Debra Sheets, Ph.D., MSN, RN, FAAN

Debra Sheets is a Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Victoria, where she is also a research affiliate with the Institute on Aging and Lifelong Health. She received her doctorate in Gerontology and Public Policy from the University of Southern California. Dr. Sheets is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), the Gerontological Society of America and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE). Her research interests focus on reducing stigma and social isolation with dementia, caregiving, and humanities and arts in aging. Dr. Sheets is one of the lead researchers for the Voices in Motion Choir—an intergenerational choir for people with dementia and care partners. Recently she founded Memory Café Victoria--a welcoming place for persons with dementia and their care partners for making friends, learning, and creative engagement. She is currently leading the Momentia Victoria initiative-- a grassroots collaboration among community organizations to empower persons with memory loss and their care partners to remain active and engaged in the community by creating a variety of dementia-friendly opportunities. She has been published in peer-reviewed journals that include the Journal of Aging, Humanities and the Arts, International Journal of the Humanities, The Gerontologist, the International Journal of the Arts in Society, and Generations.