International Collaboration on Repair Discovery (ICORD)
Robb Dunfield
Robb Dunfield was left a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic at the age of 19, the victim of a fall from a third-floor balcony. He was paralyzed from the neck down.
read more »
Following his legendary Man In Motion World Tour, Rick Hansen immediately began looking for ways to realize his dream of accessible and inclusive communities, and finding a cure for spinal cord injury (SCI). The Rick Hansen Foundation had been funding innovative SCI research for some time, but Rick knew something more needed to be done to accelerate the pace of discovery so that it could have a more immediate impact on the day-to-day lives of people with SCI.
In 1995, Dr. John Steeves from the University from British Columbia (UBC) approached Rick Hansen with a way to achieve this goal – to make basic research more relevant to people with SCI by getting new discoveries out of the lab and into the community more quickly and efficiently.
The concept reflected a high priority within the SCI community to encourage more formal collaboration between scientists and those who worked directly with people with SCI in all stages of their recovery. In response, the Foundation invested $500,000 to support a small group of UBC and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) researchers and clinicians called CORD (Collaboration on Repair Discoveries).
CORD’s reputation for conducting leading-edge interdisciplinary research grew quickly. The Foundation continued to invest in CORD’s leadership and research priorities by facilitating partnerships and providing millions of dollars to support key Chairs, research grants and clinical trials. By 2002, CORD was renamed ICORD (International Collaboration On Repair Discoveries)to reflect its broadened scope from regional to international research collaboration.
Today, ICORD is one of the largest interdisciplinary SCI research programs in the world. With over 300 researchers from the sciences, social sciences, medicine, rehabilitation, engineering and kinesiology, ICORD encompasses everything from cellular to community level research in the quest for improved physical function and quality of life for people with SCI.
ICORD has been an important partner in realizing the Foundation's broader vision for SCI, playing a strategic role in the creation the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre (BSCC) and the Rick Hansen Institute. We look forward to continuing to work closely with ICORD to create comprehensive solutions that improve the lives of people with SCI - and ultimately find a cure.
