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Research Assistant Professor
The University of Florida, Brooks Rehabilitation
My clinical doctorate training as a physical therapist prepared me to practice for 6 years in outpatient settings where my caseload consisted of patients with musculoskeletal pain. My clinical experiences led to further endeavors that included pursuing an MPH (Epidemiology Concentration) and a PhD in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Florida (UF) over the next 5 years (2007-2011) while being funded by the NIH T32 Neuromuscular Plasticity Research Training Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. As a research faculty member at UF since 2012, my primary interests have focused on 1) identifying predictors of musculoskeletal pain and disability outcomes with special interest in comparing the predictive capabilities of unidimensional and multidimensional psychological screening measures; 2) risk stratification to profile patients based on risk of poor clinical outcomes as a component of psychologically informed practice implementation and 3) quality improvement in physical therapy settings. I was funded by the NIH K12 Rehabilitation Research Career Development Program (2013-2016) where my area of interest was patient oriented outcomes research. As a component to my K12, I received formal training in health care delivery improvement through Intermountain Healthcare. My current position is a Research Assistant Professor in UF, College of Public Health and Health Professions (PHHP), Department of Physical Therapy and primary team member as part of a formal Research Collaboration with Brooks Rehabilitation (Brooks-UF-PHHP Research Collaboration). I am also a faculty member in two local physical therapy orthopaedic residency programs (Brooks Rehabilitation and UF-Health Jacksonville) that allows for routine collaboration and dissemination with clinicians. As principal investigator, I have been supported by awards from the Foundation for Physical Therapy Research, the Center on Health Services Training and Research, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. I have received national research awards from the American Physical Therapy Association including the Chattanooga Research Award (2018), the JOSPT George J. Davies – James A. Gould Excellence in Clinical Inquiry Award (2021), and the Eugene Michels New Investigator Award (2021).