Alumni Feature: Jon Ashmead

Helping transplant patients get moving again

Jon Ashmead’s 19 years in transplant care

By Erika Nakatsui · October 2026

Jon Ashmead (MScPT), physiotherapist on the transplant team

Jon Ashmead (MScPT) didn’t expect his final clinical placement to shape the rest of his career. Nineteen years later, he is still a physiotherapist on the transplant team, working with patients before and after some of the most serious surgeries in medicine.

“In transplant care, the bond is different,” Jon says. “You aren’t just treating an injury. You’re helping someone get back a life they were told they might lose.”

Through every stage of care

Jon works with patients through every stage of their care. For lung transplant candidates, that starts with prehabilitation to build strength before surgery. After the transplant, he works with patients in the ICU, where they can lose 5 to 10 per cent of their strength for each day they are unable to move. “Teaching someone to walk again after they’ve been intubated for months stays with you,” he says.

One patient has stayed with him since his first year after graduating. In 2007, she was close to death when a donor match came through at the last minute. “I still see her almost 20 years later,” he says.

“You’re helping someone get back a life they were told they might lose.”

Jon Ashmead

Choosing public care

Over the years, Jon has also worked in private practice and elite sports rehab, including time with the Edmonton Oilers. In the end, he chose to build his career in the public sector. For him, physiotherapy goes well beyond muscles and joints. It means helping patients with some of the most complex needs rebuild their strength and return to their lives.