Niagara Health photo. Dr. Lisa Burry recently joined the Niagara Health Knowledge Institute as the inaugural senior scientist, focusing on research into older adult care.
While Dr. Lisa Burry’s life and career started on the other side of the country, in a way, her coming to the Niagara Health Knowledge Institute (NHKI) is a full-circle moment
Her first job after her undergraduate pharmacy degree was working for a small community hospital in her native Newfoundland before moving to Ontario for her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD). She recently joined the NHKI in the inaugural role of senior scientist, where she will conduct multi-centre trials and observational studies focused on care for older adults, delirium and transition of care.
“I’m excited to infuse my clinical and research background in a community hospital setting,” she says. “It’s phenomenal to have the opportunity to integrate with the team at the NHKI who are so passionate about research and making positive cutting-edge changes in an environment where, historically, patients have not been engaged in clinical research.”
Burry is Métis and a pharmacist and scientist whose career spans 30 years, 26 of which were spent at Sinai Health and 14 at the University of Toronto. Currently undergoing the process for a faculty appointment at McMaster University, she also serves on the steering committee of Ontario Health’s Delirium Aware Safer Healthcare campaign and was recently a panel member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s Guidelines on Caring for Older Adults in the ICU, released in March 2026.
The majority of Canadian patients receive care in community hospitals, and yet, healthcare research is almost exclusively conducted in academic hospitals in larger centres. The NHKI is trailblazing the path to transforming healthcare through leading community hospital-based research.
“Lisa’s authority in her field and her breadth of research resonates with our vision for transitions of care and for making sure that patients receive the care they need,” says Dr. Jennifer Tsang, Executive Director and Chief Scientist at the NHKI.
“Attracting a clinician scientist of her standing to a community hospital after such a distinguished career at a large academic centre speaks volumes to the work we’re doing here. It also says something about how we got here. Dr. Burry found us through the national and international work our teams do, the multi-centre trials we join and the collaborations we’ve built over years. That work is often seen as separate from serving our own community, but it is exactly what allows us to bring researchers of this calibre and funding to Niagara, and it is why we will keep showing up on the national and international stage.”
Burry recently published a high-impact paper in the Canadian Medical Association Journal about how patients in hospitals were discharged home on new sedative medications experienced a higher risk of falls and increased healthcare utilization, including readmission to hospital and worse patient outcomes. The study is the first investigation of the clinical outcomes impacted by prescription sedatives for older adults upon hospital discharge.
Niagara has one of the highest populations of older adults in Canada, with nearly one in four residents aged 65 and older. In addition, about half of all patients admitted to Niagara Health are older adults.
“Older adults are an understudied population, yet make up the majority of Canadians,” says Burry. “Clinical trials don’t specifically address this. Research often has a one-size-fits-all approach that we need to broaden to include dose or intervention adjustments when it comes to older adults and improving patient outcomes.”
The region’s demographic reality is reshaping healthcare across Niagara and has informed the strategy and vision of the South Niagara Hospital, which is slated to open in 2028.
“I’ve spent more than 30 years as a clinician, which shaped my career as a scientist,” says Burry. “Throughout my career, I’ve learned so much about my patients, their families and their care teams. It’s a privilege to take that knowledge and integrate it into the work being done at the NHKI and contribute to making a positive difference in healthcare.”
