Meet our Researchers

Dr. Dinesh Kumbhare
Dinesh Kumbhare
MD, PhD, FRCPC, FAAPMR

Dr. Dinesh Kumbhare is an Associate Professor and Clinician Scientist in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto within the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He is a scientist at the KITE Research Institute and the Schroeder Chair in Pain Assessment and Rehabilitation at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. He is cross-appointed to the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Dr. Kumbhare is a physiatrist with expertise in chronic pain management, myofascial pain syndrome, electromyography and quantitative imaging. He obtained his Doctor of Medicine from Dalhousie University, his MSc in Health Research Management from McMaster University and his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto.

Interests:
Diagnosis, neurophysiology and development of biomarkers for the identification of myofascial pain syndrome; the use of ultrasound and MRI guided imaging techniques for chronic pain diagnosis and management.
Dr. Daniel West
Daniel West
PhD, R. Kin


‍Dr. Daniel West is a Registered Kinesiologist and an affiliate scientist at KITE Research Institute. He is also an assistant professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto. He has expertise in exercise physiology, skeletal muscle cell biology and disuse atrophy. He obtained his PhD in exercise physiology from McMaster University, completed a Postdoctoral fellowship in skeletal muscle cell biology and disuse atrophy at the University of California Davis, and an industry Postdoctoral fellowship with Iovate Health Sciences and the University of Toronto.

Interests:
Musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction; skeletal muscle; disuse atrophy; exercise and nutrition.
Ethan Danielli
Ethan Danielli
PhD

‍Dr. Ethan Danielli is a postdoctoral fellow supervised by Dr. Dinesh Kumbhare at SPARC. Dr. Danielli’s PhD work focused on objective and quantitative assessment of the brain using MRI techniques in a cohort of retired professional athletes with a complex history of concussive and repetitive sub-concussive impacts. During this time, Dr. Danielli received multiple awards that included the OGS Program and QEII-GSST scholarship, Yates Scholarship Fund at McMaster University, and the Best Neuro Diffusion Presentation at the annual 2021 ISMRM meeting. He is continuing his work using advanced MRI techniques to develop a quantitative tool for concussion assessment and recovery tracking, and is exploring the underlying mechanisms of chronic pain effects in the brain.He obtained his PhD from the School of Biomedical Engineering at McMaster University, his M.Sc. in Human Health and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Guelph, and his B.Sc. Honours in Human Kinetics at the University of Guelph.

Interests:
Concussion assessment and rehabilitation; quantitative pain assessment; MRI neuroimaging.
Fatemeh Shomal-Zadeh
BSc., DC, FCCS(C)

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Interest:
Joana Dilipkumar
Joana Dilipkumar
BEng, MASc Candidate

Joana Dilipkumar is a MASc candidate with the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto and a Research Trainee at the KITE Research Institute at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. She obtained her BEng in Biomedical Engineering & Engineering Physics at McMaster University. As a student and Research Trainee, she enjoys learning about neurophysiology, signal processing, and medical imaging.

Interests:
Using high density electromyography to investigate changes in spinal plasticity during induced central sensitization.
David Koivisto
David Koivisto
B.Eng, MASc Candidate

David Koivisto is a Master's of applied science candidate in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. He is also an ORT (Ontario Research Trainee) at KITE Research Institute at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. David has previous experience as a Clinical Research Analyst and worked on the collection of novel electromyography datasets. He obtained his Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering from the University of Guelph.

Interests:
Investigating the extent of spinal cord involvement from induced central sensitization at a single spinal level.
Josh Steen
Jeremy Steen
BHSc, MSc Candidate

Jeremy is a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funded MSc candidate in the Health Systems Research (HSR) program at the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. He earned his BHSc from McMaster University. His research interests include methodology of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, evidence-informed practice, and outcomes research in chronic pain and pain medicine. His MSc work employs a biopsychosocial approach for phenotyping knee osteoarthritis, with the goal of improving precision treatment and clinical decision-making tools.

Josh Downer
Josh Downer
BSc, CSCS, MSc Candidate

Josh Downer is completing his Masters degree in Kinesiology at the University of Toronto with the SPARC lab. He has a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and is a certified strength and conditioning coach. Josh has over a decade of experience working with clients in high performance and rehabilitation settings.

Interests:
Understanding injury and pain management to provide better patient interventions and treatment options.

Collaborators

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Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto
Medicine, University of Toronto
Dokuz Eylül University
MetroHealth Medical Center
Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
Dr. Brian Budgell
Brian S. Budgell
BSc(Hons), D.C., MSc, PhD

Dr. Brian Budgell is the Director of Life Sciences Laboratories at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. He was in full-time clinical practice for six years before turning to a career in research. He was a visiting researcher for seven years in the Department of the Autonomic Nervous System at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, before he became an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine in Kyoto University for seven years where he worked on human and animal investigations. Dr. Budgell’s work explores the effects of somatic stimulation on spinal cord blood flow, and the influence of spinal cord compression on the modulation of somatoautonomic reflexes. Dr. Budgell obtained his Doctor of Chiropractic from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College and his PhD from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University for research on the regulation of cardiovascular function.

Interests:
Neurophysiology; meta-research; biomedical and health literacy
McMaster University
Dr. Michael Noseworthy
Michael D. Noseworthy
PhD

Dr. Michael Noseworthy is a tenured professor in the department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at McMaster University. He is the Co-Director of the McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Imaging Research Centre at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton. His expertise is in developing new MRI hardware and imaging pulse sequences, and software for MR signal and image processing. His work also focuses on assessment of normal and diseased tissue microstructure and the resultant modulation of tissue metabolism using medical imaging technologies such as MRI and in vivo nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Dr. Noseworthy obtained his PhD from the University of Guelph and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Imaging Physics at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Interests:
Developing more comprehensive and diagnostically useful disease imaging protocols for evaluation of anatomic, metabolic and functional characteristics of healthy and abnormal tissues.