Speaker Biographies

Dr. Shelina Babul is the Associate Director and Sports Injury Specialist with the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit, BC Children’s Hospital. She focuses primarily on sport and recreational evidence-based research and knowledge implementation, with a particular specialization in concussions/traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and their prevention, recognition, treatment and management. She is the Director of BC Children’s Hospital Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP), a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, UBC; an Investigator with the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, UBC. She is the chair and/or committee and board member on numerous provincial and national injury and concussion advisory committees. She was recently nominated for the 2020 Doctors of BC Excellence in Health Promotion Award and was also a nominee for the 2019 YWCA Women of Distinction Award. She received the safety and service recognition awards by BC Hockey and the prevention and awareness award by the Brain Injury Association of Canada.

Dr. Babul’s area of focus include: 1) Identifying and addressing critical gaps in injury prevention; 2) TBI/Concussion-specific research and related strategies to promote uptake of proven and effective interventions; and 3) Coordination of TBI/concussion efforts locally, provincially and nationally. She developed the Concussion Awareness Training Tool (CATT) with the aim to increase knowledge around the recognition, diagnosis, treatment and management of concussions. The CATT contains eLearning modules specific to medical professionals, school professionals, women support workers dealing with intimate partner violence, high performance university athletes, parents, coaches and workers and workplaces. There have been over 750,000 visits to the collective CATT websites and over 63,000 individuals who have completed the online training. Numerous sporting associations and schools (39+) have mandated CATT training for their coaches and teachers, including BC Hockey, a member of Hockey Canada in charge of governing amateur hockey at all levels in British Columbia and the Yukon, and BC School Sports, the governing organization for youth sports in the province.

Dr. Babul is very passionate about her work which has reached provincial and national recognition. Internationally, her work has expanded to Japan, Lebanon and East Africa, namely Uganda, Nairobi and Tanzania. Her experience in this field includes the publication of numerous chapters and peer-reviewed papers, presentations at numerous provincial/national/international conferences, membership on committees/review boards, and interviews with provincial/national/international news media and magazines.

Stephanie is the Director of Knowledge Translation at Parachute, a national charity focused on preventing serious and fatal injuries through evidence-based solutions that advocate and educate. Since 2016, Stephanie has led Parachute’s national projects to improve concussion prevention, recognition and management across Canada, including the publication of the first-ever Canadian Guideline on Concussion in Sport. Stephanie has worked with 50 national sport bodies as well as government, health, and education stakeholders at national and provincial levels on concussion education, policies and protocols.

Dr. Michael Ellis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Section of Neurosurgery at the University of Manitoba. He is the Medical Director of the Pan Am Concussion Program, a multi-disciplinary program that provides care to pediatric patients with concussion and traumatic brain injuries living in Manitoba, northwestern Ontario and central Nunavut. He is the co-chair of the expert advisory committee on concussion for Parachute. His research focuses on the multi-disciplinary clinical management of pediatric concussion with a special interest in using telemedicine to deliver care to medically underserved remote and isolated communities in Canada.

Aaron Geisler is the Director of Sport at Football Canada responsible for all sport programming, high performance, participant development and the safety portfolio. Aaron graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Masters of Kinesiology in Coaching/Sport Management. After graduating he began working with Football Canada focusing on coach development and the introduction of Football Canada’s Safe Contact program to address safety and concussion in the sport. In addition to his role at the National Sport Organization he is a coach at the university level and delivers coaching education as a master coach developer. Aaron’s passion for sport, football and the development of youth programming has led to the creation of several innovative initiatives to address common sport challenges such as participation, inclusion, development, and safety.

I have been involved in sport for most of my life as an athlete, coach, volunteer and administrator. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Ivey School of Business at Western University. I worked for Badminton Canada for 8 years (6 as Executive Director), Wrestling Canada for 2 years and have bee working with Water Ski & Wakeboard Canada for just over two years. In addition I have worked independently on numerous sporting events and sport business activities over the past 10+ years, as well as time spent working in legal services.

Danielle grew up in the small town of Olds, Alberta as the second oldest child of four siblings. She was involved in many different sports growing up, and has always been an athletic and competitive individual.

Danielle was first introduced to the sport of wrestling in sixth grade when a couple of her friends joined the school’s wrestling team and convinced her to come out to practice to try it out. In 2006, Danielle made her first national team. Since this time, she has been a member of Team Canada and has had the opportunity to represent Canada at many international events.

Danielle moved from Olds to Vancouver, BC in the fall of 2008 to attend Simon Fraser University (SFU) and to wrestle for SFU’s varsity wrestling team. Danielle graduated with her Bachelors degree in Criminology in June 2013 and finished her university wrestling career as a three time WCWA national champion. Danielle continued her education at SFU, and in September 2015 she successfully defended her master’s thesis.

In December 2015 Danielle made the Canadian Olympic Wrestling Team at 63 kgs. Unfortunately, Danielle injured her hamstring at the 2026 Olympic Games and was forced to withdraw from the tournament.

Danielle moved to Calgary, Alberta in the summer of 2017 to attend Law School at the U of C and continue wrestling with the Calgary Wrestling Club. She is currently in her last semester of Law School and has qualified for the 202One Olympic Games.

Danielle’s wrestling accolades include being a Junior World Champion, University World Champion, Commonwealth Games Champion, a Senior World Silver Medalist, a two-time Olympian, and a 10-time National Champion/World Team Member.

Dr Suzanne Leclerc is the medical director of l’Institut national du sport du Québec (INS Québec). She has completed her PhD on sport related concussion. Dr Leclerc is taking care of national athletes since 1998 and has gone to many Olympic games as a team physician for Canada. She is the lead of the Sport Medicine Advisory Committee since November 2020.

Peter Leyser is the Executive Director of the Canadian Cerebral Palsy Sports Association, accountable for the strategic leadership and administration of all CCPSA’s programs and services.  His career spans over 20 plus years with senior roles in not-for-profit amateur sport organizations and associations including Associate Director, Business Development with the Canadian Centre for Ethics & Sport.  Before coming to amateur sport, Peter was a Director with the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada, overseeing a buying program for over 1,200 golf courses in the country.  He holds a Bachelor of Human Kinetics degree and a Masters in Sport Administration.

Dr. François Prince is currently Full Professor in the Department of Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Montreal. Holders of a Doctorate degree in Biomechanics from the University of Montreal and a Post-Doctorate Fellowship from the University of Waterloo, he began his career in 1994 as an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sherbrooke. Recruited at the Department of Kinesiology of the University of Montreal in 1998, he assumed the Direction of the Posture and Locomotion Laboratory at the Marie-Enfant Rehabilitation Center from 2000 to 2011. He is associated with Boccia Canada since 2017. He is currently the Director of the Paralympic and ParaSports Research Team and Associate Researcher at the Quebec National Sports Institute.

Dr. Prince was Director of the Department of Kinesiology from 2007 to 2014 as well as the Chair/President of the Canadian Council of Administrators in Physical Education and Kinesiology from 2011 to 2013 and the Canadian Biomechanical Society from 1998 to 2002. He was a member of numerous boards of directors, including Quebec Cerebral Palsy Sports Association and the Gingras-Lindsay Rehabilitation Center in Montréal.

He received the AQIPA Career Achievement Prize in 1999 and was also appointed Ambassador of the French Society of Biomechanics in 2000. He has received research grants from many provincial and national agencies for his work in the field of posture and locomotor control and Sports Performance. He has supervised more than 65 graduate students and contributed to numerous publications of nearly a hundred scientific articles and reports.

Nick Reed completed his Bachelor of Kinesiology at McMaster University, his Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy within the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto, and his PhD within the Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Science at the University of Toronto.

Nick joined the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto as an Associate Professor in August, 2019.  Nick is a Canada Research Chair holder in Pediatric Concussion.  Previously, Nick was a Senior Clinician Scientist within the Bloorview Research Institute, Co-Director of the Concussion Centre and the Holland Family Chair in Acquired Brain Injury at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. Nick remains an Adjunct Scientist within the Bloorview Research Institute at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.

His work focuses on developing, delivering and evaluating research, educational and clinical programming specific to youth and concussion.

His passion is helping youth do the things they need, want and love to do in their lives.

In addition to his research and clinical work, Nick has lived a life immersed in competitive sport, and more specifically, competitive contact sport.  Playing competitive lacrosse from the age of five, he has participated at all levels of the sport and has spent 12 years coaching minor lacrosse within the Toronto area.

Kathryn Schneider is an Associate Professor and Clinician Scientist (Physiotherapist) at the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on the prevention, detection and treatment of sport-related concussion. Her work has identified a large treatment effect using multimodal physiotherapy and vestibular rehabilitation. She is a Clinical Specialist in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Manipulative Physiotherapists and has expertise and certification in vestibular rehabilitation. She was recognized by Avenue Magazine as “Top 40 Under 40” in 2012 and was the recipient of the Vestibular Disorders Association (VEDA) Champion of Vestibular Medicine Award in 2015.  She has been involved as an Expert Panelist at the 4^th and 5^th International Consensus Conferences on Concussion in Sport and is the co-lead of the 6^th International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport. Invited speaking highlights include the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th International Consensus Conferences on Concussion in Sport, International Olympic Committee (IOC) medical meetings at the Sochi, Rio and PyeongChang Olympic games, and many additional International and National sport meetings. Her clinical practice focuses on the treatment of recreational to elite/professional athletes with ongoing symptoms following sport-related concussion. Over the past 8 years, she has worked with many local, provincial and national sport organizations and health care teams to develop and implement evidence-based concussion protocols and processes.  She represents the Canadian Physiotherapy Association on the Canadian Concussion Collaborative, is a member of the Federal Government Working Group on Concussion in Sport and is the co-lead of the integrated Knowledge Translation and Patient and Stakeholder engagement committee of the Canadian Concussion Network.

Dr. Reema Shafi is a translational neuroscientist who has received formal education and training in the fields of Occupational Therapy, Psychology and Rehabilitation Sciences. Her postdoctoral training is focused on utilizing various functional neuroimaging techniques to understand the neuropathophysiology of traumatic brain injury. Her research utilizes an integrative sciences approach to inform and advance the field of neurorehabilitation as it relates to return to occupation and functional restoration post traumatic brain injury. Dr. Shafi has served on various provincial and international working groups, including the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board as well as the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation, to facilitate the translation of the current state of knowledge to improve standards of practice and update programs of care for mild traumatic brain injury survivors. Her research is focused on exploring the sex-specific impact of concussion/mTBI on the brain. More recently, she has been part of a team that has identified the diagnostic utility of a cerebrovascular reactivity biomarker in the diagnosis of concussion at the single subject level.

Brandy Tanenbaum is a certified risk manager and works as an Injury Prevention Program Coordinator in the Tory Trauma Program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario. She is passionate about driving community health through quality physical activity. Her interest started as a child growing up in a neighbourhood where kids rode bikes until the streetlights came on and developed further when completing a master’s degree in public health. Working in both sport and healthcare for more than 25 years introduced her to new people, big ideas and global concepts that cultivated her approach to healthy communities. Brandy was part of the team that developed the online Play Safe Injury Tracker used in the 2012 Ontario Summer Games and 2013 International Children’s Games to collect injury data and drive real-time safety. She is presently on a mission to explore risk and physical literacy as it relates to injury across the lifespan. It’s this work in particular that keeps her from running off to the beach with her husband, two sons, and dog named Captain. we

Manager of Training and Education, Rugby Canada

Born and raised in Montreal to former CFL Linesman Larry Tittley, Jackie brings a wealth of player and coaching experience to her new role; most recently as a Coaching Consultant with the Coaches Association of Canada, but also as regional Ontario East head coach with Rugby Ontario’s Senior Women’s program and head coach with Barrhaven Scottish Rugby in Ottawa, where she currently resides.

A graduate of Concordia University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Leisure Science, Tittley’s world is athletics, as she has played and/or coached in multiple disciplines – from rugby to soccer and skiing. As a former International Rugby flyhalf, Jackie was capped twice in 2013. Of her time spent as player and coach, she says, “I am about to enter my 3rd year as head coach at Barrhaven Scottish; they are a great club to be part of,” adding that she looks forward to being able to continue coaching at the grassroots level, which she also believes will enhance her role with Rugby Canada. Tittley’s coaching roles are important to her: “Working with the Ontario Senior Women is a very different environment, but equally as important and rewarding. Working with athletes of that calibre is fun and challenging,” she says.

Dr. Zemek is a leading global pediatric concussion expert. A noted clinician and researcher, he is an Emergency Physician at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and Senior Scientist, CHEO Research Institute. He is also Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, and Clinical Research Chair in Pediatric Concussion at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Zemek led the largest prospective concussion study in the world to-date, and co-leads an international team developing the first-ever ‘Living Guideline’ for pediatric concussion management. He is Director of the Clinical Research Unit at CHEO and Chair of the Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC) network.

Selected Publications

Clinical Risk Score for Persistent Postconcussion Symptoms Among Children With Acute Concussion in the ED

Association Between Early Participation in Physical Activity Following Acute Concussion and Persistent Postconcussive Symptoms in Children and Adolescents

Natural Progression of Symptom Change and Recovery From Concussion in a Pediatric Population

Living Guideline for Diagnosing and Managing Pediatric Concussion