Dr. Alexandra Williams


Postdoctoral Fellow

Faculty of Medicine

University of British Columbia

Applied (Clinical and Engineering Applications)

I am a clinical cardiovascular physiologist, currently a postdoctoral fellow at UBC’s Faculty of Medicine and the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD). Although spanning a range of different conceptual approaches and methodologies, my research is increasingly focused on the investigation of sex-based differences in the autonomic control of the heart in health and disease. At ICORD, with supervisors Dr. Chris West and Dr. Brian Kwon, my research applies a bench-to-bedside approach to determine the acute impacts of spinal cord injury (SCI) on the heart, discover novel therapies to improve neurological outcomes and identify sex-related differences in cardiac function and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in the SCI population. Further to my work in SCI, I am notably interested in the impacts of hypoxia and high altitude environments on cardio-autonomic function, both in lowlanders and populations native to high altitude. 


Area of Research Expertise
Sex differences; Spinal cord injury; Cardiac function; Cardiovascular disease risk

First Nations land acknowledegement

We acknowledge that the UBC Point Grey campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.


UBC Crest The official logo of the University of British Columbia. Urgent Message An exclamation mark in a speech bubble. Caret An arrowhead indicating direction. Arrow An arrow indicating direction. Arrow in Circle An arrow indicating direction. Arrow in Circle An arrow indicating direction. Chats Two speech clouds. Facebook The logo for the Facebook social media service. Information The letter 'i' in a circle. Instagram The logo for the Instagram social media service. External Link An arrow entering a square. Linkedin The logo for the LinkedIn social media service. Location Pin A map location pin. Mail An envelope. Menu Three horizontal lines indicating a menu. Minus A minus sign. Telephone An antique telephone. Plus A plus symbol indicating more or the ability to add. Search A magnifying glass. Twitter The logo for the Twitter social media service. Youtube The logo for the YouTube video sharing service.