The BCI Team
Program Leadership
Dr. Adam Kirton
Program Director
Professor of Pediatrics, Radiology, and Clinical Neurosciences
In addition to being the director for the BCI4Kids program, Dr. Adam Kirton is also the director for the Calgary Pediatric Stroke Program and is a practicing pediatric neurologist at the Alberta Children's Hospital. He was inspired to launch the BCI program after learning about the potential of BCI technology to help the kids he saw both in his clinical practice and through his research in perinatal stroke. He has brought together a multidisciplinary team to tackle the challenge of adapting BCI technology for children. His vision is to ensure children with physical disabilities have access to this cutting-edge technology that can increase their independence and participation in the world around them. When he is not seeing patients or leading his research teams, Adam loves skiing, golfing and biking.
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Nicole Romanow
Program Manager
As the Program Manager for the Calgary Pediatric Stroke Program and BCI4Kids, Nicole directs the operations of the research program and manages the group’s many local, national, and international collaborations. She came to the program because she wanted to be part of the direct connection between research and the impact on children and families, bringing her experience in designing, implementing, and executing projects and leading multi-disciplinary teams. Nicole has an MSc in Community Health Sciences and is a certified Project Management Professional. When she isn’t overseeing program activities, she is usually mountain biking in the summer or skiing in the winter.
Dr. Eli Kinney-Lang
Assistant Professor
Eli leads the technical arm of BCI4Kids within his research program in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He is originally from Laramie, Wyoming and completed his PhD in biomedical signal processing in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is extremely passionate about progressing the field of pediatric BCI research and collaborating with other research groups, clinicians, industry partners and families. As an avid game enthusiast, he is very interested in developing and adapting games for children with disabilities and gamifying BCI. In addition to playing games of all sorts, he loves watching movies and hanging out with his family.
Dr. Helen Carlson
Associate Professor
Helen leads the neuroimaging team for BCI4Kids. She has a Ph.D. in Experimental and Cognitive Psychology from Bangor University in Wales and a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Calgary. Her research uses MRI scans to take pictures of children’s brains, helping researchers understand how each brain works and how it has changed after an early injury. Helen is also exploring how brain-computer interfaces can be customized for each person based on their own unique brain features. When she’s not studying beautiful brain images, Helen enjoys running, skiing, and snowboarding.
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Trainees
Dr. Daniel Comaduran Marquez
Postdoctoral Fellow
Daniel joined the BCI4kids team in October 2021 as a postdoctoral fellow. He has completed a PhD and MSc in biomedical engineering at the University of Calgary. Daniel’s graduate work focused in developing bioinstrumentation to acquire electrophysiological signals (i.e., EMG and EEG). Now, as part of the BCI4Kids team, Daniel is working on two main projects. The first project aims to develop a BCI-enabled Boccia ramp to improve inclusion of children with severe motor disabilities in paralympic sports; the second project aims to improve BCI by removing artifact signals (e.g., eye blinks and muscle activity) from the EEG signal. Daniel’s main interest is to develop appropriate solutions to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities. In his free time, he enjoys playing guitar, soccer, and biking.
Dr. Alicia Hilderley
Postdoctoral Fellow
Alicia is a postdoctoral fellow with degrees in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD, University of Toronto) and Kinesiology (MSc, BSc, McGill University) and has years of experience in adapted physical activity settings as a coach. Her research focuses on motor skill learning and participation opportunities for children with Cerebral Palsy and other physical disabilities. Alicia designs, evaluates, and implements novel child-centred interventions in partnership with family partners and multi-disciplinary teams. Her current focus with the BCI4kids team is implementing BCI@home, a home-based BCI program. Alicia spends her free time outside, and also loves attending sporting events and concerts.
Brian Irvine
PhD Candidate
Brian joined the BCI team as a research engineer in 2021 after completing his MSc in biomedical engineering at the University of Oulu, Finland. Brian’s work includes behind-the-scenes development of BCI technology and exploring how transfer learning can make BCIs more accessible and adaptive. He loves that BCI feels like a superpower and is constantly impressed and inspired by what the kids in the BCI4Kids program can do with it. In his free time, Brian enjoys reading, running, and riding bikes.
Araz Minhas
PhD Candidate
Araz graduated with a BSc in Neuroscience from the University of Calgary and is furthering his studies in the field under the MD/PhD program. With a background in software development and diverse computational methods, he is passionate about leveraging the latest advances in artificial intelligence (AI) to further real-world usability of pediatric brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies and enhance quality of life for children with complex needs and their families. His PhD research specifically focuses on investigating neurophysiological markers of parental comfort in comatose children being cared for in the intensive care unit — to develop AI-based clinical decision support tools for predicting outcomes, supporting early intervention, and hoping to enable an avenue for reestablishing parent-child communication in these critical circumstances through BCI systems. He is committed to reconnecting children with their families and caregivers and ensuring better outcomes for their lives by supporting advancements in neurotechnology.
Adam Luoma
PhD Student
Adam Luoma is a PhD student with BCI4Kids. His project focuses on developing a music BCI for children. This application looks to provide a new avenue for creative expression and fun through music making. To accomplish this, Adam is integrating low profile EEG, auditory BCI techniques, and family perspectives to ensure the designed BCI music application is accessible and meets family needs. Outside of the lab you can find Adam out rock climbing or playing saxophone.
Program Staff
Alison Barnfather
Occupational Therapist
Alison is an Occupational Therapist in a Research Clinician role at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. Her responsibilities include identifying and implementing research outcomes into clinical best practice. She currently works alongside the BCI Clinical Program Lead to develop all elements of the BCI Clinical Program at the ACH. She is a key liaison between the BCI4Kids research program and the frontline clinical services. She is interested in maximizing occupational participation and social connection for children with disabilities and facilitating their ability to meet their identified goals. Alison has a BSc in Occupational Therapy and an MSc in Public Health (Health Promotion).
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Danette Rowley
Occupational Therapist
Danette is an occupational therapist, originally from Midnight Lake (Glaslyn), Saskatchewan. Her substantial experience in access technologies and seating has been monumental in helping us transition BCI technology out of the laboratory and into the homes of the kids in our program. She is determined to break down barriers the kids in our program face to participation using BCI and any other technology that could provide them new ways to interact with the world. When she is not working, Danette loves spending time with her family and being active with hiking, biking and yoga.
Ion Robu
Biomedical Technologist
Ion is a biomedical engineer who works part time with the BCI team. He comes up with ingenious solutions for many of our hardware and design challenges and loves pushing the boundaries of what is possible with BCI. We wish he could be with us full time, but he also supports various programs at the Alberta Children's Hospital including the ACETS team and running gait analyses. Ion is originally from Romania and loves skiing, hiking, anything with computers and building DIY projects.
Karin Eldred
Physiotherapy Research Clinician
Karin is a physiotherapist with over 15 years of clinical experience working with patients and their families, primarily in small healthcare centres in rural Alberta. Her professional interests include enabling clinicians to work to their full scope of practice, implementing innovation into physiotherapy assessment and intervention, and supporting ongoing research at Alberta Children’s Hospital. In her free time, Karin enjoys exploring the outdoors while running, biking, hiking or skiing.
Alumni
Anna Bourgeois
MSc
Anna earned her BSc. in Exercise and Health Physiology (Kinesiology) from the University of Calgary and then pursuec her MSc. in Neuroscience. She has a background in high performance sport and is passionate about developing and improving the enjoyment and access to rehabilitation technology and para-sport programming for individuals with disabilities. Her research with the BCI4kids team was centered around patient input, aiming to design a more engaging therapy for children and teens with perinatal stroke. She focused on adapting brain-computer interface (BCI) technology to integrate with functional electrical stimulation and social media.
Joanna Keough
MSc
Joanna received her BSc in Health Science from Mount Royal University. Joanna’s MSc research with the Calgary Perinatal Stroke Program was focused on optimizing brain-computer interfaces for children with quadriplegic cerebral palsy. In particular, Joanna investigated the role of fatigue in brain-computer interface performance and enjoyment. Her research utilized EEG data as well as other quantitative and qualitative assessments of fatigue. Joanna is passionate about increasing the independence of children with cerebral palsy.
Dr. Ludymila Borges
Postdoctoral Researcher
Ludymila has a B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering and M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Science, Electrical Engineering Program. Throughout Ludy's academic experience, they have worked with signal processing (EEG, EMG, IMU sensors), neuromodulation (Binaural Beats, TMS, DBS, TDCs), hardware and software development, human-machine interfaces, wheelchair technology, and robotics, among other areas. Moreover, Ludy has had the privilege of sharing their knowledge as a lecturer, teaching electronics, and contributing to cutting-edge research and development projects during their time with a startup.