Praxis Spinal Cord Institute (Praxis) is a Canadian-based not-for-profit organization that leads global collaboration in spinal cord injury research, innovation, and care. We advance ground-breaking ideas that can be put into practice, making lives better. We actively engage people living with spinal cord injuries and other world-class experts to work together to identify and solve the most urgent challenges to make exceptional improvements in the health of people with spinal cord injuries. Praxis Spinal Cord Institute is proudly accredited by Imagine Canada and was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Charities by Maclean’s and Money Sense magazines, achieving an A+ rating.

Through a diverse workforce, Praxis is committed to excellence in research, innovation and care for people living with spinal cord injury. Praxis recognizes that a diverse workforce, comprised of individuals with an array of identities, abilities, backgrounds, cultures, skills, perspectives and experiences is vital to creativity, growth and innovation and our success in making an impact on quality of life. We support our commitment by fostering an inclusive workplace which is fair, equitable, supportive, welcoming and respectful, allowing us to continue to transform health outcomes.

The Praxis PLEX Program is a world-leading team of individuals living with SCI who are building PLEX leadership within the SCI community. This work includes advancing the meaningful engagement of persons with lived experience (PLEX) of SCI to inform research, best-practice implementation in clinical care, and the translation and adoption of novel therapies and technologies. We work with researchers, clinicians, innovators and decision-makers to ensure the needs and priorities of PLEX are addressed through meaningful engagement and partnership on all SCI-related activities.

JOB SUMMARY

Reporting to the Associate Director, PLEX Program, the PLEX Program Coordinator supports the organization and implementation of programmatic initiatives. They will also be responsible for facilitating relationship building among a wide variety of stakeholders in the SCI community through strong communication, meaningful engagement and facilitating lived-experience perspective.

The PLEX Program Coordinator will support the PLEX Program in coordinating the team’s involvement in a wide array of projects through ongoing communication, meeting management, project tracking and reporting. They will also work closely with other Praxis staff, including program directors, project leads, and research staff.

Externally they will work with individuals from the SCI community, Canadian SCI networks, provincial, national and international SCI groups and associations, PLEX-partnered research project teams, and key donors and funders. The successful candidate will be an effective communicator, with a track record of coordinating projects in collaboration with diverse stakeholders.

JOB ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Providing administrative support to the PLEX team;
• Coordinating, organizing and supporting projects, partnerships and engagement activities of the PLEX Program;
• Scheduling meetings, corresponding with internal and external stakeholders, completing administrative forms and documents;
• Preparing background materials for meetings and taking notes during meetings;
• Drafting and editing documents and providing feedback as required;
• Coordinating and supporting in-person and virtual events and activities such as focus groups, Health Cafés, Lunch n’ Learns, in-services, and presentations;
• Assisting with purchasing documentation;
• Coordinating travel plans;
• Event coordination including cost projections, catering, travel and accommodation arrangements;
• Liaising with Praxis Communications team to support content creation and distribution;
• Providing other supporting duties and tasks as requested

QUALIFICATIONS

• 1-3 years of experience in an administrative or coordinator role
• Post-secondary education preferable
• Experience working with or in health research or the healthcare environment an asset
• Lived experience of SCI is an asset
  • Spinal cord injury (SCI) persons with lived experience (PLEX) are individuals with lived experience, including people living with SCI, their family and friends, as well as PLEX-focused community organizations and advocacy groups.
• A strong connection to the SCI community an asset

KNOWLEDGE/ SKILLS/ ATTRIBUTES

Knowledge

• Understanding of project tracking, event planning and coordination
• Knowledge of the SCI healthcare and research environment an asset
• Knowledge of Integrated Knowledge Translation and engagement best practices an asset
• Knowledge of the issues, needs and priorities of individuals with SCI an asset

Skills

• Organizational and time management skills
• Project coordination skills
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Collaboration and teamwork skills
• Creative problem-solving skills

Attributes

• Highly motivated individual
• Ability to support preparation of reports and detailed written communication
• Ability to track progress using project management tools and highlight priorities/next steps
• Ability to coordinate administration and logistics for programming and event planning
• Ability to support meetings in an effective manner

An equivalent combination of education, experience and skills/behaviours will be considered.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested and qualified candidates can apply by March 31, 2023. While we thank all applicants for their interest, only short-listed candidates will be contacted. For more information on Praxis, please visit www.praxisinstitute.org.

Praxis Spinal Cord Institute would like to acknowledge that the land on which we are located is on the unceded traditional territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, specifically the shared traditional territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) First Nations.