Dr Malihe Poormasjedi-Meibod

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Canada

Dr Malihe Poormasjedi-Meibod, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Translational Integrative Physiology Lab in Vancouver, Canada. Her research focuses on cardiovascular dysfunction in people with SCI. She received a 2018 travel grant and attended the 57th International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) Annual Scientific Meeting held in Sydney, Australia.

“Attending this meeting gave me the opportunity to present my research findings on cardiovascular consequence of spinal cord injury (SCI), which is an under investigated area of research. Compared to the able-bodied population, people aging with SCI demonstrate premature development and three to five times higher odds of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the leading cause of death in this population.

“My presentation was one of the very few talks on this particular topic, which ignited in-depth scientific discussion with thought leaders in the field of SCI. Through these discussions with clinicians managing patients with SCI, I learnt about major unmet need in managing these patients acutely post-SCI. These discussions led to initiation of new a project investigating different pharmacological strategies to increase cardiac output and subsequently spinal cord perfusion acutely post SCI, aiming to improve the clinical outcome for patients.

“I also had the opportunity to attend the SCI Early Career Researcher breakfast, bringing young researchers from multiple countries together to discuss their projects, needs and vision for their future research. This networking opportunity, in addition to worldwide connections facilitated by the SCoRH platform, provided a unique environment to seek mentorship and initiate collaborations.” (Report extract.)