Janice J Eng
Janice Jennifer Eng (born 1963) is a professor in the University of British Columbia's Department of Physical Therapy and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Neurological Rehabilitation. Early life and education. Eng was born in 1963. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia (UBC) before moving to Ontario and enrolling at the University of Toronto for her MSc in Biomedical Engineering. Upon earning her Master's degree, she completed her doctorate in Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo and returned to British Columbia for her post-doctoral training in Neurophysiology at Simon  Fraser University. Career. Upon completing her post-doctoral training, Eng accepted a professorship position in the University of British Columbia's Department of Physical Therapy. During her early tenure at the institution, Eng developed a rehabilitation program to assist stroke and spinal cord injury survivors. In 2005, she developed the Spinal Cord Injury Research Evidence (SCIRE) Project. SCIRE Professional is a free, accessible platform that provides clinically relevant content such as instructional videos and toolkits to help clinicians provide the best care to patients. SCIRE Community provides people with spinal cord injury and their families. Her research team devised the  Graded Repetitive Arm Supplementary Program which consisted of a set of exercises for the arm and hand to improve recovery of arm function in stroke patients. She also developed the Fitness and Mobility Exercise (FAME) evidence-based exercise program to assist people recovering from a stroke, Parkinson’s disease, MS and frail older adults. It has been shown to improve strength, balance, cardiovascular fitness, bone density and reduce falls in people working to regain mobility following neurological injury. In 2015, Eng was the recipient of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant to fund her rehabilitative program research to aid  stroke survivors. In 2019, Eng established the Exoskeleton for post-Stroke Recovery of Ambulation (ExStRA) study to use a robotic exoskeleton for early walking practice after a stroke. She also co-led a Canadian Institute for Health Research study which paired outpatients with coaches to prevent a second stroke. Within the first six months, patients were shown to have lower blood pressure and made healthier lifestyle choices. Dr. Eng co-directs the CanStroke Recovery Platform which is an 8-site national clinical trials platform to test new Canadian approaches in stroke recovery. She is on the Board of Directors of  the Heart and Stroke Foundation Canadian Partnership for Stroke.