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Principal Investigator

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Joshua W. Giles, PhD, PEng

Dr. Giles completed his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) (London, Ontario) (2004-2009), receiving the CSME Gold Medal upon graduation, before undertaking his doctoral studies in Biomedical Engineering at the UWO and the Hand and Upper Limb Center. As an NSERC CGS funded researcher, he focused on developing a world leading hybrid cadaveric-mechatronic testing system that allowed him and his surgical partners to answer critical clinical questions. In the final year of his PhD Dr. Giles undertook an NSERC funded international fellowship at the Henry Ford Hospital, which enabled him to develop a novel method of tracking thoracic motion in biplane x-ray images, allowing shoulder blade motion to accurately be described for the first time. Dr. Giles defended his PhD thesis in Spring 2014 and was subsequently awarded Western University's Collip Medal for the excellence of his dissertation. After completing his PhD, Dr. Giles moved to Imperial College London (London, UK) to complete his post-doctoral research (2014-2017). There, Dr. Giles developed and patented a novel method to conduct minimally invasive shoulder replacement surgery. In 2017, Dr. Giles accepted an academic position in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Victoria where he established the OT&B lab. In his spare time, Dr. Giles enjoys hiking, cycling, English football, reading, and travelling. Google ScholarResearchGate, LinkedIn.

Research Staff

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Colin Day, BEng (BME)

Before joining the OT&B lab as a research engineering associated, Colin completed a BEng in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Victoria. During that degree he undertook the development of a custom upper limb dynamometer to assess patients recovering from stroke and nerve injuries. In his current position, Colin's work primarily focuses on developing a low cost method to track cardiac catheter placement in emergency conditions. As well, Colin is responsible for assisting graduate and undergraduate researchers, co-developing testing apparatuses, and assisting with data analysis. 

Graduate Students

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Tess Carswell, BEng (BME)

Tess joined the OT&B lab in January 2019 during the last year of her bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Victoria. As a volunteer, she worked on generating 3D bone models from computed tomography (CT) scans & meshing those models in preparation for FEA. Tess is a BC Graduate Scholarship and NSERC CGSD  awardee now pursuing her PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Victoria under the supervision of Prof. Giles. In her thesis research, Tess utilizes patient-oriented research and user-centered design principles to investigate differences in male and female lower limb amputees for the consideration of prosthesis design optimization using Musculoskeletal modelling. In her spare time, she enjoys long-distance running and gardening.

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Jena Bjola Photography

Erik Bedard, BEng (ECE)

Erik has an Industrial Instrumentation Diploma from SAIT (2012-2014, Calgary, Alberta), and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from UVic (2017-2019) where he specialized in mechatronics. His interdisciplinary background includes five years of experience in technical engineering roles within the oil and gas, mining, and defence sectors.

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Erik joined the OT&B lab while completing his Honour’s Thesis where he developed software to facilitate the design of personalized surgical instruments for shoulder replacement surgery using concepts from robotics. He is currently completing a Master’s of Applied Science (MASc) in Electrical and Computer Engineering where his research focuses on applying biomedical image processing, mechanical design principles, and real-time engineering optimization methods to improve pre-operative planning for orthopaedic surgery. ResearchGate, LinkedIn. Photo by Jena Bjola Photography

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Jena Bjola Photography

Aren Beagley, BEng (Mech)

Aren first joined the OT&B lab as a co-op student in 2021 during the last year of their Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering at UVic. Aren worked on developing a method to create synthetic computed tomography (CT) scans from volumetric meshes. Shortly after graduating, Aren returned to the OT&B lab to pursue a Master of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering and continue the work started in their co-op. Aren's research focuses on integrating statistical models of bones with Finite Element (FE) methods to investigate research questions regarding the Reverse Shoulder Arthroplasty (RSA) surgery, with the goal of being able to generalize the results. Aren also conducts in-vitro biomechanical experiments to validate their bespoke computational methods. Outside of research Aren enjoys travelling, reading, carving, and storytelling in various forms. Photo by Oliver Choquette.

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Yassine El Alaoui, BSc (BioSci), BASc (Mech)

Yassine has a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Biomedical Science from the University of Ottawa (Ontario) and a Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Windsor (Ontario). His technical background includes work in mechanical design, custom automation, and R&D in the automotive industry. After working on automotive sensors and actuators, Yassine joined the OT&B lab in January 2022 to complete a Master’s of Applied Science (MASc) in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Victoria. His research focuses on upper limb rehabilitation testing. Under the supervision of Dr. Giles and Dr. Berger, he is designing and developing a portable dynamometer to assess patients with upper limb injuries. In his spare time, Yassine enjoys rock-climbing, snowboarding, cycling and hiking. He is also a 3d printing and robotics enthusiast. Photo by Valerie Miles.

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Kaitlyn Kuchinka, BEng (Mech)

Kaitlyn is a Master of Applied Science student as of September 2022, following her graduation from Memorial University of Newfoundland with a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering. During her undergraduate studies, she completed an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award funded project related to the analytical modelling of high precision mechatronic systems. In the OT&B lab, Kaitlyn’s research focuses on the computational modelling of shoulder replacement surgeries to allow for analysis of the changed biomechanics, specifically through developing subject specific models using medical imaging and experimental motion capture. When Kaitlyn is not working or studying, her interests include cooking, the outdoors, and playing sports.

Academic Collaborators

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UVic

Alexandra Branzan Albu, PhD PEng

Collaborator's Website

Department of Electrical Engineering

University of Victoria

Victoria, BC

Photo from UVic.ca

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UBC

Stephanie Willerth, PhD PEng

Collaborator's Website

Department of Mechanical Engineering & Division of Medical Sciences

University of Victoria

Victoria, BC

Photo from UVic

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UBC

Tony Hodgson, PhD PEng

Collaborator's Website

Department of Mechanical Engineering

University of British Columbia

Vancouver, BC

Photo from UBC.ca

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UVic

Alison Murray, PhD

Collaborator's Website

Department of Anthropology

University of Victoria

Victoria, BC

Photo from UVic.ca

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UVic

Sandra Hundza, PhD

Collaborator's Website

School of Exercise Science, Physical & Health Education

University of Victoria

Victoria, BC

Photo from UVic.ca

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UVic

Marc Klimstra, PhD

Collaborator's Website

School of Exercise Science, Physical & Health Education

University of Victoria

Victoria, BC

Photo from UVic.ca

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UWO

Emily Lalone, PhD PEng

Collaborator's Website

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering

University of Western Ontario

London, ON

Photo from ONWiE.ca

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Twitter

Kwang Moo Yi, PhD

Collaborator's Website

Department of Computer Science
University of British Columbia

Vancouver, BC

Photo from twitter.com

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UVic

Xuekui Zhang, PhD

Collaborator's Website

Canada Research Chair in Biostatistics

Department of Mathematics and Statistics

University of Victoria

Victoria, BC

Photo from UVic.ca

Clinical Collaborators

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George Athwal, MD, FRCSC

Hand & Upper Limb Center

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

Western University

London, ON

Photo from UWO.ca

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ICORD

Mike Berger, MD, PhD FRCPC

Collaborator's Website

Clinical Assistant Professor, Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, UBC
Consultant Physiatrist, BC Centre for Complex Nerve Injuries

Principal Investigator, ICORD (International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries)

Victoria, BC

Photo from ICORD.org

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Dave Saliken, MD, FRCSC

RebalanceMD

Adjunct Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery

University of British Columbia

Victoria, BC

Photo from RebalanceMD.com

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Chad Hipolito/The Globe and Mail

Paul Winston, MD, FRCPC

Neuro-Rehabilitation Clinic

Victoria General Hospital

Adjunct Professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

University of British Columbia

Victoria, BC

Photo from theglobeandmail.com

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Jaylan Hamad (BME)

Jaylan is a biomedical engineering student at the University of Victoria. She is currently undertaking a 8 month co-op with the lab where she is using musculoskeletal modeling and predictive simulation to study the biomechanics of Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty.

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Emiko Hourston (MECH)

Emiko is a mechanical engineering student at the University of Victoria. She is currently undertaking an Honour's Thesis with the lab where she is study in the use of shape memory alloys in orthopaedics. As well, Emiko is undertaking a co-op in the lab where she is validating a previously developed statistical Finite Element Modeling method. 

Undergraduate Students

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