Samantha Sandassie is the Director, Education and Training at AGE-WELL NCE. She has been pivotal in the development, delivery and evaluation of the EPIC program since the network's inception in 2015. In this role, she has oversight of the network’s strategic and operational plans, human resources, and budgetary decisions as they relate to the training program. This includes: workshop and course development, mentorship and internship programs, recruitment and retention, awards and scholarships, stakeholder management, and tracking and reporting on key performance indicators. She has also conducted and published research on training impactful health researchers in AgeTech. Prior to joining AGE-WELL, Prior to joining AGE-WELL, she completed a PhD at Queen’s University where she taught undergraduate courses in medical and intellectual history and was recognized for both teaching excellence and commitment to postsecondary education.