StrokeCog is an equity, diversity, inclusivity and accessibility (EDIA)-centered training platform that will redefine how stroke clinical trials expertise is developed in Canada.
Our vision is to innovate new approaches to clinical trials training that directly embed evidence-based EDIA principles at every stage to create sustainable change in the systems of clinical trial design and conduct in Canada. Using these principles, we will develop more diversified clinical trials teams with the expertise to conduct high quality and innovative clinical trials across the stroke continuum that are more inclusive and accessible to the broader stroke population and across a diverse range of care settings, to create a trials landscape that will produce more equitable evidence for the prevention, management and outcomes of stroke.
StrokeCog is a network of established academic training platforms, industry partners, community and Indigenous organizations, EDI champions, and knowledge users, including trainees and individuals with lived experience and experts in knowledge mobilization.
Established with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the objective of the StrokeCog Platform is to enhance the design of clinical trials to improve equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility by developing a new generation of more diverse clinical trial leaders with training to conduct inclusive complex trials in diverse populations, across a wider range of care settings.
This will position Canada as a global leader in equity-driven clinical trials.
Although stroke affects Canadians of every age, sex, and ethnicity from all over Canada, the majority of stroke clinical trials are conducted in major centres with limited participation from the highest risk populations or those with the most severe deficits, which limits the benefits of trial advances to only a fraction of Canadians impacted by stroke.
There are marked inequities in stroke prevalence, risk factor burden and control, acute care and rehabilitation by sex and ethnicity, with marginalized communities and women showing the greatest vulnerability and worst outcomes. Despite these inequities, women and individuals from high-risk marginalized communities are underrepresented in stroke clinical trials.
This platform will develop a new generation of more diverse stroke clinical trial leaders, with training to conduct inclusive complex trials in diverse populations, across a wider range of care settings to maximize benefit for all Canadians.
Centering EDIA means that STROKECOG will prioritize the representation and participation of all equity-deserving groups in the development and delivery of its high-quality training programs, with content designed to specifically address known/identified inequities in the current clinical trials landscape in Canada.
Why is this important? Stroke remains the second leading cause of death worldwide and a leading cause of adult long-term disability. Inequitable clinical trial designs and practices limit the success and generalizability of trial outcomes. By employing an EDIA-centered approach, STROKECOG will provide new opportunities for the development of diversified clinical trials expertise and leadership that will promote inclusive trial designs and practices and capacity building in under-represented care settings.
Objectives
- Develop structured, openly accessible, and sustainable training and mentoring platforms:
- Support development of skills that increase employability and career prospects across sectors;
- Support and contribute to CTF funded research and participate in the Pan-Canadian Clinical Trials Consortium.
To directly address gaps in training, the StrokeCog Platform will develop new stroke clinical trial training and mentorship initiatives that will employ multiple EDIA-informed strategies to enhance the diversity of trainees, provide training in diverse care settings, and increase cross-sectoral participation.
It will do this by developing structured, openly accessible and sustainable training and mentoring platforms that build capacity in the design, delivery, and analysis of clinical trials.
Funding Opportunities
There are not currently any open funding opportunities.
Annual Conference and Summer Institutes
An annual two-day conference bringing together trainees, mentors, and partners. This conference features presentations from international experts in stroke clinical trials and will highlight trainee research and offer multiple networking events both with peers and StrokeCog mentors.
Experiential Translational Workshops
CanSTAR (Canadian Stroke Trainee Association in Research) has developed the programming for this year’s Stroke Program in Neurorecovery (SPiN) Workshop. This experiential translational workshop, which has been successfully running since 2003, provides trainees will have hands-on interactive exposure to ongoing clinical research in active trial settings at partnering academic institutions. During this multi-day workshops trainees will visit labs at institution(s) near the conference location and have hands-on exposure to trial protocols, and interact with the clinical trials team and patient participants.
StrokeCog is actively working to develop sustainable clinical and research stroke fellowships training outside of major academic centres to develop capacity for the design, delivery and analysis of clinical trials in more diverse care settings.
We currently have two fellowship programs:
- Research Fellowships (MD and/or PhD) – providing funding for a clinical trials research fellowship in stroke and/or Vascular Cognitive Impairment. The funding competition is being run in collaboration with CANTRAIN – to learn more including how and when to apply, click here.
- Clinical Fellowships (MD) – providing funding for MDs in physiatry interested in completing a certification program in stroke rehabilitation. Development of this new first-in-Canada certification program for stroke rehabilitation is currently nearing completion and plans are to open up the program to interested physiatrists by 2025. Stay tuned!
We will enhance the diversity of candidates applying to the fellowship program via targeted advertising of fellowship awards for recruitment from diverse subspecialties, and underrepresented and international communities.
We will work to create synergic training opportunities for fellows with other national health training platforms and our organizational and industry partners to build capacity for training in the design and delivery of trials testing assistive technologies or with cognitive endpoints that will enable increased participation from more diverse patient populations currently underrepresented in stroke clinical trials.
Clinical Trial Observership Exchange Program
StrokeCog will develop a new clinical trials observership exchange program, where trainees from all levels of the clinical trials team will be eligible to apply for an exchange with another Pan-Canadian Clinical Trials Consortium funded clinical trial team to observe trial conduct and delivery in different trial settings. Trainees will be offered experiential learning exposure to different trial designs, recruitment pathways, management structures and data governance practices to give them new perspectives on the design and conduct of clinical trials across different health care settings and with different interventions and clinical teams.
We are currently offering up to $5,000 to gain skills by visiting another institution. To apply for this clinical trial research practicum, click here.
Governance Observerships
Starting in September 2024, developed by the trainee association CanSTAR (Canadian Stroke Trainee Association in Research), we have created a governance observership program. Completion of this program will provide trainees with a unique experiential training opportunity to observe and learn governance via observerships with the Executive Committees and/or Steering Committees of ongoing trials and trial platforms/consortiums, including the StrokeCog Clinical Trials Training Platform, CanStroke Recovery Trials Platform, and the CanStim Platform.
Participants will be allowed to attend Executive and/or Steering Committee meetings as shadow observers to learn trials governance structure, process and decision-making. Each observership will lasting one year, divided into four-month terms with three different platforms, plus completion of a self-driven online education module on governance. No prior experience is necessary. These observerships will be essential to ensure that rising clinical trial leaders not only learn best practices for clinical trial design and management but also learn trial governance, specifically within the context of large trials consortiums.
HOW TO APPLY: The application process will include submission of a resume/CV and a statement of interest outlining your motivation for participating in the program. We are continuing to accept applications. If interested, please email your applications to Holly at info@canadianstroke.ca
Industry-Partnered Internships
The StrokeCog platform is partnering with CANTRAIN to launch a new industry-partnered internship program for registered trainees to add additional value to existing stroke clinical trials training and increase employability of trainees. Internship opportunities will include a focus on the acquisition of new knowledge of innovative technological interventions for stroke recovery and assistive technologies for activities of daily living for chronic community-based stroke survivors, both urgent needs for the stroke community identified in consultation with our StrokeCog leadership and patient representatives.
Post-Doctoral Fellowship Awardees
2023 – 2024 Fellowship Competition
University of Calgary post-doctoral researcher Bogna Anna Drozdowska has been awarded a StrokeCog Research Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award to study a new device that will potentially train the brain to withstand the impact of small vessel disease.
The award, matched with funding from Alberta Innovates, will enable her to launch a Phase 2a clinical trial involving 24 patients. She will test the feasibility, safety and tolerability of a therapy called remote ischemic conditioning (RIC), using an innovative Calgary-made cuff. The device was invented in the lab of her supervisor, Dr. AravindGanesh, a clinician-scientist with the Calgary Stroke Program, and is being developed in collaboration with FUEL Biomedical and SnapDx Inc.
“This study is a step towards getting this device on the regulatory pathway, and determining if it has a beneficial, meaningful impact on improving outcomes for people with cerebral small vessel disease,” says Dr. Drozdowska, who has a PhD in cardiovascular sciences from the University of Glasgow, a Master’s in brain injury rehabilitation from the University of Birmingham, and a Master’s in psychology from the Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities.
She calls the StrokeCog fellowship award “an amazing opportunity to get more training in clinical trials delivery. I am really grateful. It shows that people believe in my skills and experience and want me to keep going. It’s a really big deal for me.”
While RIC is not a new idea, most of the research has been in animal models and focused on the heart rather than the brain, Dr. Drozdowska explains. RIC works by restricting blood flow in an arm or leg in order to condition the brain (and the heart, lungs, and kidneys) to withstand a sudden interruption in blood supply.
Research shows that conditioning can decrease inflammation, activate gene expression, protect against cell death, and encourage the formation of new blood vessels. As a result, it may improve cognition, lessen progression of cerebral small vessel disease and potentially prevent or reduce the severity of stroke.
In Dr. Drozdowska’s study, which is expected to begin recruitment in the coming months, participants over age 55 with small vessel disease are trained to use the Calgary device. Then, they are randomized into two groups and given the device to take home. Participants can’t tell if they are in the treatment or control because the device is programmed from a central hub to deliver a similar experience for all users. At the 30-day mark, the control group is switched over to the intervention so that everyone gets the treatment.
For the preconditioning process, the RIC cuff is inflated to 200 millimetres of mercury pressure, then deflated in a series of cycles. The device can remotely monitor whether patients are using it, as well as validate the quality of the data. It can send reminders to participants during the 60-day trial period and “if there are issues, we can troubleshoot on the spot,” Dr. Drozdowska says. This smart technology, recently tested in a simulation study at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, provides features unavailable in existing devices manufactured outside of Canada.
Study participants will be assessed for adherence, adverse events, and cognitive function before and after the trial. As well, blood samples will analyze different biomarkers to see if changes occur after preconditioning.
The hope is that data from this trial will inform the design of a larger clinical trial.
Inspired to pursue this field by her mother, who worked as a speech-language pathologist in Poland with people living with stroke, Dr. Drozdowska says she is excited about the potential of the research, the exceptional team in Calgary, and the valuable input provided by people with lived experience.
“This seems like quite a promising intervention,” she says.
University of Calgary post-doctoral researcher Matthew Chilvers has been awarded a StrokeCog Research Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award to conduct research into whether robotics plus brain stimulation can help improve proprioception, an individual’s sense of limb position and movement.
“As many of half of people who’ve had a stroke have an impairment in proprioception – they’ve lost that innate sense of where their limbs are in space,” says Dr. Chilvers, who has a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Calgary. “We want to find promising evidence-based interventions that can roll into larger clinical trials to identify feasible and effective ways to rehabilitate people.”
Despite being a common after-effect of stroke, there is limited research into proprioception. The condition can lead to people bumping into things, dropping objects, and tripping and falling.
Dr. Chilvers had originally planned to conduct this robotics-brain stimulation trial for his doctoral research, but the project was stopped due to COVID-19 restrictions and he pivoted his research to neuroimaging. Thanks to the Clinical Trials Training Program, Dr. Chilvers will be able to restart the work for his post-doctoral fellowship.
The concept of proprioception first drew Dr. Chilvers’s attention during the final phase of an undergraduate degree in sport and exercise science at the University of Birmingham in England. “I volunteered at a local rehabilitation institute where I could see some of the difficulties people were having. I decided this is where I wanted to focus.”
He pitched a research idea to Dr. Sean Dukelow, an international leader in stroke rehabilitation, and moved to Calgary to work with him. Dr. Dukelow remains his fellowship supervisor. “Calgary is a great place to conduct stroke research,” Dr. Chilverssays. “There is a ton of opportunity.”
The rebooted trial involves 39 people, who are at least six months post-stroke. It is a 10-day intervention with participants randomized into three groups. The first group gets daily robotic therapy and 20 minutes of concurrent brain stimulation; the second group gets the same robotic therapy paired with sham brain stimulation; and, the third group receives usual care for the same time period.
Robotic therapy is delivered in a device called the Kinarm, developed by researchers at Queen’s University in Kingston. The brain stimulation used in the trial is transcranial direct stimulation – a weak electrical current passed between two electrodes on the scalp.
There is consensus in the field of stroke rehabilitation that robotics has merit for rehabilitation because the intensity and the dose of therapy can be increased, compared to conventional treatment. And, brain stimulation has been shown to have potential benefits to prime the brain to change. “If we do these two together, can we deliver an intensive and effective rehabilitation program for proprioception?” Dr. Chilversasks.
On a personal level, Dr. Chilvers says the StrokeCog fellowship means he can help increase understanding of this under-studied condition, possibly find an effective therapy, and “it’s reassurance that the science we are doing is appreciated by others in the field.”
“It’s validation that this is meaningful and to keep pursuing it.”
University of British Columbia post-doctoral researcher Nárlon Boa Sorte Silva has been awarded a StrokeCog Research Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award to study brain scans and biomarkers gathered during a three-year clinical trial on exercise and brain health.
Trial data will shed light on whether resistance training, using weights and body-weight exercises, can halt or reverse the progression of vascular cognitive impairment, which is the most prevalent form of dementia.
As part of the fellowship, Dr. Boa Sorte Silva is studying the MRIs of 88 clinical trial participants for changes in white matter and myelin. White matter is the network of nerve fibres in the brain that allows for the exchange of information among different regions. Myelin, the coating on nerve fibres, is essential for enabling information to travel faster in the brain. Dr. Boa Sorte Silva’s fellowship supervisor, Dr. Roger Tam, is an expert in myelin imaging.
“The whole idea is that resistance training could improve cognition by slowing the progression of white matter lesions, but also by maintaining myelin which tends to decline in older adults,” Dr. Boa Sorte Silva says. Findings from this trial could lead to a larger study, and eventually the development of clear guidelines on exercise for brain health.
“This fellowship gives me the chance to do something very meaningful,” Dr. Boa SorteSilva says. “I am honoured, but also feel an enormous sense of responsibility to those who reviewed and validated my research project.”
After undergraduate studies in his home country of Brazil, Dr. Boa Sorte Silva came to Canada to complete a PhD in kinesiology from Western University, followed by three years of post-doctoral training with Dr. Teresa Liu-Ambrose at UBC, an expert in the study of exercise and brain health. She was the leader of this clinical trial.
Dr. Boa Sorte Silva says he has always been interested in exercise and the promotion of healthy lifestyles, especially in older individuals. But his passion to gain understanding of vascular cognitive impairment developed when he saw how it impacted his own grandmother, “one of the strongest people” he’s known, and the woman who raised him.
“Growing up and seeing that happening to someone who was my role model … At some point, I decided to align my interest in exercise research with research on aging,” he explains.
Exercise is an effective strategy for blood pressure control, diabetes management, and has widespread brain-health benefits, Dr. Boa Sorte Silva says. People with vascular cognitive impairment tend to have many of these pre-existing conditions.
In the UBC trial, half of participants were randomized in the one-year exercise program with resistance training and the other half into an active exercise program. In addition to measuring the impact on cognition, white matter lesions, and myelin content, the study will determine whether there were improvements in balance and gait speed, which could reduce the risk of falls.
“My grandmother’s journey with dementia inspires me to find ways to prevent or mitigate the disease,” he says. “It is because of her that I have poured my heart into this work.”
Toronto Rehabilitation Institute researcher Urvashy Gopaul has been awarded a StrokeCog Research Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award to conduct a clinical trial into a novel ‘combination approach’ to improve stroke recovery.
Dr. Gopaul will recruit 40 participants for a randomized controlled trial to determine if bundling together hands-on movement therapy, sensation and cognitive training with robotics will help improve function in stroke-affected arms. The trial will involve adults of all ages, who are at least six months post-stroke.
“This award is such an honour for me because there are very few post-docs focused on clinical trials,” says Dr. Gopaul, who is supervised by Dr. Mark Bayley, Program Medical Director and Physiatrist-in-Chief at UHN-Toronto Rehabilitation Institute.
After beginning her career as a university lecturer in Mauritius – her home country in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of Africa – Dr. Gopaul became determined to advance stroke care through research. “In my country, there were big gaps in stroke rehabilitation and I wanted to find answers.”
She completed a Master’s degree in physiotherapy from the UK’s University of Nottingham and a PhD from the University of Newcastle in Australia before moving to Canada to begin post-doctoral studies.
The foundation for this new Toronto-based trial, called iCOSMO (integrated COgnitive-somatoSensory-MOtor), was built while Dr. Gopaul was doing her earlier PhD research. “When we looked at how rehabilitation is delivered, we deliver motor training separately from sensory training separately from cognition training. And that was the gap,” she says.
In everyday life, the brain processes many streams of information at the same time – where the hand or arm is in relation to the body, what it touches and feels, how it reacts. Dr. Gopaul proposes that rehabilitation should be delivered in the same complex way. “The aim is to prime the brain and hope that we get better outcomes.”
In addition to hands-on therapy, a Canadian-made robotic device, called Kinarm, will be used in the trial to deliver a series of training tasks. These include games, developed by Dr. Sean Dukelow’s lab at the University of Calgary. The games require participants to manage speed changes or changes in direction and to coordinate both hands while seated in a robot, which can precisely measure changes in impairments.
Thanks to StrokeCog funding, Dr. Gopaul is now working with clinics to help recruit participants for the two-year study, set to begin in early 2024. There will be 20 people in the six-week treatment group and 20 in the control group. Those in the control group will be given the tools and training to do a home-based stroke rehabilitation therapy, called GRASP, for the same duration as those in the treatment group.
If feasible, Dr. Gopaul hopes to eventually run iCOSMO at other sites of the Canadian Stroke Recovery Trials Platform across Canada that have the Kinarm robot.
“The reason why I moved to Canada is to have a career in research. So, for me, having this Clinical Trials Training Platform (CTTP) award is really helping to set me up for success,” Dr. Gopaul says. “I am excited about participating in the CTTP because I want to develop the core competencies to conduct multi-centre clinical trials.”
University of Toronto post-doctoral researcher Reeman Marzouqah has been awarded a StrokeCog Research Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award to study different categories of post-stroke sleep apnea, and determine which treatments are most effective.
Obstructive sleep apnea, which happens when a person’s breathing stops and starts many times during sleep, is a common side effect of stroke. A potentially serious condition, it can lead to issues with thinking, memory, and other health concerns.
During her PhD research, Dr. Marzouqah noticed differences in how clinical trial participants responded to oropharyngeal (mid-throat) exercises to treat sleep apnea. These variations sparked an interest in understanding the role of endotypes, or subtypes of the condition, in order to identify which therapies are best suited for each patient.
Working under the supervision of Dr. Mark Boulos at the Sleep Neurology Clinic and Sleep Laboratory at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Dr. Marzouqah’s fellowship research begins by clustering stroke patients into categories of sleep apnea, based on their physical and functional characteristics. She will do this by analyzing data on about 500 patients collected by Dr. Boulos over many years.
Next, Dr. Marzouqah will study how these different endotypes influence recovery and overall health after stroke. Finally, she will determine which therapies are most effective for each category of sleep apnea. Standard therapy for sleep apnea typically involves the use of a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine. Alternative therapies include oropharyngeal exercises and dental appliances that prevent the tongue from blocking the airway.
Originally from Amman, Jordan, Dr. Marzouqah earned undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Speech-Language Pathology in her home country before completing a PhD at U of T. “What drew me to this work is the complexity and clinical significance of post-stroke obstructive sleep apnea,” she says. “This research aims to address a knowledge gap in the field by identifying high-risk obstructive sleep apnea endotypes specific to stroke survivors, potentially transforming early diagnostic protocols and enabling personalized treatment plans.”
As well, the research will create a valuable dataset on obstructive sleep apnea endotypes in stroke patients, informing future studies and contributing to wider scholarly and medical research.
This research is especially important because personalized obstructive sleep apnea treatment after stroke has the potential to improve patient recovery, reduce healthcare costs, enhance workplace productivity, and decrease work-related injuries.
“The study’s findings hold the promise of driving substantial changes in medical practice and policy, ultimately improving the quality of life for post-stroke obstructive sleep apnea patients and contributing to public health and safety,” Dr. Marzouqah explains.
On a personal note, Dr. Marzouqah says the fellowship award “is of great significance to me. It aligns with my career goal of bridging the gap between research and clinical practice.”
2024-2025 Fellowship Competition
| Awardee Name: | Sarah Ashcroft |
| Supervisor: | Dr. Michelle Ploughman |
| Institution: | Memorial University of Newfoundland |
| Study Name: | Verifying aerobic training protocols to benefit both heart and brain in subacute stroke |
Please give a brief description of your fellowship project.
| People who had a stroke between 7 days and 6 months ago were offered to participate in a trial examining the effects of high intensity interval training or moderate intensity aerobic exercise on fitness and functional recovery. The interventions were delivered by a Certified Exercise Physiologist in the tertiary rehabilitation hospital for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. |
Please describe your career path thus far and what led you to research in stroke clinical trials.
| I worked as a clinical exercise physiologist in public and private rehabilitation settings in Australia. During this time, I also assisted in the conduct of research studies within the healthcare system. In 2021, I commenced my PhD after realising that aerobic exercise was underutilised in stroke rehabilitation and learning that co-designed research was infrequently implemented in exercise trials. Following the completion of my PhD in 2024, I was awarded the 2024-25 StrokeCog Postdoctoral Fellowship, and I moved to Newfoundland, Canada to further my research. |
Please indicate what this fellowship opportunity has meant to you.
| The 2024-25 StrokeCog Postdoctoral Fellowship has meant a lot to me. As a result of this fellowship, I was provided the opportunity to work with Dr. Michelle Ploughman at Memorial University of Newfoundland. This fellowship has also provided me the opportunity to attend numerous training events such as the Stroke Program in Neurorecovery (SPiN), CanStroke meetings, and the National Clinical Trials Training Summit. Attendance at these events allowed me to learn about conducting high-quality trials, provided insight into the current state of stroke research in Canada, and provided me with the opportunity to network with fellow stroke researchers at various stages of their career. I am extremely grateful to StrokeCog for this fellowship and the invaluable experiences it has afforded me. |
Please describe your future plans.
| In December 2025 I am starting a Continuing Full-Time position as a Lecturer in Exercise Science/Exercise Physiology at the University of New South Wales, Australia. Within this role, I will be teaching neurological rehabilitation and continuing my research into the effect of exercise on recovery and life after stroke. I will continue to collaborate with Dr. Michelle Ploughman and my colleagues at Memorial University of Newfoundland to explore the effect of sex and gender on recovery following stroke. |
| Awardee Name: | Guilherme Moraes Balbim |
| Supervisor: | Dr. Teresa Liu-Ambrose |
| Institution: | University of British Columbia |
| Study Name: | Rise & Shine: Promoting Sleep Quality in Chronic Stroke with Exercise |
Please give a brief description of your fellowship project.
| My fellowship project is a randomized controlled trial exploring whether a multimodal exercise training program vs. a social and cognitive activities program improves sleep quality and quality of life in older adults living with chronic stroke and poor sleep quality. The exercise training and social and cognitive programs will be offered twice a week for 1 hour over 26 weeks. My project will also investigate whether these programs benefits physical and cognitive function. |
Please describe your career path thus far and what led you to research in stroke clinical trials.
| I received my BSc and MSc in Physical Education from the State University of Maringá, Brazil. Upon completing my MSc, I held an adjunct instructor position in the Department of Physical Education at the State University of Western Paraná, Brazil. I received my PhD in Kinesiology and Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago, United States of America. Since July 2021, I have been a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia (UBC) under the supervision of Dr. Teresa Liu-Ambrose. At UBC, my research initially focused on the effects of exercise training interventions to mitigate the deleterious effects of experimental bed rest in healthy older adults. Concurrently, I was conducting research exploring the interdependent and dynamic relationship between physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep, and their associations with brain health in older adults living with mild cognitive impairment. In 2022, I had a stroke and recovered after a couple of months. The experience of having a stroke followed by a physical rehabilitation focused on exercise training drove me to research in stroke clinical trials. In 2023, after a discussion with Dr. Liu-Ambrose about my next research endeavours, I was given the option to choose between three different recently funded grants. One of these involved exercise training to improve sleep and quality of life for people with chronic stroke. That was an easy choice to make. |
Please indicate what this fellowship opportunity has meant to you.
| Due to my lived experience with stroke recovery, being a StrokeCog awardee is highly motivating and intrinsically meaningful. Specific to my proposed project, the StrokeCog Fellowship has allowed me to work on all clinical trial stages, such as planning, recruitment, engagement of people with lived experiences, implementation, data collection and management, and dissemination. The experiences I’ve been exposed to as a StrokeCog awardee are expanding the breadth and depth of my research skillset. The StrokeCog Clinical Trials Training Platform is constantly offering a blend of knowledge, participation in scientific and community-based events, and personalized mentorship, which are proving pivotal for my professional growth and further development of my research abilities. |
Please describe your future plans.
| My overarching career aspiration is to produce impactful evidence that enhances individuals’ quality of life and influences public policies promoting lifestyle behaviour strategies for chronic stroke rehabilitation and dementia risk reduction. I aspire to become a faculty member conducting groundbreaking research on promoting lifestyle behaviour changes, focusing on balanced engagement in physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep to improve quality of life in chronic stroke. I also desire to be a teacher and mentor who shares transformative knowledge, values inclusivity, and guides students to reach their full potential and become competent health professionals. |
| Awardee Name: | Rochelle Furtado |
| Supervisor: | Dr. Kara Patterson |
| Institution: | University Health Network – KITE |
| Study Name: | Development and testing of a co-designed rehabilitation program for people living with shoulder pain after stroke |
Please give a brief description of your fellowship project.
| Stroke rehabilitation is crucial for returning to daily activities, but women face significant challenges in accessing and participating in it. Reduced engagement can lead to long-term upper limb disability, highlighting the need to address gender differences in rehabilitation. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) has been shown to improve arm strength after stroke and is a safe device to use at home. Our solution is to co-create a home-based FES program with women to ensure it meets their needs, supports recovery and increases their participation to rehabilitation. We will then test our co-created home-based FES program in a clinical trial. Participants will complete interviews and questionnaires before and after using the program. Findings from our study will be the first step in understanding how to improve participation in home-based FES programs for women post-stroke. |
Please describe your career path thus far and what led you to research in stroke clinical trials.
| Through my PhD research and practise as a physiotherapist, I explored the unique health challenges women face in accessing rehabilitation services, particularly within orthopedic clinical trials. This work revealed a significant gap in gender-sensitive approaches to rehabilitation—a gap that is also present in stroke rehabilitation trials. In fact, women are underrepresented in stroke trials even more so than in orthopedic trials. Women post stroke experience more severe strokes, poorer recovery of daily function, and more limited post-stroke participation, yet do not have the same access to participate in rehabilitation or rehabilitation trials. These disparities underscore the urgent need for targeted rehabilitation strategies for women stroke survivors. Building on my previous work, my postdoctoral research now focuses on addressing these inequities in stroke rehabilitation through more inclusive and patient-centered clinical trials for women post stroke. |
Please indicate what this fellowship opportunity has meant to you.
| The StrokeCog Fellowship helped to launch my research career in stroke clinical trials. Over the past year, I have been able to network with other trainees researching stroke clinical trials and participate in various learning opportunities such as presenting at the Clinical Trials Summit in February 2025. Additionally, having access to their unique platform supported the dissemination and knowledge translation of my research findings. Lastly, the financial support of the fellowship allowed me to dedicate more time to research and support patient partner engagement within my project. |
Please describe your future plans.
| Building on the opportunities that I have experienced from the StrokeCog fellowship, I plan to continue in academia and hope to start my own research program at a Canadian institution. Therefore, I will be able to continue the work that I started during my postdoctoral research and continue to create more gender-inclusive stroke rehabilitation programs for Canadians. |
| Awardee Name: | Elise Wiley |
| Supervisor: | Dr. Brodie Sakakibara (post-doc), Dr. Ada Tang co-PI on TRAIL study |
| Institution: | University of British Columbia |
| Study Name: | Optimizing stroke recovery in women through accessible modalities of health service delivery: A sex-and gender-based analysis of the TeleRehabilitation with Aims to Improve Lower Extremity Recovery (TRAIL) Clinical Trial. |
Please give a brief description of your fellowship project.
| Sex- and gender-based factors disproportionally impact stroke recovery in women, and thus there is an urgent need for rehabilitation scientists to consider innovative forms of delivering stroke rehabilitation to optimize their participation, physical and psychosocial outcomes. This research aims to examine sex- and gender-based differences in the effectiveness of an exercise-based telerehabilitation program (TeleRehabilitation with Aims to Improve Lower extremity recovery post-stroke [TRAIL]) compared to a passive, attention-control education-based self-management program (EDUCATION) among adults ≤12 months of stroke. We also aim to explore the association between gender-based factors and feasibility indicators related to participation in a telerehabilitation program. We anticipate that women will acquire functional benefits from TRAIL that may lower fall risk or other adverse events, and in turn reducing hospital re-admission rates. TRAIL may potentially minimize accessibility barriers, particularly for individuals living in rural Northern Communities of Canada. |
Please describe your career path thus far and what led you to research in stroke clinical trials.
| Throughout the course of my graduate training, I was passionate about conducting research around stroke recovery outcomes in women. I noticed a gap in rehabilitation programs aimed at improving access to women who often site accessibility to stroke care as a barrier to participation. The opportunity to lead a clinical trial focused on improving lower extremity outcomes in people with stroke through telerehabilitation presented itself, and the rest was history. I quickly learned about clinical trial design, delivery, management, thanks to my mentors and collaborators. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to be involved with a study that leveraged a first-of-its-kind clinical trials platform for stroke recovery. |
Please indicate what this fellowship opportunity has meant to you.
| Being a recipient of a StrokeCog post-doctoral fellowship has allowed for an optimal transition between my PhD training and post-doctoral fellowship research. Leading the TRAIL-RCT study has been a substantial undertaking, and so I am extremely grateful that this award has provided me with the opportunity to expand our recruitment initiatives in rural areas of British Columbia. The meaningful engagement of people with lived experience funding offered through this award was very valuable. With the instrumental support of patient partner, Jennifer Monaghan, the research team held multiple community events aimed at raising awareness of research initiatives such as TRAIL-RCT occurring across the BC Interior. It was also a pleasure to connect with the four other recipients of the StrokeCog post-doctoral fellowship award at the 2025 CanTRAIN National Clinical Trials Training Summit, held in Vancouver this past February. We all share a common ambition to pursue stroke rehabilitation research with focuses on equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, which I believe is critical to advancing health equity in Canada. |
Please describe your future plans.
| The TRAIL-RCT study is in the final stages of recruitment. I am looking forward to conducting the sex- and gender-based analyses of the clinical data, as well as the health economic data. I am very grateful for the support from all of the coordinators, investigators, therapists, assessors, education facilitators, patient partners involved with the CanStroke Recovery Trials Platform, over the past 4.5 years of the study! It has been a long, yet very rewarding journey. I hope to continue fostering these collaborations in the near and long-term future. As I look forward to applying for professorship jobs in academia, I will be spending a substantial amount of time envisioning my proposed research program. My research program will undoubtedly involve a focus on clinical trials and sex and gender considerations as they relate to stroke recovery. I have also had the recent privilege to expand my research portfolio in the field of applied health economics. |
| Awardee Name: | Lynden Rodrigues |
| Supervisor: | Dr. Marc Roig |
| Institution: | McGill University |
| Study Name: | Multimodal Exercise to Prevent Post-Stroke Cognitive In Subacute Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial |
Please give a brief description of your fellowship project.
| After a stroke, there is an increased risk of cognitive impairment and development of dementia. Post-stroke injury in the brain can lead to reductions in cerebral blood flow, increased blood-brain-barrier permeability and accumulation of amyloid-β and tau proteins. These markers are associated with cognitive decline and the development of Alzheimer’s disease, a common form of dementia. My project is a multi-site randomized controlled trial that examines the effect of a 12-week multimodal (Strength+Aerobic) on improving cognitive function in subacute stroke survivors, in addition to its effect on biomarkers of cerebral blood flow, blood-brain-barrier permeability and blood concentrations of amyloid-β and tau proteins. This study will also examine the long-term effects and trajectory of cognitive function and biomarkers of cognitive decline over a 1-year follow-up period. |
Please describe your career path thus far and what led you to research in stroke clinical trials.
| I have always been interested in the effects of exercise on brain health and clinical research. This interest was sparked by an undergraduate research experience at Western University (London, ON) examining cognitive health in aging populations which lead to pursuing a Master’s in Exercise Science at Concordia University (Montreal, QC) where I gained an appreciation for the benefits of exercise in improving cognitive health in older adults and how clinical trials research is conducted. I then sought to develop a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of exercise-mediated benefits to brain health, by working with Dr. Marc Roig at McGill University during my PhD in Rehabilitation Science. During this time, I was able to take on a leadership role in conducting an exercise-based randomized controlled trial while working closely with stroke patients and clinicians. This was a life-changing experience in which I developed a passion for conducting stroke clinical trial research, because of the immense benefits that it can bring to stroke survivors, family members, clinicians and community. |
Please indicate what this fellowship opportunity has meant to you.
| Receiving a StrokeCog fellowship has been an incredible gift that has provided myself learning, networking and training opportunities that have helped my personal and professional growth. |
Please describe your future plans.
| I will continue to conduct my research working with Dr. Roig and a diverse team of researchers at McGill, Université de Montréal, Concordia University and McMaster University. We have recently been awarded a 5-year CIHR project grant that will support my fellowship project, in which I aim to continue to develop skill in new research techniques, while building upon my expertise in conducting clinical trials. |
2025-2026 Fellowship Competition
| Awardee Name: | Dr. Bashir Bietar |
| Supervisor: | Dr. Samuel Dubinsky |
| Institution: | Dalhousie University |
| Study Name: | proBRAIN: Sex-Aware, Stroke-Adapted PBPK Modeling to Optimize Sub-Sedative Propofol Neuroprotection |
Please give a brief description of your fellowship project.
| This project aims to develop a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model tailored to stroke conditions to optimize low-dose propofol administration for neuroprotection without inducing sedation. Stroke triggers significant changes in blood–brain barrier permeability, metabolism, and clearance, all of which affect drug disposition. By integrating sex-specific physiological parameters and stroke-induced alterations, the model will simulate propofol distribution and predict optimal dosing regimens. This work will direct clinical translation to improve individualized neuroprotective strategies in acute stroke care. |
Please describe your career path thus far and what led you to research in stroke clinical trials.
| My research career began in neuropharmacology, where I explored cannabinoid-based immunomodulatory therapies for neuroprotection following stroke. Through this work, I became fascinated by the intersection between pharmacokinetics, neuroinflammation, and translational modeling. My doctoral studies at Dalhousie University provided the foundation for understanding stroke-induced immune dysregulation, which naturally evolved into a postdoctoral focus on optimizing drug delivery in critical care. Joining the StrokeCog platform allows me to merge these research interests with clinical trial design and patient-centered pharmacology. |
Please indicate what this fellowship opportunity has meant to you.
| The StrokeCog Fellowship has been instrumental in advancing my transition from preclinical research to translational pharmacology within a clinical framework. It has provided access to mentorship, interdisciplinary collaboration, and structured training in clinical trial methodologies. Beyond research, it has deepened my appreciation for the collaborative and patient-driven aspects of stroke science. This opportunity is shaping my trajectory toward becoming an independent investigator in neuropharmacology and precision medicine. |
Please describe your future plans.
| I aspire to become a leader in translational neuropharmacology and a driver of change in how sex differences are recognized and integrated into preclinical and clinical research. Building on the foundation of this fellowship, I aim to champion the inclusion of sex-specific data in pharmacokinetic modeling, trial design, and clinical decision-making. My long-term goal is to lead a multidisciplinary research program that bridges computational modeling, neuropharmacology, and critical care medicine to advance equitable and personalized therapeutics. Through mentorship and collaboration, I hope to raise awareness and foster a research culture where sex and biological variability are treated as essential dimensions of scientific rigor rather than secondary considerations. |
| Awardee Name: | Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini |
| Supervisor: | Dr. Nishita Singh |
| Institution: | University of Manitoba |
| Study Name: | Associations Between Brain Frailty, Stroke Severity, and Functional Recovery: Secondary Analysis of the AcT Randomized Trial |
Please give a brief description of your fellowship project.
| This project is a secondary analysis of the AcT randomized trial investigating how brain frailty, a measure of pre-existing structural brain vulnerability (e.g., cortical/subcortical atrophy, white matter disease, lacunes), influences stroke severity, infarct volume, and functional recovery. Using CT imaging data and clinical outcomes from 1,577 patients, it aims to determine how brain frailty is associated with baseline NIHSS score and 90-day clinical outcomes. The study will apply multivariable regression and structural equation modeling to assess mediation effects and examine potential differences between tenecteplase and alteplase treatment groups. Ultimately, this work seeks to improve risk stratification and personalized prognostication in thrombolysis-treated stroke patients by incorporating brain frailty into predictive models. |
Please describe your career path thus far and what led you to research in stroke clinical trials.
| I completed my medical degree with early exposure to stroke patients, which inspired my passion for developing new treatments that bridge basic science and clinical care. Motivated by this translational vision, I pursued a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, focusing on the development of novel pharmacological therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. This experience strengthened my foundation in experimental therapeutics and translational research. Now, as a postdoctoral fellow, I am expanding my expertise to the field of stroke clinical trials, where I focus on learning clinical trial design, conduct, and analysis of large patient datasets. This stage of my career represents a crucial step toward personalized medicine, bridging the gap between bench and bedside to improve recovery and outcomes for patients with stroke. |
Please indicate what this fellowship opportunity has meant to you.
| This fellowship has provided me with the perfect opportunity to advance my career in stroke research by gaining hands-on experience in the design, conduct, and analysis of clinical trials. It allows me to strengthen my understanding of how translational discoveries can be implemented in real-world patient care, which is essential for developing personalized therapeutic approaches. Moreover, being part of the StrokeCog fellowship network has offered invaluable opportunities for mentorship, collaboration, and professional networking with leading experts in stroke neurology and clinical research. This experience is not only shaping my technical skills but also broadening my perspective on the multidisciplinary aspects of stroke trials and patient-centered research. |
Please describe your future plans.
| My future goal is to pursue residency training in neurology and build a career as a clinician-scientist. I aspire to lead a comprehensive research program that integrates both basic and clinical neuroscience to develop and evaluate new therapeutic strategies for stroke patients. By combining my background in translational neuroscience with advanced training in clinical trial methodology, I aim to bridge experimental discoveries with patient care, ultimately contributing to more effective and personalized treatments for individuals affected by stroke. |
| Awardee Name: | Raza N Malik |
| Supervisor: | Dr. Lara Boyd |
| Institution: | University of British Columbia (UBC); Department of Physical Therapy |
| Study Name: | Establishing biomarkers for predicting motor recovery and responsiveness to brain stimulation after sub-acute stroke: a randomized control trial. |
Please give a brief description of your fellowship project.
| Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability, often leaving survivors with limited arm and hand function. While therapy can help, recovery is variable, and we lack reliable ways to predict who will benefit most. This trial tests whether non-invasive brain stimulation (continuous theta burst stimulation, or cTBS) combined with targeted arm training can enhance recovery. Using brain imaging and stimulation tools such as MRI and TMS, the study will identify brain features linked to better responsiveness to stimulation. Ultimately, the goal is to personalize stroke rehabilitation, matching treatments like cTBS to individuals most likely to benefit for improved outcomes and independence. |
Please describe your career path thus far and what led you to research in stroke clinical trials.
| My career has focused on understanding how the brain and spinal cord control movement and how this can be restored after neurological injury. Trained in neuromechanics, neurophysiology, and rehabilitation science, I have led studies using non-invasive stimulation to enhance recovery after paralysis. Building on this work in spinal cord injury, I turned to stroke, one of the leading causes of disability in Canada, to address the variability in motor recovery. My goal is to develop personalized brain and spine stimulation therapies that improve upper limb function and independence after stroke. |
Please indicate what this fellowship opportunity has meant to you.
| This fellowship is an exciting next step in my career toward establishing an independent research program in neurorehabilitation. It provides the opportunity to lead a trial on brain stimulation and motor recovery while receiving mentorship from experts in stroke rehabilitation. I am grateful for the financial support and stability this fellowship provides, allowing me to dedicate my time fully to research and training. The supportive and collaborative environment will help me strengthen my skills in clinical trial design and patient-oriented research. |
Please describe your future plans.
| My goal is to lead an independent research program focused on advancing recovery and quality of life for people living with neurological disorders. I aim to develop personalized neuromodulation therapies that enhance motor recovery while also investigating the underlying neural mechanisms. |
| Awardee Name: | Diana Vikulova |
| Supervisor: | Dr. Thalia Field |
| Institution: | University of British Columbia, Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, Vancouver Stroke Program |
| Study Name: | Searching for an Effective and Safe Preventive Treatment in Patients with Stroke Caused by Patent Foramen Ovale Awaiting Closure. |
Please give a brief description of your fellowship project.
| Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a common anatomical variant of interatrial communication that is present in approximately 25% of the general population and, under certain circumstances, may be a cause of ischemic stroke. To prevent recurrent strokes, PFO closure is currently recommended for patients with PFO-associated stroke aged 18 to 60 years. However, it may take months for the procedure to take place, and no recommendation currently exists on the best antithrombotic therapy for PFO closure candidates. This study will compare the safety and efficiency of anticoagulant therapy with direct oral anticoagulants versus antiplatelet therapy and the impact of these two preventive treatments on health-related quality of life. |
Please describe your career path thus far and what led you to research in stroke clinical trials.
| After completing my medical degree, I received postgraduate training in neurology. As a practicing neurologist, I spent a significant part of my time working in a stroke unit and its outpatient clinic, providing consultations on stroke prevention and recovery. My interest in evidence-based patient-centred prevention originated from everyday work. Clinical guidelines were very comprehensive and instructive in the approach to more common presentations of cardiovascular disease, but there were gaps and uncertainties regarding less common causes of stroke, younger patients, or female-specific considerations. Aspiring to fill some of these gaps, I returned to academia to study cardiovascular prevention as a PhD student at the University of British Columbia. My doctoral research was focused on identifying barriers to diagnosis and prevention of cardiovascular disease in special populations such as young adults and females. Now, as a postdoctoral fellow of the Vancouver Stroke Program, I study preventive treatment and outcomes in less common stroke presentations. |
Please indicate what this fellowship opportunity has meant to you.
| In addition to supporting my fellowship project, the StrokeCog fellowship and CANTRAIN Clinical Trials Training will provide me with the skills and knowledge necessary to conduct high-quality clinical studies, as well as network and mentorship support to thrive in my chosen career path. Most importantly, the program’s mission of supporting the creation of “diverse, skilled trial teams to lead innovative, high-quality research across the stroke continuum” to enable more representative clinical trials generating evidence to improve stroke prevention, treatment, and outcomes, matches my own. |
Please describe your future plans.
| My future goal is to become a clinical scientist studying cardiovascular screening and prevention with a focus on patient-centred outcomes. I believe that this career path will allow me to utilize my clinical experience and research skills to continue caring for stroke patients by finding effective and safe treatments that patients will be willing and able to employ. |
| Awardee Name: | Heidi Riek |
| Supervisor: | Dr. Rick Swartz |
| Institution: | Sunnybrook Research Institute |
| Study Name: | Improving Cognitive Endpoints in Stroke Randomized Controlled Trials |
Please give a brief description of your fellowship project.
| Vascular cognitive impairment is common and impacts post-stroke outcomes negatively, but current outcome measures suffer from poor feasibility, cultural insensitivity, data missingness, and limited clinical interpretability. This project seeks to co-develop and validate a novel, pragmatic post-stroke cognitive outcome framework incorporating three components: impairment on cognitive testing, patient- or informant-reported cognitive symptoms, and cognitive or behavioural dysfunction preventing completion of testing. We plan to engage people with lived experience, clinicians, and clinical trialists in co-designing this framework and subsequently validate it using data from an international adaptive platform study of stroke and from non-trial participants. We hope to provide a reliable, scalable, and inclusive approach to capturing cognitive outcomes in stroke clinical trials, and to improve the equitability and meaningfulness of VCI assessment. |
Please describe your career path thus far and what led you to research in stroke clinical trials.
| I have long held an interest in cognition and neurodegeneration. After completing undergraduate research projects at Queen’s University and the University of Calgary, I went on to complete my PhD at Queen’s University under the supervision of Dr. Doug Munoz, studying eye tracking in patients with several neurodegenerative conditions including cerebrovascular disease/vascular cognitive impairment. During that time, I became increasingly aware of vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and the prevalence of mixed dementia. Understanding the links between vascular pathology, stroke, and cognition is an important component of characterizing neurodegeneration, but was a secondary focus of my doctoral work. I am excited to conduct stroke clinical trial research to round out my expertise in this area. |
Please indicate what this fellowship opportunity has meant to you.
| While my graduate work generated exploratory research aimed at characterizing neurodegenerative disease and its underlying processes, I am interested in gaining exposure to and expertise in research with direct clinical applicability. Additionally, although the dataset I used during my PhD included participants with vascular pathology, it was not a primary research focus. This fellowship provides an opportunity to become familiar with the principles of clinical research and clinical trials broadly, as well as with stroke and vascular cognitive impairment. I am hugely appreciative of the support I have received from StrokeCog and will seek to use this opportunity to become a well-rounded dementia researcher able to independently conduct clinical research in the field. |
Please describe your future plans.
| After completing this fellowship, I hope to continue developing a career in independent clinical research. I am interested in cognitive aspects of neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular pathology, and in bridging gaps between the insights of basic science and the real-world applications it can support. Ultimately, my goal is to design and execute an impactful program of clinical research that blends mechanistic and molecular insight with clinical and practical relevance and applicability to support the development of better treatments and outcomes for neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular conditions. |
Partners involved with StrokeCog include:
