Researcher and teacher Bonita (Bonnie) Sawatzky is passionate about all things wheeled, and making research practical. An Associate Professor in Orthopaedics at the University of British Columbia, in the Spine Division; and a Principal Investigator at ICORD (International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries), she focuses on the physiological and biomechanical effects of wheelchair propulsion to decrease pain, fatigue and long-term overuse injuries, in adults and children. She also help to bring together therapists, engineers, student and physicians, from around the world, to present ideas, innovations and research to improve mobility at the bi-annual International Seating Symposium.

In this second of a two part interview, she talks about her work on a ‘smart’ chair, unexpected research findings, and the importance of teaching medical students new ways of thinking.

Researcher and teacher Bonita (Bonnie) Sawatzky is passionate about all things wheeled, and making research practical. An Associate Professor in Orthopaedics at the University of British Columbia, in the Spine Division; and a Principal Investigator at ICORD (International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries), she focuses on the physiological and biomechanical effects of wheelchair propulsion to decrease pain, fatigue and long-term overuse injuries, in adults and children. She also help to bring together therapists, engineers, student and physicians, from around the world, to present ideas, innovations and research to improve mobility at the bi-annual International Seating Symposium.

In this first of a two part interview, she talks about becoming a researcher, and the quest for inventive mobility solutions.

Jaynie Yang has a passion for the complex systems at play in brain and body work that enables humans to walk. A professor and researcher at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine - the only free-standing faculty of rehabilitation in Canada and a research leader in musculoskeletal health, spinal cord injuries and common spinal disorders – she is focused on teaching some people with spinal cord injury how to walk again.

As a member of RHI’s Translational Research Advisory Committee, Access to Care and Timing initiative and the Knowledge Mobilization Network, Dr. Anthony Burns provides invaluable expertise and insight to the development and evaluation of our research programs. He was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia) and Assistant Director of the Regional SCI Center of the Delaware Valley – during which time, he was also appointed an adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine. In 2007, Dr. Burns joined the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute as the Medical Director of the Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Program, the largest programof its kind in Canada. He also holds a faculty appointment as an Associate Professor in the Division of Physiatry, Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on prognosis and outcomes following traumatic SCI, strategies for the prevention and treatment of secondary complications, andthe importance of delivery models and systems to health maintenance following SCI.

Amir Rasheed’s eclectic background in clinical practice, government, information technology and quality improvement may seem disparate.  But at the heart of all his work experiences is an enthusiastic desire to influence change that helps people. Now, according to him, he has the best job ever.

In this interview, he talks about one of the Institute’s best practice implementation projects in secondary complications -- the Knowledge Mobilization Network -- now being implemented at six sites across Canada.