Meet the Spinal Cord Injury Team

Dr. Aaron Phillips is the Director of the RESTORE Network and Lead of the Spinal Cord Injury Team. He was trained in Biosciences and Experimental Medicine. His appreciation of the elegant interactions between the nervous and cardiovascular systems, and understanding how these interactions are disrupted in clinical conditions, has driven his research into the development of novel therapeutics for people with neurological health issues. After obtaining the Banting, CIHR, NSERC, and Craig Neilsen Fellowships as well as the Killam Research Award during his post-doc at the University of British Columba (UBC), he established his laboratory at the University of Calgary in 2017. He is now an Associate Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology, Clinical Neurosciences Biomedical Engineering, and Cardiac Sciences. He has received a number of awards including the Science.org & PINS Prize in Neuromodulation, The Arthur Guyton Award in Excellence in Physiology from the American Physiological Society, and the Top 40 Under 40 from Avenue Magazine. His group publishes in top journals including Nature, Neurology, and Nature Biotechnology. He has funding through CIHR, NSERC, Brain Canada, Heart and Stroke Foundation, US Department of Defence, and Defence Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

Dr. Patrick Whelan is currently a Professor appointed in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine and the Faculty of Kinesiology. He is the Director of the optogenetics facility at the University of Calgary. His work centres on understanding the descending circuits that control walking. Over the years his work has led to a new understanding of the role of sensorimotor function that has identified sets of therapeutic targets to improve locomotor function. 

Dr. Kelly Larkin-Kaiser is currently the Associate Director of the RESTORE Network. Dr. Larkin-Kaiser is also an Adjunct Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary. She holds a PhD from the University of Florida in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology and completed her Postdoctoral training at the University of Calgary in the Faculty of Kinesiology. Her training focused on investigating the functional and phenotypic neuromuscular adaptations that occur in response to injury, aging, and disease in both pre-clinical and clinical models. Dr. Larkin-Kaiser continues to be passionate about research endeavors centred around studying and implementing novel neurorehabilitation technology to ultimately improve patient care.

Marcus is currently a Research Associate in the RESTORE Network. He completed his Bachelor of Health Sciences degree at the University of Calgary with a research thesis investigating physiological changes during skin inflammation with a focus on the lymphatics system, and a Master of Science Degree at the University of Calgary under Dr. Aaron Phillips' supervision. His graduate thesis focused on developing and optimizing the closed-loop electrical and optogenetic stimulation of spinal cord neurons in order to modulate blood pressure. Marcus is now working with the Phillips Lab to support multiple ongoing projects at the RESTORE Network. He is driven to pursue a career in medicine and is passionate in working in a multidisciplinary team on biomedical technology that could one day change the way patients are managed.

Tan is currently a software developer in the RESTORE Network and Phillips Lab at the University of Calgary. He supports the development of software platforms, that help to improve the life of spinal cord injuries. He has two years of experience developing web and mobile applications. Continuing on growing and gaining in software, he hopes to work on building helpful software for healthcare in particular, and for the world in general.

Kam is currently a software developer who works very closely with the Phillips Lab and RESTORE Network at the University of Calgary to help develop desirable software applications. Coming from a technological and human-centric design background, he continues developing and contributing to innovative solutions with the aim of providing further assistance as well as a better way to understand those dealing with spinal cord injuries. He completed his BSc in Computer Science with a specialization in Computer Graphics at the University of Calgary. Kam is looking forward to continuing work alongside the remarkable associates from the Phillips Lab and RESTORE Network.

Anthony is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary with Dr. Aaron Phillips. Prior to joining the Phillips Lab, he completed his PhD at the University of Guelph and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Calgary with Dr. Richard Wilson and Dr. Keith Sharkey. His research focuses on understanding how the baroreflexes and chemoreflexes work to maintain blood pressure and blood chemical status within optimal levels, and how these reflexes can become impaired in disease states. The end goal is to develop new clinical therapies aimed at restoring autonomic reflex function in hopes to improve functional outcomes and quality of life in affected patients. 

Recipient of Canadian Institutes of Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship and Achievers in Medical Science Postdoctoral Fellowship

Jordan completed his PhD at the University of Guelph, studying neural control of cardiovascular function during exercise. His research in the Phillips lab includes both preclinical and clinical models to investigate whether long-term spinal cord stimulation can restore function of nerves controlling blood pressure following spinal cord injury.

Recipient of Alberta Innovates Fellowship, Libin Fellowship and Brain Create Fellowship.

Dr. Jordan Squair is a translational neurophysiologist with a specific interest in understanding sympathetic-cardiovascular control. He has gained experience and training using both preclinical and clinical models of research to translate his findings directly into the human reality. He also deploys a number of computational approaches to better understand data and harness large data-sets. 

Recipient of the Banting Fellowship, Killam Fellowship, and Alberta Innovates Fellowship.

Dr. Saqib Saleem is currently a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Calgary with Dr. Aaron Phillips. He holds a PhD from the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand in Biomedical Engineering. He has also been working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Otago, New Zealand. His research specialization lies in the development of advanced statistical and computational signal processing techniques for analyzing human physiological datasets.

Jacquie is a Postdoctoral Fellow with a research focus in cardiovascular autonomic disorders. Prior to starting her fellowship, Jacquie completed her PhD at the University of Western Ontario studying brain autonomic network impairments in patients with orthostatic hypotension. Her current research integrates baroreflex and chemoreflex interactions as a method to investigate underlying pathophysiology in cardiovascular autonomic disorders, and to test novel therapies geared toward improving blood pressure and heart health. To amplify the translational facets of her research, Jacquie is acquiring expertise using pre-clinical research techniques tailored to her overarching goal of advancing cardiovascular health. 

Recipient of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship, a Canadian Cardiovascular Society Postdoctoral Fellowship, a Libin Cardiovascular Postdoctoral Fellowship in Women’s Cardiovascular Health, an NSERC Brain Create Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the Royal Society of Canada’s Alice Wilson award given to an outstanding female entering a career in research.

Parisa is a postdoctoral researcher currently affiliated with Dr. Phillips’s lab at the Libin Cardiovascular Institute, University of Calgary. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physiology and Neuroscience from Tarbiat Modares University and has cultivated a diverse and rich research background in unravelling the underlying mechanisms of cognitive disorders, with a particular emphasis on ADHD and Autism. Her scientific journey includes a two-year tenure as a research associate in the psychology department at the University of Cambridge, followed by postdoctoral training in the Faculty of Medical Genetics at the University of Calgary. In her current role, she is bridging the gap between basic science and clinical research by working with SCI patients. Furthermore, she is actively engaged in the commercialization of innovations originating from Dr. Phillip's lab, displaying her commitment to translating research into tangible advancements in healthcare. 

Donovan completed his BSc (Hons) in Biomechanics at the University of Calgary in 2019, where his research project helped develop a computer model of rabbit tibiae that could predict failure under mechanical loading. During his BSc, he developed a keen interest in neuroscience, and chose to pursue his MSc in Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Calgary. For his thesis, Donovan examined ipsilesional arm impairments in subacute stroke survivors, quantifying motor impairments and the factors that influenced them. After defending his thesis in January 2022, he started his PhD in Clinical Neuroscience in the Phillips Lab. Donovan is currently involved with both the preclinical and clinical aspects of the lab, with the overarching theme of his work being the restoration of blood pressure stability following spinal cord injury through novel technologies.

Recipient of NSERC Brain CREATE - PhD Funding and Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship.

Julien is passionate about finding ways to improve the well-being for people with spinal cord injuries. Coming from a background in engineering, neuroscience, and data science, he hopes to combine knowledge from these fields to develop novel technologies, which make use of brain computer interfaces, to help those with spinal cord injuries regain autonomy in their daily lives.

Recipient of the Mitacs Accelerate Fellowship.

Ryan is a graduate of the Sensorimotor Neuroscience specialization (MSc) from the University of Calgary. In the Sensorimotor Neuroscience Lab, his research focused on how the nervous system adapts to unpredictable environments. Ryan used state of the art robotics technology, augmented reality, electrophysiological and metabolic measuring systems throughout his projects. He is now a doctoral researcher at the Phillips Lab. The goal of Ryan's current work is to develop technologies that restore blood pressure responses and motor function in individuals living with spinal cord injury. 

Recipient of SCNIP, NSERC, CGS-m, AGES, Kertland Family Doctoral, NSERC-CREATE Brain Create scholarships, Biomedical Engineering Excellence Award, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Doctoral Scholarship, and Spinal Cord, Nerve Injury & Pain Graduate Scholarship.

Prior to pursuing the BME Graduate Program at the University of Calgary, Arjun graduated with a BS degree in Biomedical Engineering from San José State University (SJSU). As part of his undergraduate capstone project, he optimized the design of a paper microfluidic device for the colorimetric assay of serum creatinine. During his senior year at SJSU, he moonlighted as an intern at a medical device startup called Simple HealthKit (SHK). Arjun is eager to collaborate with his peers and mentors at the Phillips Lab and develop disruptive medical devices that enhance the quality of life for patients suffering from spinal cord injuries. 

Recipient of the HBI Brain CREATE Graduate Award.

Kira is currently pursuing the MSc-Neuroscience program in the Phillips Lab. She completed a combined undergraduate degree program (Bachelor of Science (1st Class Honours) in Cellular, Molecular, and Microbial Biology & Bachelor of Arts (With Distinction) in Sociology) in the spring of 2021. Her research interests lie in developing clinical interventions after spinal cord injury to improve blood flow and reduce the severity of the final injury. As an aspiring clinician-scientist, she is excited to gain translational research experience.

Recipient of the CIHR – Master’s Funding & NSERC – Brain CREATE Graduate Award

Berkeley is a master’s student within the Cumming School of Medicine in the Cardiovascular and Respiratory Sciences program under the supervision of Dr. Aaron Phillips and Dr. James White. Her current research focuses on how cardiovascular health changes within the chronic stage of individuals with cervical-level spinal cord injuries and the role of orthostatic hypotension in the progression of cardiovascular disease in this population. She has a keen interest in bridging the fields of cardiovascular sciences and clinical neurosciences to ultimately improve the quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries. In her future, she hopes to play a leading role in shaping clinical care through research as a clinical scientist.

Recipient of the RESTORE Network Graduate Scholarship.

Omar is a first year undergraduate student in Neuroscience at the University of Calgary. His interest in finding treatments for patients facing neurological injuries compelled him to join the Phillips Lab. He strives to further his understanding of cardiovascular physiology, neuroscience, and research methods. In the Phillips Lab this summer, Omar is investigating the autonomic circuits involved in blood pressure control, to help discover treatments for spinal cord injury. Omar is grateful for the opportunity to work with the skilled and dedicated Phillips Lab team.

Holly completed her BSc in Neuroscience at the University of Calgary in 2023. Through her studies, she gained a passion for neurotechnology and spinal cord injury research, and she was thrilled to have the opportunity to explore these interests in the Phillips Lab as a summer student. Holly also completed her undergraduate honours thesis in 2023, where she investigated the neuron subpopulations involved in blood pressure regulation. She has greatly enjoyed working with and learning from the members of the Phillips Lab team.

Rafael is a medical student at the University of Calgary. He joined the Phillips Lab in 2019 as a volunteer research assistant and has since gained a strong passion for neuroscience, cardiovascular science, and clinical research. During his time in the Phillips Lab, Rafael has completed three undergraduate summer studentship projects and defended his honours thesis in 2023—where he explored the optogenetic treatment of neurogenic shock following a spinal cord injury. He has gained extensive research skills and opportunities to participate in multidisciplinary work. 

Two-time recipient of the O’Brien Centre Summer Studentship Award.