Dr Louise Lafortune

Dr Lafortune's research seeks to develop a body of evidence to help older people retain independence and quality of life in their communities. Her work involves understanding the drivers of poor physical and mental health and inequalities in older age; identifying priorities for action by engaging with communities; evaluating interventions using diverse routine data sources and tailored data collection; and building capacity for evidence-based public health policy and practice.

Her current work includes projects on the use of routinely collected data to improve health in disadvantaged communities, and a long-standing research programme aimed at developing the evidence base on the impact and social value of Age Friendly and Dementia Community initiatives. She is currently funded by NIHR as Principal Investigator (PI) for both the School for Public Health Research (SPHR) and the Social Return on Investment of Age Friendly Communities research programme. She is also Principal researcher in the Population Evidence and Data Science theme for the Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) East of England, UK.

Louise holds a dual PhD in Public Health and a background that includes eight years of industry engagement in health economics and outcomes research, and twelve more in applied public health and ageing research.