Episode 128

Wisdom from the Old Guard (Episode 128)

Guest: Alexander "Sasha" Rabchevsky

Today we are having a conversation with Alexander “Sasha” Rabchevsky. Sasha is many things: a professor, a researcher, a paraplegic, and a U2FP board member. He is also one of the old guard of spinal cord injury (SCI) research advocates. And he is frustrated.

Sasha reached out to me after listening to my interview on the Unexpected Journey podcast. He referenced a portion of that episode where I listed off the litany of secondary conditions that those of us with paralysis suffer from. "Why don’t more people understand this," he said. "Why is there not more urgency?"

Some of Sasha’s frustration with the pace of research and implementation stems from his own recent 70-day hospitalization due to complications from his spinal cord injury. Sasha said that he wasn’t sure if he was going to make it out.

I’ve looked up to Sasha since I crashed into the SCI community almost 8 years ago now. He’s been a model of resilience and a mentor. He reminds me that I will be aging with this condition and that I need to take good care of my health. I recommended that we have this conversation for more people than myself and what you are going to hear is the result, so let's get to it.

Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Soundcloud

Bumper music: Dig a Hole by Freaque

Guest Bios

Alexander “Sasha” Rabchevsky, PhD, is a tenured professor of physiology at the University of Kentucky, college of medicine and is a core member of the Spinal Cord & Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC). After graduating with a B.S. in Biology from Hampden-Sydney College, VA in 1988, Sasha worked as a biology technician at the USUHS in Bethesda, MD before completing his graduate studies in the University of Florida Neuroscience program in 1995 and undertaking a foreign postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Paris, XII. Since 1997, and the establishment of SCoBIRC in 1999, he has been based in Lexington, KY involved in spinal cord and brain injury research, and his work has garnered international recognition. Sasha has received awards for outstanding teaching contribution and excellence in teaching from the department of physiology and the college of medicine, and in 2019 the Friend of the Year Award from Friends for Michael Spinal Cord Injury Organization as well as the Tom Gravitt Memorial Advocacy Award.

Sasha has been a board member for Unite 2 Fight Paralysis (U2FP) based in Minneapolis, MN since 2018 and served as president 2022-2023 to further support their mission to empower the international spinal cord injury (SCI) community to cure paralysis through advocacy, education, and support for research. At the age of 19, Sasha was a passenger in a motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. He has transformed that turn of events into a career searching for ways to repair spinal cord damage and improve the lives of those living with SCI. Since 2002 he has been a faculty member at SCoBIRC, and his research lab has been instrumental in moving the field forward in several areas, notably autonomic and/or mitochondrial dysfunction. However, Sasha is also an ardent advocate for the rights of all people with disabilities. He served on the board of No Barriers USA for over a decade, a non-profit that provides transformative experiences to empower people with all forms of disabilities to manifest the potential that lies within themselves to overcome obstacles with rope teams. He also co-founded and is vice president of the Kentucky Congress on Spinal Cord Injury (KCSCI), served on executive council of the North American Spinal Cord Injury Consortium (NASCIC), and is currently on the board of directors of several non-profit organizations that provide both activity-based therapies and foster inclusion for individuals with a range of abilities.

Connect with Alexander “Sasha” Rabchevsky here: