Funnily enough, dancing not only helped fund my education and medical school track, but also played a part in leading me to research.

As a ballet dancer, I developed a hip problem–a very painful clunk in my movement. None of the sports doctors, surgeons or physiotherapists in Toronto were able to diagnose what was causing my problem, let alone treat it.  My hip problem is one that I share with many other dancers and athletes, so years after my dance career, during my residency, I created a residency research project on the subject in partnership with a radiologist. Using ultrasound equipment, he was able to identify the problem: a snapping hip tendon known as the iliopsoas. No one else was using ultrasound like that in 2005.

At the time, I thought our work was relatively obscure. I didn’t think anyone would care. Academia was not my interest, and I didn’t even consider myself a researcher at the time. However, as I write this, our paper has been cited over 225 times and is considered a seminal work on the subject. I have always kept this in the back of my mind. It showed me that I could have an impact by seeking solutions to problems that had no answer.

After finishing my residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Toronto, I moved to Victoria. Since coming here, I have worked very closely with two colleagues, interventional radiologist Dr. Daniel Vincent, and plastic surgeon Dr. Emily Krauss. We have collaborated for many years to help treat spasticity: a painful, disabling neurological condition commonly caused by strokes and brain injuries.

In 2017, we had the opportunity to attend a conference that would be very influential for us, serendipitously hosted at the Palace of Versailles. We met with doctors in our field from around the world to share ideas. I was blown away by the treatments offered by our French and Italian counterparts. They were so far beyond anything we could provide, or anything that I thought was possible.

While at that meeting I said to my colleagues, “We’re going to create a leading program in North America”. It was a bit of a joke because we didn’t have the money or the team at the time. You see, funding is an ongoing challenge for clinical-based research like ours. We don’t have the same backing as academic research institutes.

But we made it happen through grants and funding. I am grateful to Victoria Hospitals Foundation donors who support our research work through Island Health Research and the Health Authority. It is incredibly difficult to maintain, but the beautiful thing about clinical research is how quickly we are able to innovate. Given the number of patients we see daily, I am constantly learning and evolving my care to provide the best results I can for my patients. It only makes sense to translate this into research that can be shared and developed more broadly.