The Scientist-in-Training Research Award is presented to a pre-doctoral candidate from a range of disciplines—including psychology, gerontology, epidemiology, etc.—who submitted the most outstanding abstract for the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting.
2025 Recipient: Aastha Relan, BHSc, MSc
The 2025 recipient of the Scientist-in-Training Research Award is Aastha Relan, a Master’s student in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University. In her recent study, “Capturing clinically meaningful change in frailty during inpatient rehabilitation using the Fit-Frailty App”, Ms. Relan is advancing frailty assessment and management through digital health solutions for older adults. Under the mentorship of Dr. Alexandra Papaioannou, Ms. Relan contributed to several projects at the Geras Centre for Aging Research, including a multi-site prospective cohort study on frailty in inpatient rehabilitation. As a co-design collaborator, her work on validating the Fit Frailty App aims to explore the use of frailty as an outcome measure of treatment response. Ms. Relan’s research interests also include virtual frailty interventions, such as GERAS Dance, demonstrating her commitment to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion for underserved older adults. Over the past 2 years alone, she has presented at 9 high-impact conferences. She has been awarded over $94,000 in funding and honours, including the CIHR-funded EPIC-AT Fellowship and CAN-TAP-TALENT Master’s Award. Ms. Relan is well-positioned as a future leader in geriatrics research and AgeTech innovation.
Past Recipients of the Scientist-in-Training Research Award
2025 Aastha Relan, BHSc, MSc
2024 Christina Reppas, MD
2023 Helen Omuya
2022 Chan Mi Park, MD
2021 Anabella Pinton
2020 Deborah Mack, MPH
2019 Minakshi Raj, MPH
2018 Joshua Niznik, PharmD
2017 Andrea E. Daddato, MS
2016 Andrew Zullo, PharmD, ScM
2015 Camilla B. Pimentel, MPH
2014 Rebecca H. Affoo, MCLScSLP
2013 Lolita Nidadavolu, BA
2012 Jillian Wong
2011 Jason L. Sanders, BA, MD/PhD Cand.
2010 David Wert
2009 Elisa Rodriguez, BS
2008 Danielle R. Bouchard, MS