Short Biography:

Dr. John Steeves is the founding Director of ICORD (International Collaboration On Repair Discoveries) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). ICORD currently has over 350 researchers (including 275 trainees) investigating various aspects of spinal cord injury (SCI) from preclinical discovery and development, through acute clinical trials and best rehabilitation practices, to community integration and ongoing care of medical and social challenges.

He led ICORD as the principal applicant to the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for a new ICORD research centre in Vancouver. After competitive peer review, CFI awarded ICORD with $12.9 million dollars for the new centre, which triggered a matching award from the Government of BC for a total grant of $25.8 million. Contributions from UBC and VCH, along with a generous donation from Stewart and Marilyn Blusson (via the Rick Hansen Foundation) has enabled the completion of the new $45 million home for ICORD, which is known as the Blusson Pavilion (located at Vancouver General Hospital). In addition, ICORD holds endowments that currently exceed $18 million and annually receives approximately $12 million dollars in competitive research funding.

He was the first person to receive an endowed BC Leadership chair (2002) and is currently the John and Penny Ryan BC Leadership Chair. He is a Professor of ICORD, and also a member of the College for Interdisciplinary Studies, as well as the Departments of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, Rehabilitation Sciences, Surgery, and Zoology at UBC and VCH. He brings over 30 years experience in SCI (completing his doctoral dissertation in 1978 at the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba) and has authored hundreds of scientific and medical publications and presentations. Dr. Steeves leads or has led dozens of national and international committees and organizations concerned with SCI. He has been personally involved in biotechnology ventures and serves on scientific and clinical advisory boards to several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Over the years, his research has focused on the mechanisms essential to facilitate functional repair after SCI, utilizing techniques that range in scope from the study of voluntary locomotor behavior to the molecular basis of CNS development and function. For example, his work has demonstrated that reticulospinal pathways are essential for the initiation of locomotion in all vertebrates, including humans. He has contributed to the identification of CNS myelin as inhibitory to functional CNS regeneration. More recently, he has become involved in translational research and clinical studies of human SCI.

Note: For a higher resolution image of Dr. Steeves, please click on his image above or click here.