Safura Syed

Assistant Professor

Evaristus 319

Safurasyed1@msvu.ca

Phone: 902-457-6231

 

Education:

PhD, Kinesiology and Health Sciences (Aging, Health, and Wellbeing) (successfully defended July 2026; conferral pending)

University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario

 

MSc. Applied Human Nutrition, with Internship Education Program (2021)

Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia

 

BScFN. (Honors Specialization), Nutrition and Dietetics (2015)

Western University, London, Ontario

 

Teaching Areas:

NUTR 3315 (NUTR-315L Lab) Food Service Systems

NUTR 3330 Food, Nutrition and Aging

NUTR 4417 Management and Entrepreneurship

GAHN 6755 Leadership in Food and Nutrition

GAHN 6735 Nutrition for Older Adults

Research Interests:

I recently defended my PhD dissertation, which explored cultural food provision for ethno-racially diverse residents in Ontario long-term care homes, under the supervision of Dr. Heather Keller in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo. I am passionate about nutrition in older adults, particularly their nutrition status, food intake, and mealtime experience. The broad goal of my research program is to improve access to culturally inclusive nutrition care across the continuum of care, including community, acute, long-term care settings.

Undergraduate or graduate student interested in this area of research are welcome to reach out by email to discuss opportunities.

Select Scholarly Publications:

Werden Abrams, S., Syed, S., Namasivayam-MacDonald, A., Aravind, R., Devlin, K., Liu, W., Lengyel, C., Gaspar, P., Mentes, J., Slaughter, S. E., Yoon, M. N., & Keller, H. (2026). Exploring Staff Perspectives on the Feasibility of Integrating the Environmental Components of a Novel Intervention for Hydration in Long-Term Care. International journal of older people nursing, 21(2), e70070. https://doi.org/10.1111/opn.70070

Keller, H. H., Aravind, R., Devlin, K., Syed, S., Werden Abrams, S., Lengyel, C., Yoon, M. N., Namasivayam-MacDonald, A., Slaughter, S. E., Gaspar, P., & Liu, W. (2024). Evaluation of the Staff Educational Components of the PROMOTE Program to Improve Resident Hydration. Nutrients, 16(22), 3861. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16223861

Syed, S., Devlin, K., Andrade, A., Flanagan, K., Bruyn-Martin, L., Millar, V., Brown, S., & Keller, H. (2024). Wet Your Whistle with Water (W3) to Improve Water Intake in Seniors’ Care. Journal of Long-Term Care, 107–121. https://doi.org/10.31389/jltc.219

Keller, H. H., Syed, S., Dakkak, H., Wu, S. A., & Volkert, D. (2022). Reimagining Nutrition Care and Mealtimes in Long-Term Care. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 23(2), 253–260.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2021.12.021

Mann, L., Syed, S., & Waugh, R. (2023). Dietitians Working in Continuing Care Facilities in Nova Scotia: Pre- and Post-COVID-19 First Wave. Canadian journal of dietetic practice and research : a publication of Dietitians of Canada = Revue canadienne de la pratique et de la recherche en dietetique : une publication des Dietetistes du Canada, 84(1), 33–37. https://doi.org/10.3148/cjdpr-2022-026

To view most up-to-date publication list, please visit:

https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=fMu_dLsAAAAJ&hl=en