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Benjamin Canter, OTD

Email: bcanter@bu.edu

Dr. Benjamin Canter is Principal Investigator of the Microtransitions in Care Lab. He completed his undergraduate education at Skidmore College and doctoral training in occupational therapy at Boston University. Prior to founding the Microtransitons in Care Lab, Dr. Canter served as a Research Associate in the Center for Health Optimization & Implementation Research at the Veteran’s Health Administration in Boston. Concurrently with his leadership role in the lab, Dr. Canter is furthering his training as a PhD student at the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University. He is a member of multiple national organizations and sits on the Clinical Practice Steering Committee of the Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association (PALTmed).

From his childhood through college, Dr. Canter volunteered at a local nursing home near where he grew up. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Dr. Canter began conducting research to focus on how COVID-19 impacted the functional independence and care transitions of nursing home residents. As more research came out about the impact of COVID-19 on not just large transitions but smaller outings (i.e., visitation and travel restrictions), Dr. Canter’s research interests evolved to focus on microtransitions. Now co-leading the Microtransitions in Care Lab, Dr. Canter studies how these small but critical handoffs reveal larger systemic issues in communication, safety, and care quality. His research program on care transitions seeks to bridge the gap between research and practice by developing evidence-informed strategies that make coordination safer, smoother, and more humane for older adults and the teams who care for them.

Fun Fact:

Dr. Canter used to be the youngest Zumba instructor in the world!

Selected Publications:

  • Green, A., Palat, S., Longobardi, I., Fields, B., Gillespie, S., Kaba, D., Villegas, A., Galik, E., Levy, C., Bergman, C., Resnick, B., Steinberg, K., Eber, L., Falvey, J., Pagali, S., Kalender-Rich, J., Parulekar, M., Cai, C., Walker, J., Hector, P., Bomberger, C., Davidson, H.E., Canter, B. (2025). Barriers and facilitators to best practices in microtransitions in care: A qualitative study. JAMDA. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105897

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  • Canter, B., Palat, S., Boockvar, K., Resnick, B., Falvey, J., Fields, B., Levy, C., Steinberg, K., Pagali, S., Longobardi, I., Gillespie, S., Bergman, C., Kaba, D., Villegas, A., Eber, L., Kalender-Rich, J., Davidson, H.E., Cai, C., Walker, J., Parulekar, M., Hector, P., Bomberger, C., Green, A. (2025). Best practices for microtransitions in care—An emerging classification of care transitions: A consensus statement. JAMDA. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105898

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  • Linsky, A., Canter, B., Glickman, M., Qian, S., Ryan, S., Still, M., Fried, T., Newman, J., & Wiener, R. (2025). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on national trends in outpatient goals of care conversations in the Veterans Health Administration, 2019-2023. JAMA Network Open, 8(6), e2515980. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.15980

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  • Canter, B., Goebel, R., Kulkarni, V., Mak, W., Falvey, J., & Boockvar, K. (2024). Associations between eating, mobility, and toileting functional dependence and COVID-19 Symptoms. JAMDA, 25(2), 342-347.E4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2023.11.012

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  • Canter, B., Raschen, L., Weerahandi, H., Mak, W., Burack, O., Reinhardt, J., Escher, A., Boockvar, K. (2023). Amount of physical, occupational, and speech therapy received by COVID-19 patients in a skilled nursing facility: A retrospective cohort study. JAMDA, 24(4), 459-461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2023.01.010

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  • Boockvar, K., Mak, W., Burack, O., Canter, B., Reinhardt, J., Spinner, R., Farber, J., Weerahandi, H. (2021). Co-occurring dehydration and cognitive impairment during COVID-19 in long-term care patients. JAMDA, 22(11), 2270-2271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2021.09.002

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  • Weerahandi, H., Mak, W., Burack, O., Canter, B., Reinhardt, J., & Boockvar, K. (2021). Discharge practices in skilled nursing facilities affected by COVID-19. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 69(9), 2437-2439. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.17228

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