Gregory Brusola
Assistant Professor
Department of Physical Therapy

Dr. Gregory Brusola is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy. He is a physical therapist with expertise in the management of neurological conditions, especially of those with neurodegenerative conditions. He is a Multiple Sclerosis Certified Specialist with clinical and research interests in the rehabilitation of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Dr. Brusola is a current K12 scholar with UTMB and his related research includes the use of wearable sensors and technologies to assist with the assessment of falls risk, motor dysfunction, and disease progression in patients with MS. These tools include electroencephalography (EEG), actigraphy, and both consumer-level and research grade sensors. Although his research interests span the continuum of the natural history of MS, Dr. Brusola has keen interest in individuals recently diagnosed or are in their early years of MS. Through the use of wearable sensors and advanced analytics, early intervention programs can be developed that are tailored to the individual, as well as helping inform clinical care pathways for patients with MS.

Dr. Brusola is also a scholar within the Scholars in Education Program studying self-regulated learning of incoming entry-level DPT students. His current research project in the Scholars in Education Program pertains to the assessment of self-regulated learning in DPT students to assist with the eventual development of teaching and advising interventions to help develop and foster self-regulated learning sooner in the curriculum.

Mi Jung "MJ" Lee
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Nutrition, Metabolism and Rehabilitation Sciences

Dr. Mi Jung "MJ" Lee is a research assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition, Metabolism, and Rehabilitation Science at UTMB. She is an occupational therapist with expertise in outcomes development and analytics.

Her research centers on enhancing health-related outcomes to support clinical decision-making processes by improving their reliability, efficiency, and translation to clinical practice. Throughout her doctoral and postdoctoral training at the University of Florida, she obtained training in health informatics and measurement science by completing a fellowship program at the University of Florida Informatics Institute (UFII) and a doctoral minor in Research Evaluation and Methodologies. The training included programming and applying clinical informatics (i.e., tree-based algorithms) and measurement models (i.e., unidimensional and multidimensional Rasch, Item Response Theory, Diagnostic Classification, and Latent Class Models). Furthermore, her current K12 training at UTMB is advancing my skills in informatics and data science. Elaborate data visualization, presentation, and machine learning analytical skills have allowed her to utilize large datasets to conduct rigorous research studies within the realm of health services research.

She is currently a Learning Health Systems Rehabilitation Research Network scholar, working with Cleveland Clinic to determine the value and impact of occupational therapy in acute care. Also, as PI, she is leading two research VA grants, utilizing data analytics methodologies to investigate healthcare utilization and identify rural Veterans at risk of institutionalization.

Raj Rajendran
Assistant Professor of Instruction
Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences

Dr. Raj Rajendran is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences and division of pathology working primarily as an instructor teaching CLS students, residents and other healthcare professionals in on-campus and distance learning environments. Dr. Rajendran has been involved in CLS student education of all levels (undergraduate, graduate and doctoral) for the past 10 years and have extensive clinical and technical laboratory work experience as a Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS), specializing in microbiology and serology testing. Clinically, Dr. Rajendran collaborates with pathologists and residents in interprofessional teams such as autoimmune diagnostic management teams (ANA DMT) and COVID-10 DMT to improve laboratory test utilization and prevention/reduction of diagnostic errors.

Currently, Dr. Rajendran is focused on research involving identifying clinician’s laboratory test ordering behavior and laboratory test utilization in areas such as Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Disorders (SARDs), autoimmune hepatitis, anti-GBM disease and pharmacogenomics. He is also mentoring graduate/doctoral students interested in the interventions provided by DCLS students in interprofessional teams such as DMTs and the unnecessary treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnant patient populations. Dr. Rajendran is most passionate about teaching and hopes to improve patient outcomes through dissemination of up-to-date laboratory interventions and test utilization guidelines for students and healthcare professionals.

Amber Armstead
Assistant Professor
Department of Occupational Therapy

Dr. Amber Armstead an occupational therapist and health educator interested in empowering Black, Indigenous, & People of Color (BIPOC) living with chronic HIV to gain and maintain optimal health and functional independence. Her research focuses on understanding how post COVID conditions impact BIPOC people living with chronic HIV (PLWH) in the Galveston/Greater Houston area. She is exploring this impact through a mixed method approach conducting a scoping review & retrospective chart review, semi-structured interviews with the stakeholders (patients, caregivers, and clinicians) battling post COVID conditions, and developing the infrastructure for wellness programming aimed at helping BIPOC PLWH with the management of post COVID conditions using the dimensions of wellness and chronic disease self-management techniques (CDSM).

Her current work is a continuation of her dissertation aimed at addressing geriatric syndromes and the management of chronic HIV for those living and aging with the disease. This research had implications for rehabilitation using occupational therapy and public health because it provided insight into how PLWH used occupations to manage the accelerated aging effects of chronic HIV and led to the development of my current wellness program for PLWH entitled Project LEAF. This program uses principles of Social Cognitive Theory, the Model of Human Occupation, & CDSM to empower PLWH in the management of chronic HIV to successfully age in place.

Steve Fisher
Professor (tenure)
Department of Physical Therapy

Dr. Steve Fisher is a Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at UTMB. He joined the Department in 2011 after completing a Research Fellowship in the Division of Rehabilitation Sciences. Prior to UTMB, he was senior physical therapist at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) where he received Geriatric Clinical Specialist (GCS) certification from the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. He is currently Co-Investigator on several NIH and Foundation funded studies focused on recovery after illness or injury.

Dr. Fisher's research and clinical interests center on physical functioning in older adult clinical populations and how function relates to important health outcomes. This line of inquiry includes i) clarifying the natural history of older patient activity during and following adverse health events, ii) identifying clinically meaningful levels of activity in different clinical scenarios; iii) identifying factors that influence older patient mobility during and after injury or disease; iv) investigations using large data sets (e.g., Medicare claims files) examining linkages between physical function measures and outcomes; and v) clinical studies determining the effectiveness of physical therapy (PT) interventions on function and fall related outcomes. Most recently, these include how non-surgical interventions (e.g., pelvic floor PT and medications) for urinary incontinence impact fall risk and physical functioning in older adults.

Chih-Ying "Cynthia" Li
Assistant Professor
Department of Occupational Therapy

Dr. Chih-Ying "Cynthia" Li has achieved numerous accomplishments in research through multiple awards, publications, and grants since she joined UTMB in 2016.

In 2020, Dr. Li received two externally funded grants: the K01 Research Scientist Career Development Award funded by NIH (NICHD/NCMRR) and the 2-year Health Services Research grant funded by American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF). Dr. Li’s K01 Award received a nearly perfect impact score of 12 on her first submission. Both Dr. Li’s nationally funded grants are analytically innovative and significant for rehabilitation practice and research.

In 2021, Dr. Li received AOTF Early Career Research Excellence Award, a nationwide recognition to identify junior investigators who are contributing and have promise to advance knowledge in the field of occupational therapy.

As a clinician-researcher, Dr. Li’s goal is to produce scientific evidence to advocate value-based rehabilitation. Dr. Li has expertise in measurement science and health services research, particularly in longitudinal aging health, post-acute care, hospital readmission and IMPACT Act Standardized Patient Assessment Data (Section GG).

Monique R. Pappadis, MEd, PhD
Assistant Professor
Division of Rehabilitation Sciences

Dr. Monique R. Pappadis joined the Division of Rehabilitation Sciences in June 2015. Her career in rehabilitation research began in 2004 when she recruited persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) or their caregivers in a Level I trauma center's Neuro-Intensive Care unit in Houston. She witnessed first-hand the recovery of persons with TBI, as she followed their recovery following injury and completed home visits. During the home visits, she conducted qualitative interviews on their lived experiences, performed neuropsychological and social cognition assessments, and gave self-reported measurements to explore community integration, available supports and resources, and psychosocial adjustment to disability. Through these experiences, Dr. Pappadis quickly became an advocate for persons with TBI and their families.

Dr. Pappadis' experiences working with persons with TBI guided her research in the areas of health disparities, community integration, and psychosocial adjustment following injury. As a health educator, she has authored a number of educational materials in English and Spanish for both persons with TBI and their families. Dr. Pappadis also conducts post-stroke outcomes research and is a member of UTMB's Stroke Multidisciplinary Translational Team. She also volunteers her time with a number of rehabilitation and advocacy organizations. She is an elected member of both the Academy of Certified Brain Injury Specialists' (ACBIS) Board of Governors of the Brain Injury Association of America and the Pink Concussions Professional Advisory Board, and she serves on the Planning Committee of the National Academy of Neuropsychology. She also holds a number of leadership positions within the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Dr. Pappadis' current research supported by the National Institute on Aging aims to identify disparities in patterns of care, explore continuity of care and its related health outcomes, and ultimately improve care for older adults with TBI following discharge as they transition back into their community. She is also the co-Principal Investigator of a multi-site study funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research to explore the impact of TBI on health literacy and TBI-related outcomes. Dr. Pappadis hopes that her advocacy and research improves care delivery and long-term health outcomes for persons with brain injury from diverse backgrounds.

Riqiea F. Kitchens, PhD, OTR, BCPR, CSRS
Assistant Professor
Department of Occupational Therapy

Dr. Riqiea Kitchens is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and teaches full-time in the entry-level OTD program. She is a 2019-2021 participant in the UTMB Scholars in Education Program. Prior to joining UTMB in 2019 Dr. Kitchens was a senior occupational therapist and worked with medically underserved clients with neurological injuries. Dr. Kitchens is 1 of 6 occupational therapists in the state of TX to possess AOTA Board Certification in Physical Rehabilitation.

Dr. Kitchens is a Certified Stroke Rehabilitation Specialist whose research interest includes understanding, implementing, and measuring the impact of stroke self-management programs in stroke survivors. She has developed stroke self-management programs in hospital systems and has recently implemented a similar program for clients at St. Vincent's House Clinic in Galveston. This research has been presented at the local, state, and national level and was recently published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy. Additional research interests include studying factors that influence diversity in occupational therapy education.

Currently, Dr. Kitchens serves as a community engagement volunteer with the Delta Education Research Foundation Research Matters For All of Us Initiative, an NIH funded project aimed at increasing knowledge, engagement, and enrollment of African Americans in biomedical research.

Rachel Deer, PhD
Assistant Professor
Division of Rehabilitation Sciences

Dr. Rachel Deer was an assistant professor in the Division of Rehabilitation Sciences at UTMB. She joined the division in September 2017 after completing her post-doctoral fellowship in the Sealy Center on Aging and doctoral training at Texas A&M University.

Dr. Deer's research focuses on improving healthcare outcomes of older adults with pragmatic and effective interventions. She recently completed a pre-pilot clinical trial (PACE) examining the feasibility and effect size of targeted nutritional, exercise, and pharmacological interventions to accelerate recovery of strength and physical function in geriatric patients after hospitalization. Her ongoing follow-up clinical trial (GRAMS) examines the efficacy of two promising new treatment strategies identified in the pre-pilot study: testosterone and whey protein. The primary outcome of this Phase I double-blind placebo controlled randomized clinical trial is the recovery of physical function as measured by the Short Physical Performance Battery. Secondary outcomes of interest are changes in lean mass, muscle strength, and hospital readmissions.

Dr. Deer is also particularly interested in the translation and implementation of research findings into clinical practice. Recently, she was involved in a mission critical project related to nutritional optimization of hospitalized adults. The aim of the malnutrition initiative project was to enhance the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of malnutrition at UTMB hospital in Galveston. Over the past year, the team revamped the nursing nutrition screen, added an objective diagnostic tool to the dietician workflow, and streamlined the diagnosis and care plan to frontline providers. The new tools have recently been integrated into hospital work flows and research is ongoing to evaluate the implementation of these new tools on in-hospital and post-discharge outcomes.

Elizabeth Lyons, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor
Department of Nutrition and Metabolism

Web Biography

Dr. Elizabeth Lyons is an Associate Professor in the department of Nutrition and Metabolism at UTMB. She came to UTMB in 2011 and spent her first three years here in the Institute for Translational Sciences. She has received external research funding from the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and the American Heart Association. She has also published over 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Lyons' research is focused on developing and testing interventions to increase motivation for physical activity. She uses technology, including mobile applications, wearable activity monitors, and video games, to increase perceptions of enjoyment and identity related to physical activity. Most of her research targets older adult women who are at risk for or survivors of breast cancer. Currently, she is expanding her research program to include aspects of traditional in-person interventions with new technology. For example, her current R21-funded study is investigating the combination of wearable activity monitors (such as Fitbit) with scrapbooking.

Amol Karmarkar, PhD
Associate Professor
Division of Rehabilitation Sciences

Dr. Amol Karmarkar was an Associate Professor in the division of Rehabilitation Sciences at UTMB. He joined Rehabilitation Sciences at UTMB in December 2009 as a post-doctoral fellow after completing his doctoral training and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh and VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. Dr. Karmarkar is also a co-director of the Techniques and Methods Development core for a NIH-funded Center for Large Data Research and Data Sharing in Rehabilitation (CLDR). He is been part of the leadership of the center since its inception in 2010, which has a primary mission of developing capacity for rehabilitation professionals to conduct research using large datasets.

Dr. Karmarkar's research focus include investigation of utilization of acute and post-acute care services and associated outcomes using administrative claims and other large datasets. He is particular interested in comparing outcomes such as quality measures, across post-acute care settings, to determine effectiveness and efficiencies of these settings for delivering optimal care for patients after they get discharged from cute hospitals, using Medicare claims data. The research projects conducted by Dr. Karmarkar are time sensitive as the U.S. healthcare system is moving towards value-based care, through several initiatives one being episode-based payment models.

Ickpyo Hong, PhD, OTR
Assistant Professor
Department of Occupational Therapy

Dr. Ickpyo Hong joined the Division of Rehabilitation Science as a post-doctoral fellow in 2016 to work on Dr. Timothy Reistetter's research project creating rehabilitation service areas (R01-HS024711-01). In 2017, he transitioned to an assistant professor faculty position in the Department of Occupational Therapy.

Dr. Hong's research focuses on health services and outcomes research in post-acute care settings using electronic health records and Medicare claim data. His research also includes cross-national disability comparisons using international population-based survey data and various item response theory and measurement models. Dr. Hong's measurement background includes extensive work on patient-reported outcomes within the National Institutes of Health PROMIS measures.

Dr. Hong is currently a K12 scholar at UTMB and is exploring case mixed models for rehabilitation outcomes in post-acute care settings utilizing Medicare claim data and private electronic health records with natural language processing (NLP). He is also supported by the UTMB Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (P30-AG024832) leading an international research collaboration to examine social, contextual and behavioral factors that influence function across the Asian stroke populations in United States, China and Korea which will help US policy makers understand the contribution of unique Asian social factors to improve stroke outcomes.

Lynne Hughes, PT, PhD, OCS, MTC
Associate Professor
Department of Physical Therapy

Dr. Lynne Hughes joined the SHP faculty in 2014 to teach in the Bridge PTA to DPT program. Her current research interest is incorporating manual therapy as an appropriate and effective intervention for older persons. Dr. Hughes utilizes mixed methods design to provide both quantitative and qualitative views of participant outcomes.

Her current research developed from a project funded by Claude D. Pepper Pilot OAIC Grant in 2015. This project examines effectiveness of manual therapy and therapeutic exercise intervention to improve posture in persons over 50 years of age with thoracic hyperkyphosis or forward head. In clinical settings, manual therapists are often hesitant to provide mobilizations or manipulations on their geriatric patients. Dr. Hughes believes that manual therapy is key to improving posture in a relatively short episode of care. Therapeutic exercise has been proven effective in the older population to improve posture; however, the typical intervention duration of 3-6 months is not clinically feasible.

In her current study, Dr. Hughes and team provide treatments 3 times a week for 4 weeks with significant postural improvement. Posture has also been linked with balance, gait, pulmonary function, attitude, and even mortality.

SHP faculty collaborating with Dr. Hughes on this project include: Dr. Rebecca Galloway (PT), Dr. Adrianna Laprea (PT), Dr. Mansoo Ko (PT), Dr. Laura Oppermann (PT), Dr. Carolyn Utsey (PT), Dr. Rodney Welsh (PT, OT), and Dr. Jose Rojas (RC). In addition, three students have assisted in the study: Kirby Capps, Ben Glidden, and Meagan Bourque. Dr. Hughes and team plan to expand recruitment of subjects to include persons with pulmonary dysfunction.

Christopher Fry, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Nutrition & Metabolism

As a former researcher in the Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, Dr. Christopher Fry's research focused on elucidating the mechanisms that regulate skeletal muscle plasticity to establish interventions to maintain muscle mass and strength during conditions of muscle wasting. Muscle strength is compromised in a variety of acute and chronic health conditions, contributing to reductions in quality of life and functional recovery.

Dr. Fry's lab studies the cellular and molecular changes that occur within skeletal muscle following an orthopedic injury, such as an ACL tear. Current projects in the lab explore both pre-clinical therapeutic targets in rodent models of ACL injury, in addition to Phase II Clinical Trials exploring novel rehabilitation techniques in persons who have suffered an ACL tear. The merging of both animal and clinical studies allows for the rapid translation of findings to patient populations while at the same time determining the mechanisms behind the interventions.

Additional research in Dr. Fry's lab explores the contribution of muscle stem cells to the recovery of muscle mass when it is compromised, as during the aging process or following a severe burn. In collaboration with investigators at UTMB and the Shriners Hospital for Children-Galveston, Dr. Fry's lab is exploring different therapies to rejuvenate muscle stem cell activity to promote healthy muscle growth. Much of this work utilizes genetic and pharmacological approaches in rodent models. Following the success of these trials, Dr. Fry hopes to expand these projects into the clinical setting. Dr. Fry's research is funded through several grants, including awards from the National Institutes of Health and the Shriners Hospitals for Children.

Brian Downer, PhD
Assistant Professor
Division of Rehabilitation Sciences

As a researcher, Dr. Brian Downer's goal is to analyze large, cohort studies of aging to produce evidence that informs the development of interventions that improve the overall health and well-being of older adults. This goal stems from his PhD training in gerontology having taken place at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health.

Dr. Downer's public health perspective has influenced his research during all stages of his career. His doctoral research focused on identifying potentially modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's disease among older adults with a genetic predisposition for dementia. His research as a T32 post-doctoral fellow at UTMB advanced his interest in studying high-risk populations by investigating potentially modifiable risk factors for cognitive impairment and physical decline among older Hispanics.

Dr. Downer's current research includes studying how cognitive impairment contributes to the progression of physical frailty among older Hispanics. He is also currently involved in research using claims data files to study the healthcare utilization of older adults, with a focus on older adults with cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, and related dementias. In the future, Dr. Downer plans to collaborate with other UTMB School of Health Professions faculty who have expertise in developing interventions so that he can achieve his goal of conducting translational research.