T6: Capacity Building - Fellowship & Graduate Student Training

Project Directors: Margaret A. Struchen, Ph.D. and Angelle M. Sander, Ph.D.

To increase the field of rehabilitation researchers, particularly those with interests in traumatic brain injury and community integration needs for persons with brain injury.
To provide cross-training for Fellows with backgrounds in clinical neuropsychology and rehabilitation psychology through clinical experience and didactics.
To address some of the deficits in training regarding disability, and to emphasize an understanding of disability within a social paradigm.
To provide practical research experience, including experience with conducting research in the community, in partnering with consumers to develop and implement research designs, in developing and refining research presentation and manuscript preparation skills, and in exploring alternate means of disseminating research results to facilitate their translation into clinical practice and public policy.

Trained 3 RRTC post-doctoral Fellows and 1 pre-doctoral Fellow.
All 3 post-doctoral Fellows have gone on to pursue research careers. One (Allison Clark) is Principal Investigator on a NIDRR Field-Initiated Grant, Co-Investigator on a Traumatic Brain Injury TBI Model System Grant, and is the Director of Training for an RRTC. One (Lynne Davis) is the Principal Investigator on a newly funded RRTC research project. The third (Laura Ritter) is Co-Principal Investigator on a newly funded RRTC research project.
Trained one ARRT Fellow (Gina Evans), who is currently a researcher in the Center for Chronic Disease Management and Prevention at Baylor College of Medicine, and has submitted an NIH K-Award.

Trained 3 graduate students:
- Monique Pappadis, a research assistant for the RRTC, completed her Master's Degree in Health Education, conducting her Master's thesis with participants in the RRTC and creating educational materials for persons with TBI and their caregivers (listed under "Other Accomplishments)." She is currently a Social Work Ph.D. candidate and is continuing to conduct research at our Center.
- Brianne Focher, a Master's level student in the Department of Communication Disorders at the University of Houston, conducted her Master's thesis using data from a prior Field-Initiated Grant at our Center.
- Nina Robins, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Disability Studies at University of Illinois-Chicago, completed her doctoral dissertation as part of our research project on intimacy.
# of peer-reviewed publications by fellows/graduate students: 11
# of scientific presentations (including published abstracts) by fellows/graduate students: 32