Heather Keller

Heather Keller is a Professor and Schlegel Research Chair in Nutrition and Aging at the University of Waterloo’s Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences. Her research focuses on improving health outcomes for older adults through nutrition interventions, malnutrition screening, and optimizing mealtimes in care settings. She leads the Aging and Applied Nutrition Lab and has expertise in mixed-methods research, including qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Dr. Keller holds a BASc from the University of Guelph, an MSc from McGill University, and a PhD from Western University. Her work emphasizes knowledge translation and implementation science to bridge research and practice, particularly in long-term care and community settings.

Research interests include malnutrition prevention, dementia care, and policy development for aging populations. She has collaborated on international consensus guidelines (e.g., GLIM criteria) and co-developed programs like the DREAM Toolkit to support persons with dementia. Her studies often address nutrition risk factors, social determinants of health, and healthcare provider training.

Key contributions include advancing malnutrition care pathways in hospitals and evaluating interventions like EMBOLDEN for mobility and hydration programs. She advises on graduate studies and has supervised numerous students in nutrition and aging-related topics.