Senior Living Research Centre for Healthy Aging and Happiness. This is a transformative partnership between Ontario Tech University and Sienna Senio Living to further advance research and innovation in healthy aging, focusing on three priority areas: (1) Enhancing Resident Well-Being – Advancing innovative strategies and applied research to impact the overall happiness and quality of life for older adults in senior living communities; (2) Empowering People – Supporting training, education, and well-being initiatives for caregivers and team members, with an emphasis on cultivating a culture of compassion, satisfaction, and shared purpose; (3) Driving Insight and Impact – Developing evidence-based tools, policies, and measurement frameworks. In September 2025, Dr. Sun received $ 550,000 over 2 years from Toronto Dominion Bank through TD Ready Commitment Funds to advance dementia care through technological innovations using virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI). This initiative catalyzes TD’s Better Health commitment research portfolio by improving access to health education, early interventions and leveraging advanced technologies including the use of multi-sensory VR and AI-powered innovations to drive better health outcomes. By integrating VR and AI into dementia care, preliminary findings revealed early application of non-pharmacological cognitive interventions/rehabilitation can have positive impact in improving health and well-being. Our VR-Memory application (with conversational AI chatbot) is co-designed to engage individuals with dementia and caregivers in reminiscence therapy, which is found to enhance and improve memory recollection, mental well-being (apathy/depressive symptoms), responsive behaviors and social connectedness.
Dr. Sun is a research scientist with clinical background in gerontology and geriatrics, as well as expertise in the care of people living with dementia in long-term care, home healthcare and community settings. As a Research Excellence Chair in Healthy Aging and Dementia Care, she is leading a research agenda with a strong focus on the advancement of technology-enabled dementia care, while promoting brain health innovations to support the quality of life of people living with dementia and their caregivers. As a Co-Research Director of ADCC, she collaborates with Dr. Amer Burhan (Co-Chair) from Ontario Shores
to advance the creation of aging and dementia-friendly communities through evidence-informed research and practices, as well as the scaling up of technological innovation to promote aging in place and caregiving support, as well as catalyzing capacity-building of workers in the care of older adults across the care continuum. Within ADCC, she is leading a comprehensive program of research in aging and dementia care, which can be sub-divided into four overarching research themes: (1) Advancing Evidence-Informed, Person-Centred Care; (2) Promoting Quality of Life and Cognitive Rehabilitation; (3) Developing Technology Enabled Care to Support Aging-In-Place; (4) Leveraging Partnerships to Build a Competent Dementia Care Workforce. Her vision is to advance a program of research with the aim of leveraging the creation of aging and dementia-friendly communities to make a meaningful impact on those older adults living with dementia and their caregivers across the Durham Region of Ontario and beyond. Due to Dr. Sun’s exceptional leadership and research impact, she was awarded the Age-Friendly Communities Recognition Award (Group Award) in March 2018, hosted by the Ministry of Seniors Affairs for her contributions to the Development of Age-Friendly Durham Strategy and Action Plan. For World Alzheimer’ Day in 2023, Dr. Sun was awarded the Ambassador Award from the Alzheimer’s Society of Durham Region for her ongoing commitment to raising awareness and challenge the stigma around Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.
Dr. Sun possesses a strong publication record in refereed journals and book chapters (over 90 peer-reviewed publications) in community health, mental health, gerontechnology, geriatric and dementia care. Since 2016, she successfully received over 60 external funding awards that demonstrate diversified track record of conducting interdisciplinary research in gerontology, including Tri-Council, national and provincial funding as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator. Examples of these external funding sources include Canadian Institute for Health Research CIHR; Social Science and Humanity Research Council SSHRC; Centre for Brain Health Innovation CABHI; AGE-WELL; Canadian Frailty Network; WeRPN (Registered Practical Nurses’ Association; CityStudio Durham; Ministry of Colleges and Universities, Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills; Ontario Trillium Foundation; and Women’s Xchange. Dr. Sun is awarded funding from Sienna Senior Living Foundation and TD Ready Commitment Funds to support the development of Wellness, Innovations and NeuroAging (WIN) Research Hub within Sienna Senior Living Research Centre for Healthy Aging and Happiness. This research hub will enable building capacity of healthcare professionals in dementia care and recruitment and retention of dementia care workers. In her research hub, she is training undergraduate and graduate students (PhD and Master), with the goal of building capacity to support the future generation of researchers in the field of aging and dementia care. In September 2025, Brilliant Catalyst received donor investment to advance student innovations and dementia research. Jeff W.N. Leung Scholarship is established to support eight graduate students over four years in the Faculty of Health Sciences. The awards will prioritize eligible students researching dementia-related topics, including those under the leadership of Dr. Sun.
Area of Focus/Expertise
- Aging and Gerontology
- Assistive Technology and Cognitive Impairment
- Artificial Intelligence (Conversational AI and Social Robots)
- Community Health Nursing
- Deprescribing of Medications
- Dementia Care
- Early-Onset Aging in Homelessness
- Frailty (Physical and Cognitive)
- Gerontechnology/Age-Tech
- Cognitive Stimulation/ Exergaming
- Health Services and Policy Research
- Home Care Safety
- Mixed Methods Research/Qualitative Research Methodology
- Micro-credential Education
- Opioid Abuse and Naloxone
- Recruitment and Retention in Long-Term Care
- Self-Care in Chronic Disease Management
- Social Inclusion and Social Isolation
- Vaccine Hesitancy and Uptake
- Virtual Reality Reminiscence Therapy
Links