Professor Saunders shares sailing program on ABC
A sailing program for people with spinal cord injuries run by Professor Norman Saunders receives ABC TV coverage.
Living with a spinal cord injury should not hold someone back from trying new pursuits, according Professor Norman Saunders of the School of Biomedical Sciences Pharmacology and Therapeutics department.
The Developmental Neurobiologist, who also has a passion for sailing, shared the program on ABC TV News on Sunday 16 December.
The program, which uses sailing simulator technology, is part of a clinical trial to measure the effects of learning to sail on the health and outlook of people with spinal cord injuries.
“It has a big effect on their self-esteem. We had two or three people who were depressed and they weren’t depressed by the end of the trial,” Professor Saunders told ABC News.
“They have been offered a challenge to do something that they just wouldn’t have considered doing, that will give them confidence to do other things that they thought was outside their reach.”
Earlier this year, Professor Saunders was also made a Member of the Order of Australia for his significant service to medicine in the field of neuroscience through research into spinal cord injuries and mechanisms protecting the developing brain.