The Department has much to celebrate as we’ve learned that two of our faculty were recently awarded grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Dr. Ben Mortenson, Assistant Professor, was funded for a project titled “Systematic, Comprehensive, One-to-One Training (SCOOT) for Scooter Skills.” This 3-year, mixed-method, RCT, will determine if a novel scooter skills training program is safe and useful. The study utilizes an integrated knowledge translation approach that not only involves academic researchers, but also a team of scooter prescribers and users in the development of the research questions, interventions and study design. This operating grant was one of only 383 projects (success rate = 7%) approved for funding in the highly competitive application process. Congratulations to Ben on this tremendous achievement!
Dr. Jill Zwicker, Assistant Professor, was funded for a 5-year Foundation grant for her research program titled “Using Brain Imaging to Determine Predictors of Developmental Coordination Disorder and Response to Intervention.” This program aims to identify clinical risk factors, brain biomarkers, and patterns of motor development in early childhood that predict DCD in children born preterm, and will also evaluate effects of rehabilitation on the brain and functional outcomes, and describe psychosocial functioning and quality of life of affected children. The success rate for new investigators in this competition was only 4% nationwide, and the Department is incredibly proud that Jill was recognized for her innovative program of research so early in her career.
Kudos to both Ben and Jill for their success!