This workshop will support trainee success in their interactions with prospective participants and individuals enrolled in research studies with respect to recruitment and communication strategies, as well as physical safety considerations. Unique approaches and insights will also be offered to trainees coming from non-clinical backgrounds who have less experience engaging with patients/participants.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/supporting-safe-effective-research-participant-interactions-tickets-77124255725

Dr. Jennifer Campos: CEAL's Chief Scientist and Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Multisensory Integration and Aging. She is also Academic Associate Director at Toronto rehab and an Associate Professor in the department of psychology at University of Toronto. She examines how the human brain integrates different sensory signals (visual, auditory, proprioceptive, vestibular) by studying several different populations (eg, younger adults, older adults and high-level athletes), and by using behavioural measures and computational models. Using Virtual Reality and motion simulation technologies, her research understands how multisensory processes are affected by locomotor challenges and how multisensory training tools can be used to improve performance.

Chris Channon: With over 30 years’ experience as a successful business owner, Chris made the decision several years ago to devote his life to humanitarian work. While travelling overseas on vacation, He was the victim of a vicious attack that left him a quadriplegic. Having received direct benefit and “future hope” from the services of both the medical and research communities, Chris hopes to “give back” to the people who have so impacted his life. Currently he is serving as a peer mentor with Spinal Cord Injury Ontario; as well as, a patient partner with UHN.

Kara Patterson: Dr. Patterson is a physiotherapist (Queen’s University), an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and a Scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. She practiced clinically in the neurological field in Canada and the US before returning to Canada to complete her PhD at the University of Toronto and postdoctoral training at McGill University. Dr. Patterson leads the RELEARN lab (http://www.relearnlab.ca/) which strives to advance neurorehabilitation practice in order to improve gait and mobility outcomes for individuals living with neurological conditions and in particular stroke. Her research interests include motor learning after neurologic injury and rehabilitation of gait using novel strategies including rhythm and dance.

Louise Brisbois: Manager, Central Recruitment (HBA, APMR), Lead the TRI Research Patient Recruitment initiative. Our goal is to ensure opportunities for patients to learn about and participate in research, and to ensure that research scientists have equitable access to potential participants and achieve their sample size. I manage the Patient Research Liaisons who recruit on behalf of scientists, and manage the contracts and finances related to these services. I am also a Clinical Research Coordinator for a longitudinal national Spinal Cord Injury Registry as part of the Neural Engineering & Therapeutics team.

Andrea Bandini: Dr. Bandini has been a postdoctoral research fellow at KITE @ University Health Network since September 2016, working with the Neural Engineering & Therapeutics (NET) and Communication Teams. His research aims to develop novel and objective tools for the assessment and rehabilitation of motor signs associated with neurological disorders (Parkinson’s disease, stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal cord injury), by using computer vision and machine learning techniques. Dr. Bandini received his PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Bologna (Italy) in 2016. His research lies at the intersection of computer vision, biomedical signal processing, rehabilitation engineering, and speech science with a focus on neurological diseases and issues in human communication.