U of A Steadward Centre announces Adalberto Loyola Sanchez as first-ever research affiliate

The University of Alberta’s Steadward Centre for Personal and Physical Achievement recently introduced Adalberto Loyola Sanchez as their first-ever research affiliate.

The centre, part of the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, serves children and adults experiencing disability by providing adapted physical activity and para-sport development.

The affiliate program aims to create lasting relationships with researchers based on positive experiences and alignment with the centre’s values and mission. The program is open to faculty, postdoctorates, graduate students and community researchers committed to making an ongoing contribution to the work of the centre.

Loyola Sanchez, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, has focused his work on developing a program of research to design, implement and evaluate community-based rehabilitation programs for people living in outreach communities with disabilities produced by chronic illnesses.

He completed his medical and specialty training in Mexico City and his research training at McMaster University and the University of Calgary.

Since then, Loyola Sanchez has been working on developing a program of mixed methods research to design, implement and evaluate community-based rehabilitation programs for people living with disabilities produced by chronic illnesses mainly in underserved communities. This program focuses on implementing community-based participatory action research projects for underserved populations (such as those in Indigenous rural communities in Mexico) living with chronic musculoskeletal conditions and for people living with complex chronic neurological disabilities, such as spinal cord injuries or disorders, in Alberta.

He currently works in the spinal cord injury program at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton and is leading several community-based participatory mixed methods research projects directed to improve the participation of people living with disabilities in rural Mexico and Alberta. 

Loyola Sanchez is also the principal investigator for the Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry Edmonton site. 

One of his projects involves a collaboration with The Steadward Centre and is aimed at improving access and quality of adapted exercise and activity-based therapy in Edmonton.

“As a Steadward Centre research affiliate, I envision establishing and consolidating partnerships with service providers, researchers and persons living with disabilities involved in this important centre for adapted physical activity and exercise,” says Loyola Sanchez.

“My principal research strategy is based on the principles of participation-action research, which aligns with the centre’s value of embodied ways of knowing. In addition, the central focus of my research program is developing integrated actions to foster community participation, integration and inclusion of people with disabilities, and adapted physical activities and sports are essential for this focus. My program of research also includes the values of connection, collaboration, leadership and learning that are part of the centre.” 

“In action, I envision collaborating with members and staff of the centre in defining appropriate research questions, designing and implementing mixed methods projects to address them, interpreting results and disseminating findings within a renewable cycle. I will foster my relationships with centre staff and members through formal and informal conversations, involvement of graduate students in the work of the centre and through strategies to add other researchers to expand the network of research affiliates.”

Learn more about the Steadward Centre affiliate program.