Overground exoskeleton gait and balance training as a multimorbidity approach towards integratable rehabilitation outcomes in SCI
Speaker: Dr. Wagner H. Souza
Abstract
Biography
Dr. Wagner H. Souza is a Scientific Associate at Lyndhurst Centre (Toronto Rehabilitation Institute), where he coordinates the implementation of the Lyndhurst exoskeleton-based clinic for integrated care in spinal cord injury. Dr. Souza is a Physical Therapist, he obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees from UFRN in Brazil, and his Neuroscience PhD from McGill University in Canada. Wagner also received postgraduate training in orthopedic trauma rehabilitation (UFRN) and clinical research design and implementation (Harvard University). He then completed three postdoctoral fellowships including: Medical Innovation and Solution Translation (Western University - University of Minnesota, jointly), Neuro-otologic Rehabilitation (Johns Hopkins University) and Integrative Robotic Rehabilitation for SCI (KITE -- University Health Network). With over a decade of experience in clinical research, Wagner's work is focused on strategies to characterize and improve human sensorimotor integration, mostly addressing the ability to control locomotion, gaze and postural balance in neurologic and aging populations. As a chronic patient living with advanced spinal ankylosing spondylitis himself, Wagner's personal mission is to collaboratively work with multiple stakeholders, particularly other individuals with lived experience, to develop and translate innovative and precise models of care, while facilitating information access to empower healthcare users as essential agents of their own successful rehabilitation narrative.