Michelle Woodbury
Research Health Scientist, Brain Rehabilitation Research Center,
Malcom Randall VA Medical Center, Gainesville, FL
Research Assistant Professor, (Department of Occupational Therapy), University of Florida
PhD, Rehabilitation Science, University of Florida
BS, Occupational Therapy, Elizabethtown College

Student Profile:
Michelle Woodbury received her BS in Occupational Therapy from Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown PA, in 1986 and worked as a therapist in inpatient and outpatient neurorehabilitation clinical settings for 12 years prior to enrolling in the UF Rehabilitation Science Doctoral program. As part of the NMPT program, her mentorship team included both clinical (Craig Velozo, Lorie Richards, Kathye Light) and basic (Dena Howland) scientists. Her dissertation focused on improving the item-level measurement properties of the most widely used clinical outcome measure of post-stroke upper extremity motor impairment, the Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity Assessment. She completed her post-doctoral training (Associate Investigator, VA CDA-1), at the Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, Malcom Randall Veterans Administration Medical Center under the mentorship of Steve Kautz. She recently received a second-level VA Career Development Award (CDA-2, 2008-2011). Her current research focuses on establishing a measurement “toolbox,” a method to accurately and precisely measure post-stroke upper extremity motor behavior using a combination of clinical and neuromechanical assessments. In addition, Michelle is a Research Assistant Professor in the UF Department of Occupational Therapy, where she teaches neurorehabilitation and applied kinesiology courses.

Research Project Description:
There exists a clear and urgent need for rehabilitation interventions designed to reduce upper extremity (UE) motor impairment post-stroke. In recent years, progress in neuroscience and rehabilitation science has advanced the understanding of the potential for neuronal recovery after stroke-related brain damage. In turn, this has led to the development of new rehabilitation interventions and refinement of traditional rehabilitation interventions to restore post-stroke UE motor function. Decisions regarding intervention effectiveness rely on accurate and precise measurement of UE motor ability. It is likely that the most optimal way to measure UE motor behavior post-stroke is with a measurement toolbox, i.e., a combination of measurements obtained using both clinical and neuromechanical assessments. The overall purpose of this project is to develop such a measurement toolbox. The aims of the present project are to 1) establish empirically-derived guidelines to interpret scores obtained from two of the most commonly used clinical assessments of post-stroke upper extremity motor behavior and 2) determine how neuromechanical factors influence the difficulty of upper extremity movement tasks.

Award and Honors
2006-2008 VA Rehabilitation Research Career Development Award – 1
2006-2007 Northstar Neuroscience Clinical Research Grant
2003-2006 Florida and Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation and Training Fund Grant
2006 Office of the Vice President Dissertation Research Travel Grant
2006 Outstanding Student Research Award
2005 Outstanding Student Research Award
2003 Outstanding Student Research Award

Quote from Michelle Woodbury on how she benefited from participation in the Training Program: “The training program afforded a unique opportunity to receive mentorship from a multi-disciplinary translational research team consisting of neuroscientists, physiologists and rehabilitation researchers. The training program was filled with many chances to interact with renowned basic and clinical scientists in the classroom, laboratory and at scientific meetings. These interactions were fundamental to expanding my understanding of and appreciation for the role of basic science in rehabilitation research. The training program was key in preparing me, a long-time clinical neurorehabilitation occupational therapist, to conduct rehabilitation research that incorporates evidence from animal science into design of human rehabilitation trials. I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to be a trainee in this distinctive program."

[cv]