Dr. Courtney Pollock was recently appointed as an Assistant Professor in July 2018.
I undertook my clinical training as a physiotherapist at McMaster University, graduating in 1998. I enjoyed working clinically in a variety of areas of musculoskeletal and neurorehabilitation. I worked a great deal in sport with a focus on para-sport and I remain involved in this. Currently, I serve as an International Rowing Classifier for the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d’Aviron and am active in continued development of the sport internationally.
As a clinician I was curious about gaps in knowledge that I felt were important to understanding how we challenge people during rehabilitation so despite the fact that I firmly stated I would never go back to school when I graduated from Mac in 98, I returned to full-time academic life in 2009. I worked under the guidance of Drs Jayne Garland and Michael Hunt here at UBC during my PhD training and went on to a postdoctoral fellowship at SFU with Dr. James Wakeling.
My research aims to comprehensively understand the fundamental mechanisms of motor control of walking balance and balance reactions and understand how neurological changes associated with aging, disease and injury impact these aspects of motor control and mobility. The overarching goal of my research is to advance rehabilitation practice by developing and evaluating innovative therapeutic interventions designed with sufficient levels of challenge to optimize the motor control of independent mobility.
I am thrilled to join UBC as a faculty member and look forward to opportunities to work with students, clinicians and faculty.