Dr. Bill Miller, an ICORD investigator and faculty member in the UBC Dept of Occupational Therapy & Occupational Sciences and GF Strong Rehab Centre, along with Drs. Gary Birch, Bonnie Sawatzky and several others, received $1,485,447 over 6 years through the Emerging Team Grant: Alliances in Mobility in Aging competition for their program of research, CIHR Team in Wheeled Mobility for Older Adults (WheeMOAT). Their research will focus on improving the mobility opportunities of older adults who use power wheelchairs.
This is the abstract from their successful grant application:
Wheeled mobility or more specifically wheelchair use by older adults is expected to grow over the next 50 years. The goal of this interdisciplinary team is to develop a program of research dedicated to improving the wheeled mobility of older Canadians who no longer have the ability to walk safely. Our team consists of engineers, computer scientists, biomechanists and clinical researchers from across Canada. We will create 3 streams of related research focus: 1) the Device Improvement and Development stream will be responsible for leading innovation related to new technologies and intervention strategies designed to improve wheeled mobility; 2) the Measurement stream will be charged with the development and assessment of the utility of novel new measurement tools which will enable us to determine the impact of new devices and intervention strategies; and 3) the Clinical Trial and Evaluation Stream which will assess the effectiveness and efficacy of the new devices.
