Rehabilitation Sciences

The Rehabilitation Sciences Institute (RSI) is an interdisciplinary doctoral stream program that offers MSc and PhD degrees for students interested in researching issues related to rehabilitation.

Our student body comes from a broad range of disciplines. Our faculty are among the most world-renowned in the rehabilitation field and also come from a broad range of backgrounds. The 100+ RSI cross-appointed faculty members are distributed throughout U of T, including teaching hospitals and research institutes.

With 12 collaborative programs, we integrate research across scientific disciplines focused on understanding human function and participation in family, community, and society and its relationship to health and well-being. The academic program covers the full breadth of rehabilitation sciences, and we offer interdisciplinary research-stream training. The program has 6 recognized fields: movement science, occupational science, speech language pathology, rehabilitation health services studies, rehabilitation technology sciences, and social and cognitive rehabilitation sciences.

We also offer a guaranteed minimum funding package for full-time students (not including work hours such as RA & TA roles).

Our Programs

Master of Science (MSc)

Students in this program complete:

Introduction to Rehabilitation Sciences
MSc Seminar – Foundations of Professional Development
Research Methods
Elective
Thesis and Oral Defense

Students successfully finish this program in 2 years.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Students in this program complete:

PhD Seminar – Foundations of Professional Development)
Advanced research methods
Elective
PhD Qualifying Exam
Thesis and Oral Defense

Typically, students successfully complete this program within 6 years.

Alumni Profile

Kristina Kokorelias, PhD

During my time at RSI, I focused on creating a framework to understand the needs of caregivers for persons living with Alzheimer’s disease. Being a teaching assistant, joining departmental committees, and building connections with external organizations like the Alzheimer’s Society, helped me develop research, teaching, leadership, and mentorship skills.

Today, I’m a Senior Academic Program Coordinator & Associate Scientist in the Geriatrics Program at Sinai Health & UHN. I oversee academic outcomes, teaching, and quality improvement, while also leading research on care models for older adults.

My advice to prospective students is to savor the unique experiences graduate training offers, experiment with different methodologies, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes—it’s all part of the learning journey.

Potential Career Paths

In 2022, the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) tracked the career outcomes of 5,128 PhD students who graduated from the University of Toronto between 2016 to 2021. The data below is from 73 rehabilitation sciences PhD graduates.

Positions

Some examples of the positions our rehabilitation sciences graduates held included:

Hospital-based jobs
Health-related jobs
Postdoctoral fellowships

Employers

Some examples of employers for whom our rehabilitation sciences graduates worked included:

The University of Toronto
The University of Western Ontario

The chart below shows a percentage breakdown of the various sectors in which our rehabilitation sciences PhD graduates worked at the time the survey occurred.

Main Employment Sectors of Rehabilitation Sciences PhD Graduates

Chart data

Post-Secondary Education	Private Sector	Public Sector	Charitable Sector	Individual Sector	Info Not Public/Other
50	16.4	26.0	2.7	1.4	2.7

By the Numbers

125

Number of graduate faculty

#1

in North America for publication and citations in rehabilitations sciences (Thomas Reuters)