Sukhvinder Kalsi-Ryan

Dr. Kalsi-Ryan is a Clinician Scientist in the field of neurological rehabilitation with a special interest in upper limb assessment, recovery, neurorestoration and spine pathology at KITE Research Institute-UHN, and is also Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Department of Physical Therapy. Her research is oriented to establishing methods to quantify neurological change after injury and studying neuro-restorative methods to enhance and optimize function for those with neurological impairment. Her current role is as the PI of the Upper Extremity Neuro-Restorative Innovations Lab and lead of the KITE Rehabilitation and Innovations Clinics. Her role is to continue building a strong research foundation that will propel the clinics, while enhancing access to care for patients with neurotrauma, acquired brain and spinal cord injury and neurodegenerative impairments, and implementing new innovations and technologies. 

At KITE Clinics there is an intense interest in non-invasive neuro-modulation techniques (NI-NMT) that are approved in Canada, as well as discovery science related to development of emerging NI-NMT. The KITE Innovations and Rehabilitation Clinics are poised to function at the intersection of discovery, commercialization and implementation. Currently Dr. Kalsi-Ryan is leading the process to establish a Center of Excellence in Non-Invasive Neuro-Modulation that will be managed within the KITE Clinics. This center will provide a venue to educate clinicians, patients and support referrers in accessing many of these new and experimental rehab approaches. 

Dr. Kalsi-Ryan provides academic teaching within the Neurosurgical Resident training, Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, Institute of Medical Sciences and Physical Therapy programs at the University of Toronto. She is the founder of her own company, which manufactures the GRASSP and she herself,   acts as a consultant to device and pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Her interests include: outcome measurement, upper limb recovery, traumatic and non traumatic SCI, quantification of neurological disorders, implementation of new discoveries, accelerating discovery to commercialization and sustainability of research enterprises.