Dr. Ali Bateman is a physiatrist at Parkwood Institute and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University.  She is also an Associate Scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute, and the Quality Improvement Lead in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

Dr. Bateman completed her medical degree and residency training at Western University, and is currently completing a master’s degree in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety through the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She is also certified by the Canadian Society of Clinical Neurophysiologists and holds the designation of CSCN Diplomate (EMG). As a consultant physiatrist, Dr. Bateman provides care in acquired brain injury and spinal cord injury rehabilitation programs and the electrodiagnostic laboratory at Parkwood Institute.

Her research interests centre on quality improvement, patient safety, and knowledge translation with the aim of achieving best practices so that all persons with spinal cord and/or brain injury receive the best quality care.

Amanda McIntyre is a Registered Nurse, a PhD candidate and the senior nursing-researcher in Dr. Robert Teasell’s Collaboration of Rehabilitation Research lab at Parkwood Institute. Ms. McIntyre is also a practicing Registered Nurse in emergency medicine at London Health Sciences Center. Her research is primarily rooted in neurorehabilitation, specifically stroke, spinal cord injury, and brain injury populations, for which she is the London coordinator for the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Evidence Based Review.

Her mobility and activity interests in relation to neurorehabilitation are largely related to the exploration of adjunct therapies for stroke rehabilitation, the development of predictive models for post-stroke spasticity impairment and treatment, the implementation of clinical practice guidelines in neurorehabilitation, and the evaluation of physical activity and self-management interventions for individuals with spinal cord injury, among others. Ms. McIntyre has received numerous awards including the Lawson Health Research Institute Leadership award, the Registered Nurses Foundation of Ontario Leadership award, and Canada’s most prestigious graduate student award – the CIHR Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship.    
 

Dr. Caitlin Cassidy is a physiatrist at Parkwood Institute and an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and is also cross appointed to the Department of Paediatrics. Her primary clinical and research roles revolve around the Transitional and Lifelong Care (TLC) program at Parkwood Institute. The TLC program provides longitudinal rehabilitative care to adolescents and adults living with a physical disability of childhood onset, many of whom experience mobility challenges and may struggle to find accessible opportunities to increase their fitness and activity levels.

Dr. Cassidy’s research interests include the natural history and long-term outcomes of people with these conditions, and collaborates closely with Dr. Laura Brunton from the School of Physical Therapy at Western University to determine the impacts that access to activity and wellness programming have on pain, fatigue and other outcomes for people with cerebral palsy and spina bifida. Dr. Cassidy also acts as the discipline lead for Musculoskeletal Medicine in undergraduate medical education at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University.  

Dalton Wolfe is a Scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute, an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Science and leads the Research 2 Practice (R2P) team, which is a unique research program within Parkwood Institute that focuses on strategies for generating evidence and implementing best practice within rehabilitation. Professor Wolfe’s primary research interest is in the area of knowledge mobilization and best practice implementation with a focus on physical activity and activity-based therapies in spinal cord injury and brain injury rehabilitation.

Professor Wolf also co-leads the Ontario SCI Implementation, Evaluation and Quality Care Consortium, which focuses on implementation of quality indicators towards the enhancement of care across the 5 academic health centres involved in SCI rehabilitation in Ontario. As part of the Parkwood Rehabilitation Innovations in Mobility Enhancement initiative (PRIME), Professor Wolfe is focused on enhancing clinical decision-making to improve locomotor and other movement-related outcomes with activity-based therapies such as robotic, manual and FES-assisted therapies. As with many of the R2P initiatives this involves implementation science and participatory research methods to put in place practice-based research infrastructure that enables iterative knowledge generation as well as implementation. Trainees work alongside clinicians, administrators and persons with lived experience to tackle clinically relevant questions.

Dr. Eldon Loh is a Physiatrist at Parkwood Institute and an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University. He completed residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Alberta in 2010 and a clinical fellowship in interventional pain management in 2011. His research interests include improving the management of chronic neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury, and the development of novel and improved techniques for interventional pain management of axial spine pain.

He is Chair of the panel that developed and updates the Canadian Best Practice Guidelines for Neuropathic Pain after spinal cord injury and works with international partners to improve point-of-care tools for implementing the guidelines. His interventional pain research focuses heavily on a bench to bedside approach, utilizing anatomical findings to inform clinical practice. He has also examined the impact of Ontario’s healthcare utilization of different interventional procedures such as radiofrequency ablation and paravertebral nerve blocks.

Dr. Heather MacKenzie is a physiatrist at Parkwood Institute and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University. She completed her residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Western University and subsequently earned a Master’s of Science degree in Epidemiology at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

Her research program focuses on predicting outcomes after concussion/mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Although concussions/mTBIs are common and the majority of symptoms resolve within three months, a significant proportion of individuals remain symptomatic beyond one year. These persistent symptoms result in mobility challenges and reduced participation in instrumental activities of daily living as well as vocational and leisure activities. Dr. MacKenzie’s current research focuses on identifying patients that are at high-risk for developing persistent symptoms from concussion/mTBI so that interventions can be prioritized and rehabilitation services can be quickly mobilized. Early intervention for those expected to have a prolonged recovery has the potential to alter their trajectory and optimize their potential for a positive outcome and may also reduce the occurrence of persistent symptoms and decrease secondary disability related to their injury.

Dr. Jamie Fleet is a physiatrist at Parkwood Institute and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University. Dr. Fleet completed medical school as well as residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at McMaster University. She is currently enrolled in a Master’s program in Clinical Epidemiology through the Health Research Methodology program at McMaster University with a focus on fracture treatment and prevention in older patients after stroke. Her primary clinical area of focus is in stroke rehabilitation.

Though still early in her career, Dr. Fleet has developed a strong research background, primarily focusing on drug safety studies in older adults using large data through ICES. Her other research interests include exercise and health promotion/prevention strategies in patients after stroke, as well as fall prevention strategies and pain management. "            

Janelle Unger is an Assistant Professor in the School of Physical Therapy at Western University and a registered physiotherapist. Professor Unger's research focus is on optimizing recovery following neurological injury. She investigates the effectiveness of novel interventions to improve gait and balance with kinetic, kinematic, and clinical outcomes. Professor Unger is also interested in evaluating service delivery and community programs for individuals with chronic injuries as well as understanding the lived experiences of people with neurological conditions using qualitative data. Her goal is to create a program that will focus on enhancing lifelong mobility and participation in physical activity for people with chronic neurological conditions.

Dr. Jaspreet Bhangu, is a geriatrician at Parkwood Institute and an Assistant Professor within the Division of Geriatric Medicine in the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University. He graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland in 2004. He completed his specialist training in Internal and Geriatric Medicine in Ireland in 2016. He completed a PhD in Medical Gerontology with Trinity College Dublin in 2017 studying falls and syncope in older adults and then completed a clinical fellowship with the University of Toronto. He also holds a Master’s degree in Bioethics and Health. He has extensive experience in human intervention research and his research interests include cardiac causes of falls, orthostatic hypotension and autonomic dysfunction, vascular contributions to cognitive decline and digital medicine.

Dr. Jenny Thain is a geriatrician at Parkwood Institute and an Assistant Professor within the Division of Geriatric Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University.  Dr. Thain completed a Master’s degree in Health Professions Education through the University of Maastricht and completed her medical training at the University of Nottingham, sub-specializing in orthogeriatric medicine.  

Her areas of clinical interest include osteoporosis and bone health, with a particular interest in orthogeriatric care.  She is the Chair of the Canadian Geriatrics Society Osteoporosis and Bone Health Special Interest Group, a member of the Osteoporosis Canada Scientific Advisory Council and Fragility Fracture Network Scientific Committee and the Geriatric clinical lead of the Hip Fracture Unit at Victoria Hospital, London.