The ISNCSCI Algorithm team members

• Lise Belanger

  Lise Belanger was the Clinical Nurse Specialist for the Acute Spine Program for over 25 years and has more than 40 years of experience as a SCI/Spine clinician practicing as Clinical Educator and Clinical Nurse Specialist for the Acute Spine Program. She is a Clinical Consultant for Praxis Spinal Cord Institute and enrolled the first patient in the Canadian Spinal Cord Injury Registry (RHSCIR) in July 2004. Lise was recognized by the College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia in 2009 with “Award of Excellence in Nursing Practice” for her work in the area of Spine and SCI.

• Fin Biering-Sørensen

  
  Fin Biering-Sørensen is Medical director of Clinic for Spinal Cord Injuries, covering East Denmark, the Faeroe Island and Greenland, and professor in Spinal Cord Injuries at University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is past president of International Spinal Cord Society, and has published more than 450 papers, including more than 250 in peer reviewed journals. He received in 2013 American Spinal Injury Association 40th Anniversary Award for ‘Outstanding contributions to ASIA, and to Spinal Cord Medicine’.

• Steven Kirshblum

  Dr Kirshblum is the Medical Director and Director of Spinal Cord Injury Services at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation and Professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He is the Co-Project Director of the SCI Model System at Kessler, and a member of the International Standards Committee for the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA).

• Ralph Marino

  Dr. Marino is Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University and Director of the Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center of the Delaware Valley. He is board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and in the subspecialty of Spinal Cord Injury Medicine. He received a master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. Dr. Marino is the former Chairman of the Standards Committee of the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA). Dr. Marino is involved in clinical research in SCI as a principal investigator and collaborator. His research interests include time course and determinants of neurological and functional recovery after SCI. He has over 45 peer-reviewed publications and over 60 abstracts.

• Ronald K. Reeves

  Ronald K. Reeves, MD is a subspecialty certified spinal cord medicine specialist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, USA. He earned his B.A. degree from Brandeis University in Waltham Massachusetts and his M.D. degree from Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Dr Reeves holds the academic rank of Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He is also the Clinical Care Director for the Minnesota Regional Spinal Cord Injury Model System. Together with Dr William Waring he co-chaired the development of the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) InSTeP web course regarding the International Standards for the Neurological Classification of SCI. Other previous professional society roles include chair of the ASIA Education Committee and membership on ASIA Board of Directors. He has mentored over 50 trainees yielding over 200 presentations, and dozens of manuscripts, chapters and abstracts.

• Kristen Walden

  Kristen Walden is the Associate Director of Clinical Programs for the Praxis Spinal Cord Institute (Praxis) and physical therapist at Vancouver Coastal Health in Canada. She has practiced in the area of SCI since 2001, working with individuals in intensive care, acute care, as well as both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation settings. Kristen supportsthe Canadian Spinal Cord Injury Registry (RHSCIR); a national Canadian initiative at 31 acute care and rehabilitation facilities. RHSCIR aims to collect standardized data on individuals who sustain traumatic spinal cord injuries, as well as link clinicians, researchers, and health care administrators with the goal of improving both research and clinical practice in SCI. Kristen also a member of the International Standards Committee of ASIA, and provides clinical training on the use of the ISNCSCI according to the guidelines provided by ASIA for clinicians across Canada, and to date has provided training to over 300 clinicians.