Marina Rassou MD, DNB PMR, SAS Doctor Rehabilitation Medicine, is currently at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust. She joined the NHS as a SAS Doctor in Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 2022, after nearly 20 years experience in the field of Rehabilitation Medicine from India. She has worked as a consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine at various prestigious institutions such as the Christian Medical College Vellore, Apollo Hospitals, and was the Head of PMR at the Government Hospital ar Puducherry, India .Her fields of interests are bladder management in SCI, pressure ulcers and the Tetraplegic hand.

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Dr Claire Boswell-Ruys (BSc, BAppSci (Physio), PhD) has worked in the area of spinal cord injuries for over 20 years. She is a Senior Research Fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and a Physiotherapist at Prince of Wales Hospital (POWH), Randwick. Claire completed her PhD in 2010 at the University of New South Wales which focused on developing tools to assess sitting ability and concern about falling in people with a spinal cord injury (SCI); this Falls Concern Scale (FCS) has been translated into 9 different languages (SCI-FCS). Claire continues to investigate the effect of specific rehabilitation assessments and techniques on sitting ability for people with a SCI. Claire’s research within the SCI field includes various clinical trials to improve health outcomes. She investigates the effectiveness of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) for respiratory function, breathlessness and quality of life; functional electrical stimulation for cough and respiratory function; and neurostimualtion techniques to enhance muscle strength, mobility, breathing and function. Claire’s current research projects at the Spinal Cord Injury Research Centre (SCIRC) at NeuRA investigate the effect of transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation on walking ability, breathing and upper limb function; acute intermittent hypoxia on muscle strength and function; and IMT on respiratory function in people with SCI.

Julio C. Furlan, MD, LLB, MBA, PhD, MSc, FRCPC, FAAN is a staff neurologist and a Clinician Investigator in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the SCI Rehabilitation Program at the Lyndhurst Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network, a Scientist at KITE Research Institute, University Health Network, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Toronto. He is a trained head and neck surgeon from Brazil, who holds a MBA degree in Health Administration, an MSc degree in Clinical Epidemiology, and a PhD degree in Neuroanatomy. In the past, Dr. Furlan has worked as an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Genetics and Development, Toronto Western Research Institute, University Health Network from 2007 to 2012. Dr. Furlan has also been an Adjunct Scientist at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network from 2009-2016, inclusive. He completed five years of residency training in Adult Neurology at University of Toronto in June 2014. He also completed a two-year clinical fellowship in Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and the University of Toronto in June 2016. Dr Furlan´s research has been focused on outcome measures (including clinical assessments, neuroimaging analysis, and neurophysiological assessments) and predictors of outcome (including sex and age) after traumatic and non-traumatic spinal cord injury. In addition, he has interest and expertise in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Economics.

Julio C. Furlan, MD, LLB, MBA, PhD, MSc, FRCPC, FAAN is a staff neurologist and a Clinician Investigator in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the SCI Rehabilitation Program at the Lyndhurst Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network, a Scientist at KITE Research Institute, University Health Network, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Toronto. He is a trained head and neck surgeon from Brazil, who holds a MBA degree in Health Administration, an MSc degree in Clinical Epidemiology, and a PhD degree in Neuroanatomy. In the past, Dr. Furlan has worked as an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Genetics and Development, Toronto Western Research Institute, University Health Network from 2007 to 2012. Dr. Furlan has also been an Adjunct Scientist at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network from 2009-2016, inclusive. He completed five years of residency training in Adult Neurology at University of Toronto in June 2014. He also completed a two-year clinical fellowship in Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and the University of Toronto in June 2016. Dr Furlan´s research has been focused on outcome measures (including clinical assessments, neuroimaging analysis, and neurophysiological assessments) and predictors of outcome (including sex and age) after traumatic and non-traumatic spinal cord injury. In addition, he has interest and expertise in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Economics.