Elisa Gonzalez-Rothi
DPT, University of Miami
BS, Psychology, (Concentration in Neurologic Psychology), University of Florida

Student Profile:
Elisa Gonzalez-Rothi is a physical therapist with a concentration in neurologic dysfunction and recovery of walking ability. She received her BS in Psychology, with a concentration in neurologic psychology, from the University of Florida in 2004. She received her Doctorate in Physical Therapy fron the University of Miami in 2007. She worked as a physical therapist in the Medical and Neurosurgical Intensive Care Units at Shands Teaching Hospital in Gainesville, Florida before enrolling Rehabilitation Sciences Doctoral Program at the University of Florida. Elisa’s research efforts focus on understanding the capacity for recovery of locomotor function after stroke and the neural and biomechanical mechanisms underlying this recovery. Elisa is a recipient of the Foundation for Physical Therapy’s 2008 Florence Kendall Scholarship and is part of the NMPT T-32 Training Program. She is a member of the Neural Control of Movement Lab and is mentored by Carolynn Patten, PhD, PT. She is currently in her first year of graduate studies.

Research Project Description:
Stroke is a devastating neurologic insult which affects more than 780,000 Americans each year. Stroke is one of the leading causes of long term disability in the US with an estimated healthcare cost of 65.5 billion dollars in the US per year. Upwards of 5.8 million Americans are living with the after-effects of stroke and many report experiencing long-lasting functional limitations and difficulties with activities of daily living as a result. Only about 50-70% of stroke survivors regain functional independence and nearly 30% remain permanently disabled. One of the major goals of stroke rehabilitation is the restoration of walking function. Traditional approaches to gait training after stroke often fail to re-establish normal walking capabilities, and individuals who do eventually regain the ability to walk, are often hampered by slow laborious walking, poor endurance, impaired balance, and reliance on an assistive device. With such a high rate of stroke survivors who do not fully recover walking function, it is essential that we understand where these traditional approaches to gait retraining fall short. Elisa’s research is focused on developing a clear understanding of the mechanisms underlying recovery of walking after stroke and how treatment interventions differentially affect impairments, functional activities, and participation. Ultimately, the objective of Elisa’s work is to provide a scientific basis for the development and design of effective rehabilitation interventions that are fundamentally based on the theories of motor learning, neuromotor recovery, and neuroplasticity.

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