Denise Connelly is an Associate Professor in the School of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences at Western University and the Associate Vice Provost, Academic Planning, Policy and Faculty. Optimizing independent mobility of older adults is central to her research program. Through individual research projects her aim is to understand selected contributing factors to independent mobility for older adults in their lived space.

Underpinning the selection of contributing factors to mobility is a focus on those that can be influenced through rehabilitation. Factors that can be influenced from a rehabilitation lens are conceptualized as individual to older adults (e.g., physical attributes, cognition, behaviour), physical activity programs (e.g., accessibility, attributes) and health care providers (e.g., referral, influence, intervention). To address independence in mobility of older adults, she has led exercise intervention studies, explorations of lived experiences of age-related mobility decline, development of clinical measures for mobility assessment, investigation of factors influencing participation in community-based physical activity programs for improved mobility, and most recently, resilience of healthcare workers providing care to older adults to maintain mobility. Dr Connelly has supervised 24 graduate students to completion and published over 55 peer-reviewed papers.