Our Team

Dr. Sukhvinder Kalsi-Ryan

Chief Scientific Officer, CEO

Dr. Sukhvinder Kalsi-Ryan has worked as a frontline Physical Therapist with neurological populations for 20 years. She gained her BSc. PT from the University of Toronto (UofT), an MSc. from the Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Science (GDRS) at UofT in 2006 and was awarded her PhD in 2011, again from GDRS at UofT. She has completed two postdoctoral fellowships in the Krembil Neuroscience Program at the Toronto Western Hospital. Currently she functions as Clinician Scientist. Her experience spans clinical assessment, intervention, development of research concepts, implementation of multi-site, multi-national studies and knowledge translation/dissemination. She has expertise in the development of material and methods to standardize study implementation across centres. Her research experience has given her vast knowledge in the process of engaging health care practitioner, and teaching and training of new concepts to this group. She is currently a clinician researcher and is a licensed physical therapist.

Timothy A. Ryan

Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Ryan has more than 20 years of experience in operational and financial management. He holds a Bachelor of Human Kinetics and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Windsor. Prior to becoming the Chief Operating Office and of NOCI, Mr. Ryan was an Operations Manager for Sunoco, a Suncor owned company. Mr. Ryan was responsible for the strategic direction and leadership for the overall administrative operations, which included staff and service administration. As the Chief Operating Officer of NOCI, Mr. Ryan continues to implement and expand NOCI’s business mission. He cultivates, manages and maintains long- term business relationships with Key accounts, Stakeholders and Key Opinion Leaders within the health research community.

Jean Brown

Jean Brown completed her BSc. in Physical Therapy from the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen’s University and her Diploma in Massage Therapy from Sutherland-Chan School and Teaching Clinic. Clinically, she has worked as a staff Physiotherapist at several hospitals, practiced Massage Therapy in a Multidisciplinary Clinic in Toronto and returned to Sutherland-Chan as an instructor. After completing training in Myofacial Release Therapy with John Barnes she opening her own practice in Toronto. Jean joined the NOCI team as a consultant in 2013 and has participated in providing Clinical Research Training for several studies in North America and Europe. as well as early phases of clinical data collection for development of the GRASSP. Jean currently enjoys her travels and teaching ventures with NOCI while continuing to balance part-time Hospital coverage at Toronto Western Hospital and her growing private practice.

David Frake

A graduate of the University of Ottawa Physiotherapy Program and of the University of Waterloo’s Kinesiology Program, David is a member of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association and holds an independent practice certificate from the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario. David developed his expertise at the Ottawa Rehabilitation Centre, the Toronto Rehabilitation Centre, and the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute – Lyndhurst Centre as well as several private orthopedic practices. He is now is a physiotherapist clinician and owner/director of Balance Physiotherapy.

David’s continuing pursuit of post-graduate education has guided him in his use of Bobath normal movement techniques, acupuncture, gait analysis and biomechanics in his daily practice. David’s academic background also includes teaching experience as a clinical instructor and facilitator for the University of Toronto. His clinical experience includes work in Asia, Africa and the UK. He is on the Board of Directors of The Ontario Rehab Alliance. He is also a member of Canada’s National Triathlon Team both as a physiotherapist and athlete and competes nationally as an elite cyclist.

Miranda Hong

Miranda Hong is a licensed and registered Physical Therapist with the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario with a BSc.PT from McGill University. She is a long-standing clinician with over 12 years of experience and has a passion and special interest in neurorehabilitation. Miranda has enhanced her skills by completing postgraduate courses in NDT/Bobath and manual therapy concepts. She engages closely with health care practitioners at all levels supporting continued education through teaching and as a facilitator of interprofesssional education. In addition, Miranda has extensive expertise in clinical services planning, developing models of care and outcome measures, and evaluating programs/services at a frontline and research level. Her passion combines excellence in patient care, health quality and driving innovative system change.

Gina Peixoto

Gina Peixoto holds a BSc. PT from the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Toronto, a MSc. from the Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Science at U of T and an Advanced Clinician Practitioner in Arthritis Care certificate from U of T. She has worked as a physiotherapist for almost 20 years. Her clinical experience includes frontline patient care, program development and research in both adult and geriatric populations, spanning clinical areas including neurological, musculoskeletal and cardiorespiratory. She has experience in a variety of clinical settings throughout the continuum of care; intensive care unit, acute care wards, rehabilitation, palliative care, and outpatient services. As well as patient care, Gina has extensive experience in clinical teaching, consisting of preceptorship of physical therapy interns and student research projects, and in interprofessional education of medical students and residents, and other medical disciplines.

She joined NOCI in 2013 and has enjoyed participating in the development of training material, organization of training programs and has performed training for a variety of outcome measures.

Leslie Soever

Leslie holds a BSc. PT from the University of Toronto and a Master of Science from the Institute of Medical Science in The Collaborative Program in Bioethics at the University of Toronto. She is also a graduate of the Advanced Clinician Practitioner in Arthritis Care Program.

She has several years of clinical experience in physiotherapy, including assessment and management of patients with degenerative cervical myelopathy. In addition, Leslie has leadership experience having managed both clinical and research teams.

From a research perspective, Leslie has expertise in qualitative methods as well as quality improvement frameworks. The clinical focus of her research has been musculoskeletal in nature. Leslie currently works as a Senior Professional Practice Leader (Musculoskeletal, Geriatrics, Cardiac Rehab Programs) University Health Network in Toronto. Leslie is a clinical lecturer in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Toronto and is also currently President of the Arthritis Health Professions Association.

Caroline Jones

Caroline Jones graduated from the University of Toronto in 1987 with a BSc. PT. Since then she has worked at St. Michael’s Hospital–a downtown Toronto teaching hospital and trauma centre. Jones’ work experience at St. Michael’s has given her the opportunity to interact and treat a wide variety physiotherapy patient population.

In 2006 Jones completed her Advanced Practice Certification. Since that time, she has worked in an advanced practice role. Jones currently holds an affiliation with the University of Toronto as a Clinical Tutor. In more recent years her clinical interests and research has been focused on osteoarthritis. Jones successfully completed her Masters in Rehabilitation Science in 2011.

Jones currently works with a talented team of individuals at St. Michael’s Hospital and has been involved with numerous research publications focused primarily on models of the delivery of patient education. Jones has presented several abstracts on the St. Michael’s Hospital multidisciplinary team in the treatment of Osteoarthritis.

Dr. Tracy Blake

Dr. Tracy Blake completed her MSc. PT at McMaster University in 2004.  Since then, she has pursued postgraduate training in sport physiotherapy, advanced manual therapy, vestibular rehabilitation, and acupuncture.

Dr. Blake has worked field side in a variety of sports, including football basketball, soccer, rugby, volleyball, and lacrosse, from the grassroots level to the 2014 Pan-Am Games. This experience, combined with her work in acute inpatient hospital care and private practice, highlighted a gap in the evidence regarding the role of rehabilitation in concussion care.

Dr. Blake completed her PhD in Kinesiology (Sport Medicine) at the University of Calgary Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre in 2016, focusing on the role of physical activity in primary sport-related concussion prevention. Tracy continues to work in acute care hospitals and private practice while participating in research and sport coverage at the local, national and international levels.

Zia Poonjiaji

Zia Poonjiaji is a healthcare leader with over 15 years experience in quality improvement, teaching and mentorship, case management, and navigation of the Ontario health system.  Her specialties and proven expertise are in health quality improvement initiatives focused on access, flow, transitions, and outcomes.  Poonjiaji completed her BSc PT in 2002 and her MSc PT in 2005, both from the University of Toronto.  Poonjiaji continues to collaborate and work towards improving healthcare quality, health systems and the patient experience.

Didar Khokhar

Didar Khokhar is currently the Business Development and IT Manager for NOCI. Not only does Khokhar have a background in Social Services but he brings over 20 years of experience in business enhancement, project management, and the IT Development Sector, to NOCI.

Shamonique Murray

As the Operations Coordinator for NOCI, Shamonique Murray ensures that the inner workings of NOCI run seamlessly and efficiently. She is responsible for liasing with relevant corporate personnel, report analysis and administrative duties for the NOCI team.  Shamonique merges her background in Marketing and Kinesiology to provide marketing support, project management, and maintain accurate operations materials and documents for reference purposes.