Dr. Savundranayagam completed her bachelor’s degree from the Combined Honours Program in Arts & Science and Psychology at McMaster University in Canada. She earned her Masters and Ph.D. in Gerontology, with a concentration in Health Care Outcomes Management and Research, at the University of Kansas. She also completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Western Ontario in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Dr. Savundranayagam’s research focuses on improving caregiving relationships through enhanced communication, identifying ways to enhance personhood for individuals with dementia, and uncovering the mechanisms by which caregiver interventions are effective. She received the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s ‘Age Plus’ Award for her work on communication problems and burden among family caregivers. Her research has been funded by the Hartford Foundation and the international grants program at the Alzheimer's Association. Dr. Savundranayagam is part of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging. She recently implemented a person-centered communication training program for personal support workers (health care aids) of home care clients with dementia, which is funded by the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation. Dr. Savundranayagam serves as associate editor for the Clinical Gerontologist and is on the editorial boards of Educational Gerontology, Journal of Family Communication, and Social Work in Health Care. She teaches courses on health and aging in the School of Health Studies at Western University.