Thank you to all who joined us at SpinalChord 2009.

ICORD is an interdisciplinary research group with members from UBC, Vancouver Coastal Health and other institutions working towards the discovery, development and implementation of relevant solutions that will make a difference for people with spinal cord injury today and tomorrow. See www.icord.org.

The Vancouver Cantata Singers, currently in their 52nd season, have a widely recognized tradition of choral excellence. Their refreshing and highly skilled musicianship has propelled the group into the ranks of Canada's foremost choral ensembles.

 More about ICORD: CORD (Collaboration On Repair Discoveries) was founded in 1995 by Dr. John Steeves with the support of Rick Hansen and then-UBC President Dr. David Strangway. That year, the Rick Hansen Man-in-Motion Chair in Spinal Cord Research was created, and a search was initiated for the first chair holder. Dr. Wolfram Tetzlaff was the successful candidate, and he joined Dr. Steeves and a small group of UBC / VCH researchers with an interest in spinal cord injury (SCI) known as CORD.  Membership in CORD grew steadily, with 15 members in 2000.
    In 2002, Dr. Steeves and his CORD colleagues were awarded a Canada Foundation for Innovation infrastructure award of $12.8 million. The CFI award was matched by the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, and additional funding was pledged by UBC, Vancouver Coastal Health and the Rick Hansen Foundation to provide for the construction of a dedicated SCI research centre.
    CORD's vision and mandate became much broader than a regional research centre, and the research group was renamed ICORD - with the "I"  standing for "international".