Reg Urbanowski, MScOT, EdD

Research summary

Dr. Urbanowski research interests focus on human occupation, technology and public policy, including:

• Service delivery models of health care to rural and remote areas
• Services to Indigenous communities
• Use of technology in providing health services to rural and remote areas and to people living in Indigenous communities
• Public policy regarding the above

Reg Urbanowski is a professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Manitoba. He has a strong focus on human occupation, technology, rural and remote health care, health advocacy and public policy. His research interests include service delivery models for healthcare in rural and remote areas, services to Indigenous communities, and the use of technology to provide health services to these populations. He also examines public policy related to these topics.

Urbanowski’s career includes prior leadership roles as dean of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Manitoba, vice president for strategy and business development at Saskatchewan Polytechnic, and program chair in occupational therapy at Husson University, West Virginia University, and Chatham College. He has held faculty positions at Dalhousie University and the University of Alberta. Urbanowski previously worked with the Government of Saskatchewan in the Ministry of Advanced Education as assistant deputy minister and special advisor to the deputy minister. Internationally, he has been retained as an occupational therapy education expert in Finland, Estonia, Czechia, Malta, and the Netherlands.

He has written and presented over 100 peer-reviewed papers and chapters, as well as non-peer-reviewed articles. Urbanowski has been an invited keynote speaker at various international conferences, including the AHEAD conference in Amsterdam, the Canadian Society of Occupational Science annual conference in Edmonton, and the Nordic Symposium on Rehabilitation in Helsinki. He was also voted best visiting professor at the World International Centre of Excellence in the Netherlands. His research grant profile includes funded research and development from CIHR, SSHRC, and other national and regional funding sources.

Urbanowski holds a Doctor of Education from West Virginia University, a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of Alberta, and a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of Alberta.

He continues to contribute to the field of rehabilitation sciences, focusing on improving health services and policies for underserved communities in Manitoba and beyond.