Dr. Bonnie Sawatzky

Dr. Sawatzky was one of the original principal investigators (PI) of the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD) when it opened in 2008. She brought her passion and expertise of understanding mobility related issues in gait and wheelchair propulsion to this integrated spinal cord injury research centre. She is an international leader in this field and has presented over 170 presentations to local and international audiences around the world. She was the academic lead on the organizing committee of the International Seating Symposium (Vancouver) for 20 years and also initiated the Oceania Seating Symposium (New Zealand and Australia) as Scientific Coordinator. She has taught biomechanics in the undergraduate medical program and biomedical engineering, and in the past 20 years as focused her teaching more on the role of the physician in society and the patient’s voice in medical education and medical research. In 2023, she has stepped down as PI of ICORD and has taken on the role as the Department of Orthopaedic’s READI Director (Respect, Equity, Accessibility Diversity and Inclusion.) She encourages the patient’s voice in her approach to educating students/faculty and doing research. She welcomes a diverse group of people to be collaborators, co-researchers and authors.