Dr. Sharon Gabison is a Physical Therapist and the Hallisey Affiliate Scientist in pressure injury and home care research at KITE, Toronto Rehab – University Health Network. She leads the Wound Research Lab at the KITE Research Institute. Her research is focused on the development and evaluation of tools and technologies to support individuals at risk of developing secondary complications of immobility including pressure injuries and ICU acquired weakness and the caregivers who support them. This interdisciplinary research combines engineering, computer science and healthcare and takes place in the community, in rehabilitation settings and in complex continuing care environments. Dr. Gabison uses both quantitative and qualitative methods and approaches while engaging patients, families, caregivers and the community throughout the research cycle. Through this research, the hope is to equip individuals at risk of developing secondary complications with tools and technologies in order to reduce unnecessary pain and suffering.
Dr. Tilak Dutta is a Scientist at KITE and is part of the Home and Community Team. The objective of Tilak’s work is to develop better tools to support successful aging in our own homes. His primary interest is preventing injuries in caregivers through the development of improved patient lifting products, caregiver education/coaching systems to change how care is delivered.
Other interests include pressure injury prevention and fall prevention for older adults through improved footwear slip-resistance testing and development of footwear outsole materials that perform better on ice and snow.
Tilak’s team designs, builds, tests, refines and commercializes these tools in collaboration with commercial partners and policy makers. The process involves iteratively testing prototypes in simulation labs, often with older adults as participants. Tilak holds cross-appointments at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Alaul Islam is a postdoctoral fellow at KITE, University Health Network, Canada. He collaborates under the mentorship of Dr. Sharon Gabison on various research initiatives, including the development of smart-based socks for the prevention and management of Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFU), as well as research related to pressure injury management.
He defended his doctoral thesis, “Visualizations for Smartwatches and Fitness Trackers,” at the AVIZ research team, INRIA, and Université Paris-Saclay, under the supervision of Dr. Petra Isenberg. In his thesis, he studied the challenges of designing and using micro-visualizations for pervasive and mobile data exploration.
His research focuses on human-computer interaction and information visualization. Specifically, he is interested in designing novel wearable interfaces and exploring techniques for analyzing and visualizing personal health data on wearable devices. He combines cross-sectional, qualitative, and quantitative studies in his research efforts. These methodologies encompass survey studies, design thinking approaches, experiments on human-factor perception, interactions, and evaluations.
Grayden Zaleski is a Master of Science student in the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto. He is currently under the guidance of Dr. Sharon Gabison at the KITE Research Institute. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of British Columbia with a major in Neuroscience and a Computer Science minor.
Grayden’s research interests include human computer interaction (HCI), improving the usability of digital technologies, and evaluating new technologies to support activities of daily living. Currently, he is working with people who have pressure injuries or are at risk of developing one to evaluate a new eHealth app called Pressure Injury Management and Education (PrIME). This project aims to understand how using PrIME impacts participant’s knowledge of pressure injuries and how to prevent and manage them.
He has previously contributed to a study to understand the barriers and facilitators of social media as a tool in dementia prevention research. Grayden has also contributed to an article advocating for changes in moderation strategies on social media sites to better support youth mental health.
In his spare time, Grayden is an avid swimmer and enjoys trying new restaurants across Toronto.
Danvir Sandhu is a fourth-year kinesiology student at the University of Waterloo with a strong interest in rehabilitation science. As a Research Assistant under Dr. Gabison in the MScPT program, he contributes to multiple projects advancing innovation in physiotherapy education and technology. His work in the Wounds Lab spans a wide range of initiatives, with a primary focus on qualitative research and project coordination, alongside clinical research support, data collection, and knowledge translation. Through this experience, he has developed a strong appreciation for interdisciplinary research and its role in improving patient-centered outcomes in rehabilitation and healthcare.
Isabel Tsang is a Research Analyst at KITE Research Institute, University Health Network. She collaborates with Dr. Sharon Gabison and Dr. Tilak Dutta on several research studies including a quality improvement initiative to explore how well interventions are being done to prevent and manage pressure injuries at the hospital and developing a mobile knowledge translation app for pressure injury prevention and management.
She obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree from the University of the West Indies and worked as a licensed medical doctor, providing care for the underserved in Jamaica for more than three years. With a desire to apply research to healthcare, she obtained graduate certification in Applied Clinical Research from McMaster University and Research Analytics from Humber College. Her research interests centre on enhancing patient care and making healthcare workers’ jobs easier.
Alumni
Raquel earned her BA in Kinesiology and Health Science from York University and is currently a Research Analyst graduate student at Humber College.
Her research interest is in chronic pain management and the impact of innovative therapies, as well as data analytics and visualization on rehabilitative practices.
Raquel’s research experience includes working as a Recruitment Coordinator with a focus on phase 1/bioequivalence clinical trials, and as a Research Assistant at Humber Research and Innovation, supporting a study on hope lived experiences with Canadian Human Services. She also has experience with REB submissions, survey design, project management, infographics, and statistical software packages.
Jessica Song is a graduate student of the Wounds Research Lab. She was under the supervision of Dr. Sharon Gabison at the KITE Research Institute and the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto. She earned her Honours Bachelor of Medical Science degree at Western University with a double major in Pathology and Pharmacology. She is currently a medical student.
Jessica’s research focused on researching the educational needs of patients with a history of pressure injury, their healthcare providers, and their caregivers, with the goal of developing a mobile knowledge translation tool for pressure injury prevention and management.
Jessica’s research experience includes conducting scoping and systematic reviews evaluating interventions for individuals with disabilities and she has three publications in this area. She is currently working on her mixed methods graduate research as well as a cohort study.
Sadia Khan is a Master of Science student at the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto. She is under the guidance of Dr. Sharon Gabison at KITE – Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (TRI).
She is currently engaged in her research project which is centered around employing a mixed-methods research approach with a patient-centered focus to ascertain the desirable qualities that patients seek in smart socks.
Sadia holds a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the University of Toronto. Her primary research interests revolve around the development and advocacy of healthcare resources for patients, with a strong emphasis on involving patients in the design process and eliciting their experiences. Prior to her current academic pursuit, Sadia gained valuable research experience as a patient recruiter for a COVID-19 Biobank study and worked as a research coordinator for a COVID-19 post-critical care outcomes clinical program.
Her expertise encompasses various aspects of research, including patient recruitment, conducting patient interviews, handling Research Ethics Board (REB) amendments, and crafting informed consent documents.
Manahil is a postgraduate student supervised by Sharon Gabison at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. She is currently involved in understanding social media discourse regarding pressure injuries.
She has received a BSc in Biology and a minor in psychology from Ryerson University (TMU). She is currently gaining a postgraduate certificate in Research Analyst at Humber College.
Manahil’s interest lies in healthcare research as she would like to aid in enhancing patient care and helping health care workers by using her experiences in quantitative and qualitative research. She has also gained experience with project management and statistical analysis.
