Conference Chair
Dr. Jill G. Zwicker
PhD, OT, University of British Columbia
Dr. Jill Zwicker is a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Pediatric Brain Development in Rehabilitation and Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She also holds appointments as Associate Member in the UBC Department of Pediatrics (Division of Developmental Pediatrics), Investigator at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Clinician Scientist at Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children, Associate Member at CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, and Affiliate Investigator with Kids Brain Health Network. As an occupational therapist, Jill is committed to translating research knowledge into clinical practice. She founded Canada’s first research integrated diagnostic clinic for DCD and created toolkits for therapists and pediatricians to facilitate identification and diagnosis of DCD. She uses advanced neuroimaging techniques to better understand how the brain differs in children with and without DCD and whether brain structure and function can change with rehabilitation intervention. Dr. Zwicker is also interested in the relationship of prematurity and DCD and is examining early brain development and motor outcomes of premature newborns.
Organizing Committee
Dr. Chantal Camden
Associate Professor, Sherbrooke University
Dr. Chantal Camden is an Associate Professor at the School of Rehabilitation at Sherbrooke University. She is a physiotherapist by background and completed her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences from the University of Montréal and her Post-Doctoral training at CanChild. Her research focuses on developing, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based interventions and service delivery models for children with developmental delays or disabilities. She has been involved in projects using Developmental Coodination Workshops to implement DCD best practices. She is also part of the CanChild Partnering for Change team and works on system-level analysis on the implementation of this new school-based service delivery model in different educational and health care systems. She is involved in using multimodal web-based services to develop Tier 1 services. Most of Chantal projects use participatory-action research approaches and engage stakeholders to improve service delivery to children with developmental delays or disabilities. Chantal is also involved in global health projects. She likes outdoors and actively promotes work-life balance.
Dr. Cheryl Missiuna
Professor Emerita, McMaster University
Dr. Cheryl Missiuna is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science and Scientist and former Director of CanChild at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. Her background is in occupational therapy with graduate degrees in educational psychology and special education. Cheryl’s research has focused on early identification and prevention of secondary consequences in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), as well as the development and evaluation of online educational resources for parents, educators, physicians, and service providers. Recently, Cheryl has co-led a multidisciplinary team of researchers who are evaluating an innovative approach to delivery of health services called Partnering for Change. This evidence-informed tiered service delivery model facilitates inclusion and increased participation of children with DCD and other developmental challenges in school settings.
Dr. Helene Polatajko
Professor Emerita, University of Toronto
Dr. Helene Polatajko is an internationally respected occupational therapy scholar and teacher and a valued mentor. She has well over 300 publications, has done over 550 presentations in more than 20 countries, and has held over $10,000,000 in grants. Her work has focused on occupation and its enablement. Prominent among her contributions are co-authorship of the internationally acclaimed Canadian Occupational Performance Measure and Canadian Enabling Occupation books, and leading the creation and development of the Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance Approach. Dr. Polatajko is the recipient of numerous national and international awards and distinctions including the Muriel Driver Lectureship, election to The American Occupational Therapy Foundation’s Academy of Research, and being named as a Fellow to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. She has taught generations of occupational therapists and supervised over a hundred graduate projects. Many distinguished scholars are her former PhD students!