Soheila Karimi

Dept. of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Canada

Title: Novel repair mechanisms for spinal cord injury

Bio-sketch: Soheila Karimi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, and the Regenerative Medicine Program, at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Soheila is a trained Canadian Neuroscientist. She received her PhD degree in neurosciences from the University of Saskatchewan followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto. In the past two decades, Soheila's research has focused on development of stem cell and pharmacological therapies for spinal cord injury (SCI) and multiple sclerosis (MS). In fact, her pre-clinical research has been instrumental in implementing neural stem cell therapies in human clinical trials that are currently underway in North America and Europe. In recent years, using drug delivery, stem cell therapy, genetic manipulations and bioengineering approaches, Karimi’s research team has discovered novel targets that play major roles in regulating cell replacement, myelin repair, glial scar and neuroinflammation in SCI and MS. Karimi’s program has been continuously funded by concurrent grants from national and international organizations such as the Canadian Institute of Health Research, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, Wings for Life, and the Canadian Paraplegic Association.

In addition to her research, Soheila has been actively involved in national and international collaborations, leadership and outreach programs. She is an elected member to the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association of Neuroscience. Soheila has served in a number of scientific and peer-review committees in Canada, US and Europe. She has also volunteered her time to public awareness/education by participating in outreach activities related to SCI and MS research.