She obtained her undergraduate and master’s degrees at McGill University, and a PhD in Social Work at the University of Toronto, followed by a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Sussman’s program of research focuses on how health services and systems impact older adults and their family members, including spousal careers’ experiences with home care; older adults’ and family members’ experiences with the transition into long-term care; barriers and facilitators to the delivery of effective interventions for depressed older adults and their care partners; and most recently the needs and experiences of more marginalized older adults in long-term care such as previously homeless older adults and older adults identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT).