Spine

Welcome to the Phillips Lab

We are a research lab at the University of Calgary interested in understanding and treating autonomic dysfunction in spinal cord injury

Dr. Aaron Phillips

Aaron Phillips, PhD (Medicine)

Associate Professor, University of Calgary

Departments of Physiology & Pharmacology | Clinical Neurosciences | Cardiac Sciences

Dr. Aaron Phillips is a distinguished scientist and academic whose training in Biosciences has enabled him to uncover the intricate relationships between the nervous and cardiovascular systems. With a keen understanding of how these interactions can be disrupted in clinical conditions, Dr. Phillips has devoted his research to developing innovative therapeutics for individuals with neurological health issues. During his post-doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Dr. Phillips was awarded prestigious fellowships from Banting, CIHR, NSERC, and Craig Neilsen, as well as the Killam Research Award. In 2017, he established his laboratory at the University of Calgary, where he currently serves as Associate Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology, Biomedical Engineering, Clinical Neurosciences, and Cardiac Sciences. Dr. Phillips has been honored with numerous accolades, including the Brain Canada Future Leader Award, The Arthur Guyton Award for Excellence in Physiology from the American Physiology, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation New Investigator Award. Avenue Magazine also acknowledged him as a "top-40-under-40". He publishes in top journals such as Nature, Neurology, Circulation Research. and Nature Biotechnology. He consults for a number of organizations and has successfully commercialized his discoveries through start-up and publicly traded companies.

Latest Podcasts

Listen to Dr. Phillips speak on a variety of exciting topics; from how he ensures productivity on research projects, to his lab's research on restoring hemodynamic stability after spinal cord injury.


Real Science with Aaron Phillips

This episode of Real Science features Dr. Aaron Phillips, an Assistant Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Calgary. His work combines integrated physiology and neuroscience in order to understand cardiovascular function in a number of pre-clinical and clinical models. This interview also addresses his recent work on hemodynamic instability as a result of spinal cord injury.

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Conveyor Belts of Progress with Dr. Aaron Phillips

We speak with Dr. Aaron Phillips who is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Physiology and Pharmacology, as well as Clinical Neurosciences at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Cardiac Science at the Libin Cardiovascular Institute at the University of Calgary. He shares his approach to ensuring forward progress in ongoing projects. Dr. Phillips also speaks to the opportunity available to investors in Canada when it comes to funding early research.

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Experimental Spinal Cord Injury and Orthostatic Hypotension

What is the causal relationship between high-level spinal cord injury, orthostatic hypotension and increased risk for cardiovascular disease? In this episode, Consulting Editor Patrick Osei-Owusu (Case Western Reserve University) interviews authors Christopher West (University of British Columbia) and Aaron Phillips (University of Calgary), along with expert Jill Wecht (James J. Peters VA Medical Center) about this topic.

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Restoring a Reflex

In a healthy person, your body automatically adjusts blood pressure constantly, and this adjustment is governed by what’s called the baroreflex. However, a spinal cord injury can disrupt this reflex, which has both short term consequences, like passing out, but also long term consequences like an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. On this episode of the Bio Eats World Journal Club, host Lauren Richardson is joined by Dr. Aaron Phillips of the University of Calgary to talk about his group’s recent article “Neuroprosthetic baroreflex controls haemodynamics after spinal cord injury“, by Squair et al., published in Nature.

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Latest News

Inventures

Innovation conference kicks off in Calgary

Top tech talent has taken over downtown Calgary as the Inventures innovation conference kicks off.

CTV News: Read more

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Dr. Phillips & Team Awarded Two CIHR grants and $1.8M!

Dr. Aaron Phillips and team received two CIHR project grants and ~1.8M to further study hemodynamic hotspot epidural electrical stimulation in preclinical models and a clinical trial!

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Phillips Work Links Impaired Vascular Health & Heart Disease

Dr. Phillips lab showing profoundly impaired vascular health linked to increased heart disease after spinal cord injury. Read the first study demonstrating that common carotid artery responses during cold-pressor test are suppressed in spinal cord injury.

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Phillips Student Receives Award at 2022 AAS Meeting

Marcus Tso, a recent graduate from the Phillips lab, received an award for his poster presentation on optogenetic stimulation at the 2022 Annual American Autonomic Society Meeting. Congratulations Marcus!

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Phillips Group Shows New Methods for Interrogating Circuitry

Phillips group publishes detail on new methods for interrogating sympathetic circuits and hemodynamic control in Nature Protocols. 

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Dr. Phillips & RESTORE Network Seeking Research Participants

The research team of Dr. Aaron Phillips and the RESTORE Network are currently recruiting research participants for a clinical trial evaluating epidural spinal cord stimulation after spinal cord injury.

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Dr. Phillips receives 2022 Beverly Petterson Bishop Award

Dr. Aaron Phillips has been recognized by the American Physiological Society for his excellence in neuroscience and neurophysiology research with The Beverly Petterson Bishop Award.

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Keeping the Pressure On

An international team of researchers, co-led by Dr. Aaron Phillips, has made an important breakthrough in the search for a treatment for dangerously low blood pressure in people with spinal cord injury.

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Electrical Stimulation Stabilizes BP in Spinal Cord Injury

Dr. Aaron Phillips co-led a groundbreaking research study recently published in Nature.

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