On Thursday 23 May, occupational therapist and spinal cord researcher, Dr Gillean Hilton, delivered a presentation on behalf of the SRI to our long-time supporters, Kew Rotary, at a luncheon at Kew Golf Club.

Dr Hilton, who is based at Austin Health in Melbourne, received an international travel collaboration grant in 2017, which was made possible thanks to funding from Kew Rotary. She spoke to the group about the importance of that travel grant and how she is still benefiting from it today with her current projects.

Dr Hilton also spoke about her research and what inspires her to support people with a spinal cord injury (SCI) back to work.

“I have always been motivated to focus on aspects of people’s lives that are highly meaningful to them. Be that, for example, what people do for leisure, involvement with family or of course paid employment,” said Dr Hilton.

Commencing her PhD in late 2013, Dr Hilton has focused on understanding more about people’s experience in attempting to re-enter the workforce after SCI. She said this is particularly important because “the high majority of people sustaining SCI are workers prior to their injury, and yet, far less than half return to the labour force following injury.”

With her team of research investigators located across Australia and New Zealand, Dr Hilton also provided some insights into how the SRI’s Spinal Cord Research Hub (SCoRH) helped them collaborate despite their geographic distances.

The SRI thanks Kew Rotary for being such a valuable supporter of our organisation and spinal cord researchers.