Karen Wong
Karen Lok Yi Wong is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia (UBC) School of Social Work. She received her MA in social policy at the University of York, the United Kingdom and her Master of Social Work at UBC, Canada. Her research interests include ageing and cultural, racial, immigration, and language diversity, the experience of people living with dementia, and aging and technology. She is a recipient of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Award and Age-Well Michael F. Harcourt Policy Fellowship.
Karen is affiliated with the UBC Centre for Research on Personhood in Dementia (CRPD) as a research trainee, UBC Innovation for Dementia and Aging (IDEA) Lab as a project manager, UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs as the Liu scholar on social policy, and Simon Fraser University Science and Technology for Aging Research (STAR) Institute as a research scholar.
Karen is a registered social worker in British Columbia, Canada and has been practicing in diverse settings related to older adults, such as community senior services centre, long-term care, geriatric acute care, and rehabilitation program. She is currently practising as a social worker with Providence Healthcare.
Karen serves in the Seniors Community of Practice and Anti-racist and Actions Committee of the British Columbia Association of Social Workers. She is a long-term volunteer of Alzheimer’s Society BC as a family support group facilitator and educator. She is the recipient of the Inspiring Social Worker of the Year in British Columbia 2021, which acknowledged her contribution to her advocacy work with people with dementia from diverse cultural communities.