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Faculty and students from the Department of Physical Therapy presented at the  2022 American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Combined Sections Meeting held in San Antonio Feb. 2–5.

“This is the largest national PT meeting of the year, with typically more than 10,000 attendees participating,” said Greg Ernst, PT, PhD, associate professor and chair of the department. “Many faculty and some students had presentations as well as service activities on various national committees.”

One of those presentations was a virtual reality educational symposium titled “” organized by Assistant Professor Anjali Sivaramakrishnan, PT, PhD. The more than 60 people who attended the session heard from panelists including Dr. Sivaramakrishnan, who discussed research on integrating non-invasive brain stimulation in combination paradigms for stroke rehabilitation, Assistant Professor Sandeep Subramanian, BPTh, MSc, PhD, who presented research on virtual reality-based therapy in upper limb rehabilitation, Emory University Associate Professor Trisha Kesar, PT, PhD, who discussed functional electrical stimulation (FES)-based interventions for restitution of post-stroke gait deficits and Rutgers University Professor Judith E. Deutsch PT, PhD, who discussed a case scenario on stroke and virtual reality-based rehabilitation.  

“The goal was to have the audience think about what type (of technology) do you use and how do you evaluate the outcomes,” she said, adding that panelists also shared two case scenarios, with the goal of showing clinicians how they might apply the research in the clinic.

PT faculty and students who participated at the conference include (faculty and School of Health Professions DPT students listed; other presenters can be found by clicked on presentation titles):

– Gustavo J. Almeida, PT, PhD: , with students Trey Conroy, Corey Steven Dole, Joshua Alexander Caniglia, Karley Rosales and Ebony-ayanna Willis; and , with students Samantha Ayala, Alberto Barrera and Andrea Saenz.

– Julie B. Barnett, PT, DPT: , with students Trey Conroy, Corey Steven Dole, Joshua Alexander Caniglia, Karley Rosales and Ebony-ayanna Willis.

– Greg Ernst, PT, PhD:  

– Michael Geelhoed, PT, DPT: , with students Vanessa Marie Alonzo and Ryan Andrew Garza.

– Selina M. Morgan, PT, DPT, NCS: , with students Isabel Gracia, Megan Vargas, Juan Ortiz, William Lopez, Jocelyn Julissa Davila, Barrett Dana Ketter, Keely Rose Ozment, Emily Geisler and Katherine Elizabeth McCallie.

– Dr. Sivaramakrishnan and Dr. Subramanian:  and  with students Jasmine Ariana Ha Mohammad and Walter Sales. 

– Bradley Scott Tragord, PT, DPT, DSc: “.”   

Several faculty members participated in national service activities at the conference, including Dr. Ernst, Dr. Geelhoed, Dr. Sivaramakrishnan, Associate Professor Martha Acosta, PT, DPT, GCS, and Assistant Professor Bobby Belarmino, PT, DPT, PhD, CCS. The poster, , for which Dr. Subramanian was first author and students Jasmine Ariana Ha Mohammad and Walter Sales were co-authors, won the best poster award from the Stroke Special Interest group of the Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapy.