The Rehabilitation Sciences Institute (RSI) is proud to announce the establishment of the Dr. Helene Polatajko RSI Student Award, a prestigious new endowment that will provide meaningful support to graduate students pursuing research and academic excellence at RSI. This award is made possible through a generous gift from Dr. Helene Polatajko, Professor Emeritus at RSI, the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, and the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto. Dr. Polatajko’s enduring commitment to advancing rehabilitation science will have a lasting impact on the next generation of scholars and innovators in the field.
Dr. Polatajko is an internationally acclaimed researcher, educator, and practitioner who has made profound contributions to the fields of Occupational Science, Occupational Therapy, and Rehabilitation Science. With clinical experience primarily in pediatrics, especially in children with learning-based performance problems, Dr. Polatajko’s work has advanced our understanding of the relationship between cognition and performance, most especially, motor-based performance. Her groundbreaking research has led to the development of the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) approach, which has been widely adopted in clinical practice around the world.
Throughout her distinguished career, Dr. Polatajko has been a driving force in the advancement of occupational therapy and rehabilitation science. She has secured over $10 million in research funding, delivered more than 400 presentations across 20+ countries, and authored or co-authored over 200 publications. Among her most influential contributions are the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) and the Enabling Occupation series, cornerstones in the field that continue to inform clinical practice and research worldwide. Her pioneering work in intervention strategies and outcome measurement has had a profound and lasting impact on the discipline, earning her recognition as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2021 for "significantly advancing the understanding of developmental coordination disorder in children."
Dr. Polatajko's legacy is also deeply intertwined with the very foundation of RSI. Early on she played a significant role in the creation of the PhD program and then in 2013, she initiated the transition of the Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Science (GDRS) into the newly rebranded Rehabilitation Sciences Institute (RSI) under the Faculty of Medicine's Extra-Departmental Unit (EDU: B) structure. As RSI’s first Interim Director, she helped lay the groundwork for the Institute’s evolution, broadening its academic scope, strengthening its research focus, and positioning RSI as a hub for innovation and excellence in rehabilitation science education.
The Dr. Helene Polatajko RSI Student Award will provide critical funding to graduate students in RSI, supporting the next generation of researchers and rehabilitation scientists. The award will provide annual income to assist students in their academic and research pursuits Recognizing the importance of graduate student awards, the endowment has also been matched by the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, doubling its impact in perpetuity. The first award will be granted in 2025, marking a new chapter in Dr. Polatajko’s enduring legacy at RSI and the University of Toronto. As the university continues to advance research in rehabilitation science, this award will play a vital role in fostering academic excellence and shaping the future of RSI and its graduates.
We sincerely thank Dr. Polatajko for her continued support of the RSI community.
For more information about this award, including eligibility criteria and application process, please contact the RSI Graduate Coordinator at: rsi.gradcoord@utoronto.ca.