Moving Ahead: A Cross-Sectoral Workshop on Recognizing and Responding to Brain Injury from Intimate Partner Violence

Karen Mason is co-founder and executive director for SOAR (Supporting Survivors of Abuse and Brain Injury through Research), and former executive director of Third Space Charity and Kelowna Women’s Shelter in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. A seasoned and passionate non-profit leader, communicator, and community collaborator, Karen brings 30+ years of career experience in the private, public, and non-profit sectors to her work advocating for survivors of intimate partner violence, conducting knowledge translation and mobilization activities, and supporting research, development, and dissemination of promising practices. Karen is a dynamic and compelling presenter who has training in trauma informed practice and advanced strangulation prevention, and is a member of the Pink Concussions Partner-Inflicted Brain Injury Task Force, the Women’s Health Research Cluster at University of British Columbia, and the ENIGMA International Consortium Working Group on Brain Injury in Intimate Partner Violence.

Dr. Paul van Donkelaar is co-founder and scientific advisor for SOAR (Supporting Survivors of Abuse and Brain Injury through Research). He is also a professor in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus in Kelowna, B.C. Dr. van Donkelaar’s research focuses on the basic mechanisms of sensorimotor control and the cerebrovascular, neurocognitive, and sensorimotor aspects of brain dysfunction resulting from traumatic brain injuries. Since 2016, his work has focused almost exclusively on better understanding brain dysfunction in women who have experienced intimate partner violence-caused brain injury.