UF students receive national awards to support their rehabilitation research

Three University of Florida College of Health Professions students have been awarded Department of Veterans Affairs Pre-Doctoral Associated Health Rehabilitation Research Fellowships for the 2002-2003 academic year.

UF doctoral students in the college’s rehabilitation science degree program — Katherine Byers, Elizabeth (Lisa) Hannold and Matthew Malcolm — are among ten students nationally to receive the awards.

The VA Health Rehabilitation Research Fellowships are awarded to graduate students who plan to work on a dissertation relating to the health-care needs of veterans with disabilities. The goal of the fellowship program is to build upon current rehabilitation research while encouraging students to assume leadership roles in rehabilitation research and clinical care. Students receive an $18,500 stipend to support their research and training.

Byers’ outcomes measurement research will focus on examining the reliability of using conversion tables to link two different rehabilitation measures of functional ability.

Hannold plans to study the experiences and perceptions of veterans with a spinal cord injury who participate in locomotor training — stepping on a treadmill with the assistance of physical therapists who guide the legs and feet — in an effort to improve their ability to walk.

Malcolm will investigate nervous system changes that occur during recovery from stroke and how the brain reorganizes in response to an intensive movement therapy program.