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I n the time it takes to read this paragraph, you’ll have performed one of the body’s most complex sensory motor tasks – a very precise orchestration of 32 paired muscles, seven motor and sensory nerves, and multiple regions of the brain. It will take about 800 milliseconds, and you won’t even know you’ve done it. You’ll have swallowed. This simple act is something most of us take for granted. Yet the reality can be very different for people who’ve experienced neurological injury or disease, affecting quality of life in a cruel and often isolating way. This year marks the 10th birthday for the University of Canterbury Rose Centre for Stroke Recovery and Research. Those years have seen an ongoing expansion in clinical services for patients with swallowing impairment, known as dysphagia, alongside education of emerging researchers and practising and emerging clinicians. Innovative research has been developed throughout the decade. Last year, the Rosebud Clinic for children was opened. The centre is led by Distinguished Professor Maggie-Lee Huckabee and Dr Phoebe Macrae. Dr Macrae was a past recipient of a Neurological Foundation Philip Wrightson Fellowship which supported a return to New Zealand following a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and Maggie-Lee received her first Foundation small project grant back in 2004. Both Maggie-Lee and Phoebe find their work extraordinarily fulfilling. “We LOVE the work we do. It’s such a great thing to have a career that lets you make a difference in quality of life for so many people,” says Maggie-Lee. The fear of choking or accidentally inhaling food or liquid can be deep-seated in people who’ve experienced it. We don’t realise howmuch our social lives revolve around eating and drinking until disease makes those things difficult and fraught. “Our primary aim is to ensure patients are able to enjoy these simple acts safely, and without fear,” says Maggie- Lee. “With the right input, even patients with severe and chronic symptoms can enjoy eating and drinking again – sometimes even years after their last meal.” Recovery is approached as a genuine team effort. “We see our patients as partners in the research process, helping us develop patient-driven research questions that will RESTORING LIFE’S PLEASURES: The simple joy of eating and drinking Work carried out by brilliant researchers and practitioners at a very special Christchurch clinic is having remarkable, life-changing impact. 2004 and 2013 Small Project Grants $19,100 – Dr Maggie-Lee Huckabee 2007 Miller Scholarship $84,000 – Dr Phoebe Macrae 2013 Project Grant $82,650 – Dr Maggie-Lee Huckabee MINI TIMELINE Rose Centre Neurological Foundation support Dr Phoebe Macrae, Madeline Mills and Distinguished Professor Maggie-Lee Huckabee 10 Headlines