Researcher

Title

• Head, Research Axis - Musculoskeletal Health, Rehabilitation and Medical Technologies Axis, CHU Sainte-Justine
• Deputy Scientific Director, Pediatric Rehabilitation Technopole of Centre de recherche Azrieli du CHU Sainte-Justine (2023)
• Associate Professor, University of Montreal (2021)

Laboratory

• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Motor Control Laboratory (Dr. Heidi Sveistrup), University of Ottawa (2012-2014)
• Ph. D., Rehabilitation Sciences, McMaster University (2012)
• M. Sc., Rehabilitation Sciences, McMaster University (2007)
• B. Sc., Physiotherapy, University of Ottawa (2001)

My research focuses on the integration of virtual reality and active video games in pediatric rehabilitation practice, particularly for children with cerebral palsy. The mission of LaboINSPIRE is to use a problem-based, integrated knowledge translationapproachin partnership with children, families and clinicians to promote the sustainable and evidence-based integration of digital innovations, such as virtual reality, in pediatric rehabilitation. All of our efforts are focused on the functional use of innovative, interactive and immersive technologies to facilitate the evolution of interventions from the clinical setting to children’s home, school and environments with the goal of improving their functioning and participation. We develop, create and evaluate digital interventions with the broad objective of creating best practice guidelines and a pan-Canadian knowledge transfer network that will help clinicians and families stay abreast of rapid developments in this field and improve the quality of pediatric rehabilitation and telerehabilitation. The research-clinical activities take place in The Technotheque of the Centre de réadaptation Marie Enfant du CHU Sainte-Justine, our living laboratory offering access and support for interactive technologies to clinicians. Additionally, I co-lead the RéadapTechno Club with my colleague Abolfazl Mohebbi, a student club at the University of Montreal/Polytechnique Montreal that designs and manufactures devices aimed at promoting autonomy in daily life activities for a wide range of people living with disabilities.

• Virtual reality integration in pediatric rehabilitation
• Motor learning and transfer in virtual environments
• Affective impacts of learning in immersive virtual environments
• Knowledge translation of virtual reality research into clinical practice
• Immersive virtual reality as an assessment and intervention method for children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy
• Telerehabilitation using virtual reality for children with neuromotor impairments
• Methodological conduct and reporting of scoping reviews

Career Summary

After completing her undergraduate training in physiotherapy at the University of Ottawa, Dr. Levac worked as a pediatric physiotherapist at McMaster Children's Hospital (Hamilton) and Bloorview Kids Rehab (Toronto) in acute care, rehabilitation and school health support. She completed her Masters and Doctorate in Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University, in the CanChild Center for Childhood Disability Research. Her graduate studies were funded by the Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program. She then completed postdoctoral training, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa, before joining Northeastern University (Boston, MA, USA) in 2015 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences. Her research program at Northeastern was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, the Deborah Munroe Noonan Foundation, the Charles H. Hood Foundation and the Tufts Medical Center Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Since 2023, Ms. Levac has been serving as the Deputy Scientific Director of the Pediatric Rehabilitation Technopole of the Centre de recherche Azrieli du CHU Sainte-Justine.

Awards and Distinctions

• 2020, Faculty Excellence in Community Engagement Award, Department of Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences
• 2019, Early Career Investigator Award, International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation
• 2018, Best paper award, International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality, and Associated Technologies
• 2017, Best presentation award, International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation

Major Financing

• Transforming Child, Youth, and Family Services: Implementing the ‘F-words for Child Development’ framework to advance holistic, strengths-based, function-promoting, and family-centred care across sectors, Kids Brain Health Network Implementation Program Grant (Strategic Science Fund) (co-chercheuse, 2025-2027)
• Utilisation des technologies interactives pour solliciter l’engagement des enfants lors de la réadaptation intensive, REPAR/OPPQ (superviseure, 2024-2026)
• Implantation des technologies interactives en réadaptation pédiatrique : un transfert de savoirs traditionnels dans la francophonie, FRQ-SC Appel à projets conjoints savoirs traditionnels (chercheuse principale, 2025-2027)
• Vers la standardisation du continuum de soins pour la création d’une base de données concernant les jeunes avec amputation en physiothérapie, REPAR/OPPQ (superviseure, 2024-2025)
• Co-création d'un modèle Agile pour une communauté de pratique en réadaptation pédiatrique: un projet de recherche participative, INVENT_T DÉMARRER; Programme de soutien aux projets technosociaux innovants, Université de Montréal (chercheuse principale, 2024-2025)
• Mobilisation des connaissances sur l’interprétation des données biomécaniques de la marche pathologique par une communauté de pratique, REPAR (co-chercheuse, 2024-2026)
• Construire l’avenir de la réadaptation de précision au Québec: Intégration de la technologie interactive, la gestion des données et l’intelligence artificielle, Ingénierie de technologies interactives en réadaptation (INTER) (chercheuse principale, 2023-2025)
• Danser dans le métavers : la réalité virtuelle comme outil pour améliorer les conditions de vie de l’inclusion sociale de jeunes en situation de handicap, Ministère de l’économie et de l’innovation Appel de projets d’innovation sociale (co-chercheuse, 2023-2025)
• Développement d’un consortium Franco-Québécois pour soutenir l’intégration des technologies interactives en réadaptation pédiatrique, Direction des affaires internationales, Université de Montréal (co-chercheuse principale, 2022-2023)
• Utilisation de données physiologiques pour améliorer l’expérience des utilisateurs en réalité virtuelle immersive : applications pédiatriques, Ingénierie de technologies interactives en réadaptation (INTER) (chercheuse principale, 2022-2024)
• Exergaming registry-based trial promoting physical activity in children and adolescents with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), IRSC (co-chercheuse, 2023-2026)

Presentations

• 2024 - Invited Speaker. The ‘Technothèque’: Integrating virtual reality and active video games into regular clinical practice in a pediatric rehabilitation setting. An international perspective on technology integration in rehabilitation: overcoming barriers and innovating care. American Academy of Cerebral Palsy & Developmental Medicine, Québec (Qc), octobre.
• 2023 - Invited Speaker. Using interactive technologies to promote intensive functional neurorehabilitation: from rehabilitation centre to home. When is virtual reality ‘therapy’? Evidence-based integration of interactive technologies in pediatric rehabilitation. Digital Symposium, Axinesis, janvier (webinaire).
• 2023 - Invited Speaker. 1^er Forum québécois sur le polyhandicap. Et si on alliait recherche et technologie au profit du polyhandicap ? 30 octobre 2023 (Montréal, QC).
• 2023 - Invited Speaker. From Tech to Rehab: Applications in Clinical Settings. FWO consortium, Université Libre de Bruxelles; 2 décembre 2023 (Bruxelles, BE).  
• 2023 - Invited Speaker. 9^es Journées Francophones de Kinésithérapie, Rennes France 29 mars -1 avril.
• 2022 - Invited Speaker. Journée scientifique de la FedRHA : Education et Soins au 3^eme millénaire. 17 nov, Brest, Fr.

Publications

1. Pouliot-Laforte A, Dubé E, Kairy D, Levac DE*. What is the current state of precision rehabilitation? Protocol for a scoping study with a consultation phase. JMIR Research Protocols.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39842913/
2. Cheng M, Craig A, Levac DE*. Concurrent validity of visuomotor integration assessment using immersive virtual reality for children with cerebral palsy. Child: Care and Development. In press.
3. Houzangbe S, Lemay M, Levac DE* (2024). Towards physiological detection of a “just-right” challenge level for motor learning in immersive virtual reality: a proof-of-concept study. JMIR Research Protocols. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11459106/
4. Ferron F, Robert M, Levac DE. Virtual reality and active video game integration within an intensive bimanual therapy program for children with hemiplegia. Physiotherapy & Occupational therapy in pediatrics. . https://doi.org/10.1080/01942638.2023.2259462
5. Levac DE*.  Individual and contextual factors influencing children’s effort in pediatric rehabilitation interventions.  Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.15609