Dr. Michelle Nelson believes health care should be built to reflect the expectations and beliefs of the citizens it serves, not designed around institutions and then extended outward to meet them. Her research asks how community organizations and volunteers can be woven into the health system as a reflection of that belief, closing the gap between the connected care people expect and the fragmented care they often experience. She holds a PhD in Pharmacy focused on models of person- and community-centred care, and trained originally as a sociologist and a Recreation Therapist. She is a Full Professor at the University of Ottawa’s School of Epidemiology and Public Health, a Senior Investigator at the Bruyère Health Research Institute, where she leads the Care in Common Living Lab, a Vice President of the World Stroke Organization, and Joint Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Integrated Care.