The aim of the biennial event is to share new inventions and rehabilitation methods and explore how they can be used to advance care for patients
Several KITE scientists and trainees will be heavily featured this week at the 10th National Spinal Cord Injury Conference, which gets underway on Tuesday at the Beanfield Centre in Toronto.
The biennial event is hosted by the Canadian Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Association (CSCI-RA) and provides a platform to share and discuss new inventions and rehabilitation methods in the field of SCI.
Frontline clinicians, researchers, health systems leaders, representatives from community stakeholder organizations, and people with lived experience from across Canada are expected to attend the conference, which aims to advance and improve the level of care provided to patients.
”Gathering as a community to share our perspectives on what is exciting, what is working well, and what we can collectively do better is critical to our mission of improving patient care,” said Dr. Cathy Craven, who is Chair of the CSCI-RA, team lead of KITE’s SCI team, medical director of the Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Program at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and a professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Toronto.
“Although, we are geographically spread out, the SCI community is a strong social network with a legacy of rallying around what is important to the field and the patients we serve.”
Scientist Dr. Kristin Musselman and scientific trainee Anita Kaiser are among those from KITE’s large SCI research community who will be participating in the conference.
The pair is scheduled to facilitate a workshop that aims to enhance the quality of SCI research and clinical practice through the meaningful engagement of key interest groups, such as those with lived experience, healthcare administrators, and policy experts.
“This workshop brings together engagement leaders from across the country to share strategies and tips to meaningfully engage clinicians and people with lived experience in research, which ultimately leads to better healthcare solutions, “said Dr. Musselman, who is the scientific planning committee chair of the conference, associate lead for KITE’s SCI team, and assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at UofT.
Among the special events at the conference is speed mentorship event where attendees will have an opportunity to connect with leaders in industry, clinical care and research from across Canada as well as an event designed to help scientific trainees learn strategies to address common challenges.
“It is vitally important that trainees and early career scientists have a chance to collaborate, as well develop their presentations skills, and build their networking skills as these opportunities were rare during COVID,” said Dr. Craven.
Registration for the conference is available here.