Meet Stevie Foglia

MEET IPRC STUDENTSHIP RECIPIENT STEVIE FOGLIA

Stevie Foglia was raised in Newmarket, Ontario, where early mornings on the golf course and afternoons spent building with Lego ignited a lifelong passion for creation and challenge. From the moment he first gripped a golf club as a child, Stevie found both camaraderie and competition in the sport—a hobby he has maintained as an adult, even though he admits his swing “hasn’t improved too much.”

Beyond the fairway, those childhood Lego sessions planted the seeds for his current drive to design and innovate. “Building whatever came to mind with plastic bricks taught me to think in three dimensions, to experiment without fear of failure,” he reflects. Today, that same spirit of curiosity inspired academic pursuits.

In the lab and clinic, Stevie's work sees him developing Augmented Reality Sensorimotor Training— an AR platform aimed at noninvasive treatment for chronic neck pain. Born out of his doctoral research, this technology overlays real-time biofeedback on patients’ own movements, offering a novel avenue for rehabilitation and pain management.

Drawn to McMaster University by its reputation for groundbreaking health-science research, Stevie seized the IPRC studentship to delve deeper into chronic pain

studies. “I wanted to be at an institution that prioritizes innovation and encourages collaboration across science, health sciences and engineering,” he explains. That multidisciplinary support has proven vital for examining the complex neurobiology behind persistent pain and translating findings into patient-centered interventions.

Stevie’s commitment to pain research also has a personal component. When he was three years old, his father suffered a devastating motor-vehicle accident that left him with severe, treatment-resistant chronic pain. Witnessing his father’s daily struggle galvanized Stevie’s lifelong mission: to create novel, non-pharmacological therapies that might restore hope and mobility to countless families. His advice to prospective IPRC collaborators? “Find your true passion and lean into it. Challenges are inevitable, but passion fuels perseverance. And never underestimate the value of mentorship and cross-disciplinary teamwork—innovation thrives on diverse perspectives.”