Bradford McFadyen, PhD
Title of talk: “How our environment moves us: anticipatory locomotor adjustments and the role of immersive technology to study, evaluate and train them”
Dr. McFadyen is a Professor within the Department of Rehabilitation at Université Laval, as well as a researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration (CIRRIS). He is also a Research Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research. Dr. McFadyen’s research program spans from basic to applied work related to walking and mobility in healthy and pathological populations. Basic work strives to understand how locomotion is adapted to daily environments across adulthood as well as following injury and trauma. This research involves the use of virtual reality to control environmental characteristics and social contexts. On the applied side, he endeavors to apply evidence to design protocols within both real and virtual environments to help clinicians better assess function and expose residual deficits in order to make better decisions about return to function.
Judy Pa, PhD
Title of talk: “Using Virtual Reality to Promote Brain Health in Older Adults”
Dr. Judy Pa is an Associate Professor and Cognitive Neuroscientist at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, CA. Dr. Pa has 20 years of human neuroimaging experience and directs a research lab dedicated to Alzheimer’s prevention. The primary focus of Dr. Pa’s work is to develop and test new multi-domain combination interventions using technology, such as virtual reality and remote activity monitoring, with the goal of preserving brain health and cognition. Dr. Pa is a Project Leader of USC’s Program Project Grant on Vascular Contributions to Alzheimer’s disease and the Imaging Core Co-Director of USC’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center. She leads 2 ongoing randomized, controlled intervention trials with a focus on physical and cognitive activities in older adults. Dr. Pa’s work is supported by the National Institutes of Health, USA.
Philippe Archambault, OT, PhD
Title of talk: “Virtual reality for wheelchair skill training”
Philippe Archambault is an occupational therapist and Professor at the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University. His research is carried out at the Interdisciplinary Research Center in Rehabilitation, Montreal, Canada. His work focuses on the use of technology for the rehabilitation of physical disabilities. Specifically, he is involved in the development and testing of a simulator for the training of manual and power wheelchair skills. In other work, he is looking at the effectiveness of robotic-based therapy, combined with VR, to improve arm function in people with stroke. Philippe Archambault has been a recipient of the Hugh & Hellen McPherson Memorial salary award from McGill University, a Senior Researcher salary award from the Quebec Research Funds and the Rosemary W. Brown prize from McGill University.
