Where are you from?
New Tripoli. That’s in eastern Pennsylvania, somewhere between Amish country and New York City.

What are your research interests?
I’m interested in quantifying selective movement control in the upper extremity of individuals who have supraspinal lesions, either in adulthood (individuals who’ve had a stroke) or in the time surrounding birth (children and young adults with Cerebral Palsy). I look at arm movements using a three dimensional robot that creates virtual environments and records an individual’s ability to navigate within them. Ultimately, I’d like to apply this knowledge to enhancing rehabilitation techniques.

Can you tell me about the cerebral palsy projects are you working on?
The synthesis project that I am working on for the DPT (Department of Physical Therapy) program involves quantifying a child with cerebral palsy’s (CP) ability to operate their hand during reaching tasks using the robot described above. There is a great deal unknown about CP, and another project that I’m involved in aims to facilitate CP research and collect longitudinal data about children with that diagnosis. This CP “Registry” will help researchers (including me!) identify families interested in participating in research that are good candidates for their study, in addition to capturing several types of data over time.

What attracted you to the DPT program?
My masters work in Biomedical Engineering was done in my current lab with Jules Dewald, working with subjects who had a stroke. Interacting with the patients was one of the highlights of that experience, but I felt that I didn’t have a good clinical sense of the deficits I was seeing, or the best way to interact with the patients to get their best performance during the experiments. Physical therapy is an exciting field and I felt that I could be a good clinician while gaining inspiration to guide my research. 

What has been the best (or worst) experience so far?
This is a really difficult question. There have been many excellent and difficult experiences that have shaped the researcher and clinician that I am becoming. However, the moment that I am very grateful for is related to the great friendships I’ve found at NUPTHMS. I ran the Chicago Marathon probably against my better judgment in 2006, and it was a wonderful experience for the first 16 miles… followed by the worst 10 miles I can remember. NU students volunteer at the finish line every year to provide medical assistance to runners, and when I crossed (stumbled through) the finish line, the first person I saw was one of my classmates who immediately congratulated me and saw that I was well taken care of with gatorade and snacks – I knew for sure then that I was among special people who were going to be great health care providers. 

How would you describe the faculty at FSM?
The vast majority of the faculty in the DPT program are highly dedicated to student learning, and take great time and care to explain concepts, role play patients, and create opportunities for us to interact with community volunteers. Everyone is very approachable and concerned for you as a person, rather than just a student.

What are your plans after getting your DPT this December?
I plan to get my PT license and then come back to finish my PhD in Biomedical Engineering in the Dewald Lab, while working part time in the clinic. After the second graduation, I hope to continue doing clinically relevant engineering research.