About

Dr. Ewen Lavoie is a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Resident Physician at the University of Alberta having completed medical school at the University of Calgary. He also holds a PhD in Neuroscience and Kinesiology with research interests in limb embodiment, eye-hand coordination, prosthetics, and theories of consciousness. He has worked on projects designing objective assessments of prosthetic-limb function, feelings of limb embodiment in virtual reality and the real world, and the impact that haptic feedback has on the experiences of upper-limb prosthesis-users, as well as those in virtual reality. Using visual attention measured via eye movements, and movement fluidity measured via body movements, he creates complex measures of eye, hand, and body coordination. Dr. Lavoie also holds Bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Education, and a Master’s degree in Neuroscience and Movement. With his knowledge, he aims to translate his expertise in neuroscience, human behaviour, and technology to improve medical care for individuals living with neurological and muscoskeletal impairments.

Not only an expert user of many human experimental tools and techniques (Eye Tracking, Motion Tracking, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Electroencephalography, Electromyography, Galvanic Skin Response, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation, and Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation), Dr. Lavoie also possesses the statistical knowledge to analyze large complex datasets, as well as the skills to program in several languages (R, Matlab, Unity, C#, C++, Python).

Dr. Lavoie has been published in journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open, the Journal of Vision, Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews, and the Neuroscience of Consciousness, has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants and scholarships, has presented at dozens of national and international conferences winning awards for his work, and has penned popular science articles about human behaviour, virtual reality, and the future of technology on the human experience.

Dr. Lavoie has instructed undergraduate courses, and has volunteered with local, national and international organizations teaching brain injury prevention strategies, promoting viewpoint diversity, and communicating strategies for better social media practices. He taught high school Biology and Mathematics for several years, and coached elite youth and university competitive swimming for over a decade.