Principal Investigator
B.Sc. [Occupational Therapy] (University of Alberta), M.Sc. [Rehabilitation Sciences] (University of British Columbia), Ph.D. [Rehabilitation Sciences] (University of British Columbia), Post-Doctoral Fellowships (University of Montreal & Simon Fraser University)
Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Adjunct Professor, Simon Fraser University
New Investigator, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2016-2021)
2021 recipient of the Award for Innovative Practice from the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy.
Research Interests
Accessibility; Accessible recreation; Aging; Assistive technology; caregiving; Mobility; Occupational therapy; Outcome measures; Participation; Physical disability; Quality of life; Rehabilitation; Robotics; Self management; social participation; spinal cord injuryDr. Mortenson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Simon Fraser University and is a Principal Investigator at ICORD. He completed his B.Sc. in Occupational Therapy at the University of Alberta, followed by his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science at the University of British Columbia. He completed his post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Montreal, funded by a CIHR grant, and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Simon Fraser University, funded by a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship Award.
Dr. Mortenson’s research is focused on aging, social participation, outcome measurement, and assistive technology. His studies include four main overlapping populations: individuals with SCI, assistive technology users, residents of residential care facilities, and both formal and informal caregivers. Dr. Mortenson leads a study “Providing Accessible ReCreation Outdoors: User-driven Research on Standards (PARCOURS)” to inform the development of accessibility standards via a 3-year Federal grant (Accessibility Canada; 2021-2024). He is the principal investigator of a 7-year (2020-2026), interprovincial, SSHRC Partnership Grant entitled, “A Partnership for Improving Mobility, Access and Participation (MAP) Among People with Disabilities”. This was the first SSHRC Partnership awarded to anyone in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC. He has or has held over $7M in funding as a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI and almost $50M as co-investigator.
Dr. Mortenson’s research has important implications. His work on aging with SCI is relevant to a growing population. His research on wheeled mobility and social participation is applicable to individuals with a wide variety of diagnoses including SCI. Given the issue of caregiver burn-out, his findings may help find ways to improve the quality of their lives and help those they assist remain in their homes. By gaining a better understanding of the implications of assistive technology training and interventions, Dr. Mortenson hopes to increase the social participation of individuals who use these devices and to enable them to do activities that give meaning to their lives. Dr. Mortenson’s favourite aspects of working in ICORD is the collegial and supportive nature of everyone who works here. Dr. Mortenson deeply appreciates being surrounded by people with a common interest: to help people with SCI. Though his peers’ avenues of research may differ, everyone contributes to that shared objective. He also enjoys the view of the North Shore mountains above downtown Vancouver from his office window!
Currently recruiting for:
Recent Collaborations:
Dr. Mortenson is involved with the Canwheel team, which has fourteen investigators from a wide variety of fields (including ICORD researchers Dr. William Miller and Dr. Bonnie Sawatzky) from six universities across Canada with. The Canwheel projects are designed to provide a comprehensive, systematic, and unified approach to enhance the mobility of older adult wheelchair users.
He is also involved with SCIRE, Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Evidence, along with Dr. Miller and Dr. Janice Eng. SCIRE is a collaboration project between scientists, clinicians, and consumers, which aims to translate existing research knowledge into a concise and comprehendible format for health professionals.
Dr. Mortenson is collaborating with Dr. Louise Demers from the University of Montreal and the Consortium for Assistive Technology Outcomes Research (CATOR) group ona study to look at the effect of assistive technology interventions on users and their informal caregivers. . He is currently working with ICORD researcher Dr. Jaimie Borisoff on exoskeleton research and with Dr. Lee Kirby on scooter research.
Major Findings:
Wheelchairs in residential care facilities can both enable and restrain residents’ mobility and participation, according to a study done in 2012 by Dr. Mortenson and his colleagues. Quantitative work by Dr. Mortenson also suggests that improving residents’ wheelchair skills can improve the residents’ mobility and social participation.
As well, it was found that providing interventions on assistive technology users is beneficial to both the user and their formal and informal caregivers.
Techniques employed in the labs:
- Semi-structured interviews
- Standardized measurements of cognition
- Participant observations
- Randomized control trials
- Mixed methods research
Affiliation with organizations and societies:
- Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of British Columbia
- GF Strong Rehabilitation Research Program
- Canadian Association on Gerontology (CAG)
- Canadian Society of Occupational Scientists (CSOS)
- Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT)
Awards
Some of Dr. Mortenson’s recent major awards and accomplishments include:
- Standards Council of Canada Special Recognition Award (2023)
- CAOT Fellowship Award (Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists, 2022)
- Elite Reviewer for 2022 (Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2022)
- UBC Academic Merit Award (University of British Columbia, 2021)
- CAOT Award for Innovative Practice (Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists, 2021)
- Elite Reviewer for 2020 (Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2021)
- Legacy Travel Award (Canadian Association of Gerontology, 2013)
- Post-doctoral Scientific Prize (CIHR, 2012)
- Banting Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2012-2014)
- CIHR New Investigator Award (2016)
Trainee Awards
| Year | Name | Award |
| 2021 | Gurkaran Singh | SCI Research Writing Prize |
| 2021 | Pegah Derakhshan | Four Year Doctoral Fellowship (4YF) (UBC) |
| 2020 | Ethan Simpson | Presentation Award (Rehabilitation Research Program Day) |
| 2020 | Farrukh Chishtie | President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award (UBC) |
| 2020 | Miriam Manna | Awarded best poster prize for day 2 of the 2020 (ICORD, Trainee Symposium) |
| 2019 | Gurkaran Singh | 3rd prize for Junior category poster (ICORD, Trainee Symposium) |
| 2018 | Oladele Atoyebi | Four Year Doctoral Fellowship (4YF) (UBC) |
| 2016 | Emma Smith | Fellowship award (3 year duration) & Alzheimer Society Research Program (ASRP) funding (CIHR & Alzheimer Society) |
| 2016 | Kristine Theurer | UBC’s nominee to the SSHRC Talent Award competition (SSHRC) |
| 2017 | Alison Williams | CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarships-Master’s Award (CIHR) |
| 2017 | Alison Williams | Rising Star Award (VCHRI) |
| 2017 | Dominique Gélinas-Bronsard | Best poster award (Centre of research in interdisciplinary rehabilitation (CRIR) Student Colloquium) |
Current Lab Members
| Medical Students | Masters Students | Master of Occupational Therapy Students | Ph.D. Students | Postdoctoral Fellows | Research Staff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miriam Manna | Gina Tsai | Urian D’Silva* | Mona Alkhudair | Dr. Nolwenn Lapierre | Jodine Perkins |
| Ana Maria Arevalo | Bahareh Kardeh | Parisa Madani* | Lisa Simpson | Dr. Alfiya Battalova | Jose Arias Bustamante |
| Murveena Jeawon | Abigail Baker* | Farrukh Chishtie | Karen Boley | ||
| Olatiowuluwase Olatona | Elizabeth Gross* | Tyrone Scales | Ori Ben-Ari | ||
| Himani Prajapati | Caitlyn Croft* | Pegah Derakhshan | Brianna Tang | ||
| Felicia Kangkoyiri | Chloe Peters* | Abdullah Alsuraybi | Rosemary Cheung | ||
| Holli Holmes | Sharmaine Salarda | Tania Jagpal | |||
| Mary Ng | Rachel Yiu | ||||
| Joy Du* | Gillian Bever | ||||
| Alex Bird* | Sophia Sauvageau | ||||
| Anika Cheng | Nicole Banting | ||||
| Mine Celebi | Alice Xu | ||||
| Gurkaran Singh | |||||
| Jennifer Zhang | |||||
| Zach Lauzière-Fitzgerald | |||||
| Nola Morey | |||||
| Katrina Moorthy | |||||
| Michelle Cheng | |||||
| Ellie Gang |
* has graduated in the past year
Recent publications
- Mortenson, WB et al.. 2025. Pandemic-related experiences of older adults and people with disabilities.. PLoS One. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0325306.
- Esfandiari, E et al.. 2024. Feasibility of self-management for amputee rehabilitation using technology and peer support for improving walking and confidence in individuals with lower limb loss.. Prosthet Orthot Int. doi: 10.1097/PXR.0000000000000368.
- Atoyebi, O et al.. 2025. Power-Assist Add-Ons for Older Adult Manual Wheelchair Users: Protocol for a Scoping Review.. JMIR Res Protoc. doi: 10.2196/56375.
- Routhier, F et al.. 2025. Accessibility of Childcare Services for Children With Disabilities Aged 0 to 5 Years: A Scoping Review of Promising Solutions.. Child Care Health Dev. doi: 10.1111/cch.70087.
- Bjørnskov, S, Mortenson, WB, Helle, T. 2025. User perceptions of aspects related to the use of the activity chair: A descriptive cross-sectional study.. Br J Occup Ther. doi: 10.1177/03080226241296361.
