[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Labarge chair.jpg” caption=”McMaster alumna Suzanne Labarge has donated $2 million for the establishment of the Raymond and Margaret Labarge Chair in Research and Knowledge Application for Optimal Aging, named in tribute to her parents. Photo courtesy of FHS.”]Something as simple as a broken limb can cause significant disruption in daily life, particularly for older individuals. As mobility becomes more restricted, so too does the ability to play an active role in the world socially, economically and culturally. In the end, connections to the world may even be severed.

A new endowed chair established at McMaster University will research these unique issues for older individuals in order to help understand, intervene, and prevent the impacts of musculoskeletal conditions on the lives and participation rates of elders.

McMaster alumna Suzanne Labarge has donated $2 million for the establishment of the Raymond and Margaret Labarge Chair in Research and Knowledge Application for Optimal Aging, named in tribute to her parents.

The endowed chair will direct an interdisciplinary research program aimed at investigating not only the aging musculoskeletal system to detect early decline, but also to examine how to support the participation and health of older adults through technological design, prevention and intervention in order to keep them socially, culturally and otherwise connected to the outside world. In order to achieve these goals, the chair has been established as a collaboration between the Faculties of Social and Health Sciences.

“My parents were always strongly committed to the importance of excellent education, as well as concerned and involved with aging issues. This is a perfect fit,” said Suzanne Labarge. “It is because of my parents' direction, love and encouragement that I am able to make this gift, and I am proud to do so.”

Labarge received her BA in economics at McMaster in 1967, and an MBA from Harvard in 1971. She is now retired after a career in senior executive positions at the federal government and the Royal Bank.