Chief, PM&R Clinic
SCVMC
I graduated from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine in 1994 and completed my Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) Residency Program at Stanford University in 1998. Since 1998, I have been an attending physician at SCVMC in the Department of PM&R and became the Chief of the PM&R clinic in 2011. I treat patients with neurological conditions such as SCI, brain injury, and strokes in the outpatient clinics and specialize in the management of patients with SCI. I also supervise the EMG Lab, the Women with Disabilities Health Care Clinic, the multidisciplinary Spasticity Clinic, the combined plastic surgery/wound clinic, and the telemedicine program.
My research and clinical interests are in the area of outcomes and community integration after SCI, women with disabilities, electrodiagnostic medicine as it applies to neurological conditions, and spasticity management. I was co-project director for the federally-funded SCI Model System of Care Grant at SCVMC (2000 - 2006), and I successfully completed federally-funded projects titled Back on Track - A Community-Based Mentoring Program (2005-2010) and Dysphagia Evaluation in Individuals with SCI (2008 - 2012). I received the Sell grant from the American Spinal Injury Association in 2004 to study upper extremity neuropathies in SCI and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation’s QoL grant to develop a seated Tai Chi program for individuals with SCI in 2009 and to pilot a tele-nutrition program in 2018-2019. In the last 25 years, I have also participated in industry-funded multi-center studies including: Fidea Pharmaceuticals Sygen and Acorda’s 4AP trials, Pfizer’s Viagra in women with SCI, Allergen’s Botox for neurogenic bladder, Coloplast’s catheter study, Proneuron’s ProCord study, and Asubio study. I have also partnered with providers at VA Palo Alto Heath Care System and participated in their clinical research projects. In 2015, I was awarded a 3-year grant from Craig H. Neilsen Foundation to start a TM program using iPad, which was the first TM program to be initiated at SCVMC. In 2018, I received a 4-year grant from the Department of Defense to study the efficacy of tele-psychology for persons with SCI. Most recently, I received the SCI Model Systems of Care grant (2021-2026) to study tele-nutrition counseling and aging in SCI. I have presented at national and international conferences on telemedicine and co-authored two book chapters on telerehabilitation as the first author.
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