LOCAL ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Dr. Andrei Krassioukov is a Professor at the Department of Medicine, UBC and Associate Director of the International Collaboration on Repair Discovery (ICORD). Dr. Krassioukov holds an endowed Chair in Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Research and is a physician at GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre. His research focuses on autonomic dysfunctions following spinal cord injury (SCI).

Dr. Brian Kwon, MD, FRCSC, PhD is a surgeon-scientist and Professor in the UBC Department of Orthopaedics with advanced training in spine surgery. As a neuroscientist and Principal Investigator at ICORD, Dr. Kwon runs an active basic/translational research laboratory. He also serves as the Associate Director, Clinical Research, for ICORD and is the Director of Research for the Vancouver Spine Research Program.

Dr. Cathy Craven, MD, FRCP is the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute/ University of Toronto Chair in Spinal Cord Injury SCI Rehabilitation and Associate Professor in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She is Senior Scientist and Team Leader of the Neural Engineering and Therapeutics Research Team at KITE and Medical Director of the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program at University Health Network.

Dr. Chris McBride, PhD is Executive Director of SCI BC and has over 20 years experience as a spinal cord injury researcher, research centre executive, volunteer, and now community service leader in the SCI sector.  He has served as managing director of ICORD and executive director of translational research at the Rick Hansen Institute.

Dr. Colleen O’Connell, MD, FRCPC specializes in neuro-rehabilitation, and is Research Chief at New Brunswick’s Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation and Clinical Research Director of University of New Brunswick Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Her broad-ranging research include treatment and applied technologies for mobility impairments and function, pain and spasticity management, and development of best practice recommendations.

Dr. Laurent Bouyer, PhD is a Professor and Director of the Neuroscience Research Center at Laval University. Laurent’s research focusses on understanding the neural control of movement, improving clinical assessments using wearable sensors, and using robotic technologies for rehabilitation after SCI. He works in interdisciplinary teams that combine health sciences and engineering.

Dr. Michael Fehlings, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FACS is a Professor of Neurosurgery and Vice Chair Research in the Department of Surgery. He combines an active clinical practice in complex spinal surgery at the Toronto Western Hospital with a translationally oriented research program focused on discovering novel treatments for the injured spinal cord.

Tara Jeji MD, MBA, works as independent Health and Research implementation consultant and owns her own company T. Jejiconsulting Inc. As a person living with spinal cord injury for 29 years, she has lived experience and knowledge of needed goods and services to live in the community for individuals with spinal cord injuries and their families.

Dr. Vanessa Noonan, PhD, PT is the Director of Research & Best Practice Implementation at Praxis Spinal Cord Institute and oversees the Cure and Care Programs. Vanessa works with SCI stakeholders to implement and embed patient-centred approaches to facilitate the translation of SCI health research, innovations and best practices. 

Dr. Wolfram Tetzlaff is Director of ICORD and Professor in the Departments of Zoology and Surgery at the University of British Columbia. He also holds the Rick Hansen Man in Motion Chair in Spinal Cord Research. He obtained his MD at the University of Essen, completed his Dr. Med. at Ruhr-University Bochum and PhD at the University of Calgary.

John Chernesky is the Consumer Lead at Praxis Spinal Cord Institute. With over 25 years of lived experience of SCI, John works closely with SCI consumers to ensure research is addressing their priorities. As a recognized leader in engagement and integrated knowledge translation, John has advised funding agencies on their engagement policies.

Scott Donia, MSc is the Knowledge Exchange Lead at Praxis Spinal Cord Institute.

He completed his Master’s under the supervision of Dr. David Ditor at Brock University where he explored the role of inflammatory markers on mood during bouts of acute exercise. He also provided individualized exercise programs for individuals with SCI, MS, and lower limb amputations at the accessible exercise lab, Power Cord.