On Sunday, Sept 14th 2014, Her Royal Highness, Sophie, The Countess of Wessex, came to the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre to celebrate the staff, volunteers, and research participants who make spinal cord injury research possible.
Countess Sophie and Rick Hansen arriving at the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre | Photo courtesy of Rick Hansen Foundation
She learned about ICORD research while visiting PARC and our Human Locomotion Lab, and spoke with clinicians and clients at the Brenda and David McLean Integrated Spine Clinic.
Her Highness meets participants and volunteers at PARC
She also helped Rick Hansen present two Difference Maker awards, to long-time ICORD volunteer Mustafa Hasan and ICORD PhD candidate Peggy Assinck.
Presentation of the Difference Maker awards | Photo courtesy of Rick Hansen Foundation
The Countess with Dr. Wolfram Tetzlaff, Dr. Brian Kwon, Sam Sullivan and Rick Hansen.
The Countess is a patron of many organizations in the United Kingdom, the majority of which are related to families, children, and people with disabilities. She is the wife of Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, who is the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband.
Many media outlets captured the Royal visit, including CTV news (1-minute video) and the Vancouver Sun (story and photos). For more photos, see ICORD’s photo gallery on Facebook.
