Shira Moalem
Ph.D .Student: University of Toronto
M.A.R: Yale University
B.A. Summa Cum Laude, York University
Shira Moalem is a second year student in the FIFSW Doctoral Program. Shira has over twelve years of experience working with a wide spectrum of populations in a variety of clinical contexts. For several years, Shira worked in a respite program for children across the autistic spectrum as well as working with developmentally differently-abled adults in residential care homes in Toronto. After graduating from York University in 2006, Shira was awarded a Marquand Scholarship to study at Yale University where she pursued her interdisciplinary Masters of Arts in Religion Degree. She completed coursework across the university, specializing in pastoral counselling and end of life counselling at the Yale School of Nursing. Shira went on to work as the Director of a center for Older Adults in NYC where in addition to her duties as director, she served as the mental health service provider on site, which involved providing referral services, older adult mental health screenings, facilitating a weekly bereavement group and conducting self-care workshops for front-life staff at partnering agencies.
For her doctoral research program, Shira is interested in exploring the lived experience of LGBTQ older adults who are caring for their life-partners that have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and related Dementias. She is the recent recipient of a 3-year Alzheimer’s Society of Canada Doctoral Award and FIFSW Ph.D. Program Student Leadership Award.
In her spare time, Shira is an avid hiker and lover of the culinary arts.