The inductees and their respective academies are: Interim Dean Matthew Theriot (Social Work), Associate Dean of Research Jennifer Kent-Walsh (Speech-Language Pathology), Department of Health Sciences Chair Gail Kauwell (Nutrition and Dietetics), Director for the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders Ann Eddins (Audiology), Associate Professor Nicole Dawson (Physical Therapy), Clinical Associate Professor Carey Rothschild (Physical Therapy) and Assistant Professor Susanny Beltran (Social Work). The honors were bestowed at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., on March 15.

Prior to his appointment as interim dean, Theriot served as the director of the School of Social Work where he implemented a professional and community education program, grew interprofessional research opportunities, and elevated the school鈥檚 graduate rankings. As the interim dean, he provides leadership to the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, the Department of Health Sciences, the School of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences, and the School of Social Work. Theriot鈥檚 career includes more than two decades of higher education teaching and research coupled with years of executive leadership roles centered around implementing strategic initiatives. He previously worked as a school social worker, mobile crisis counselor and child welfare worker. Theriot is active in professional service on a national level, chairing the Council on Social Work Education鈥檚 Commission on Membership and Professional Development.

Kent-Walsh is a Pegasus Professor and the associate dean of research and faculty excellence within CHPS, the director of the Florida Alliance for Assistive Services and Technology Center and leads the Assistive Technology Center Lab. Kent-Walsh has earned more than two dozen awards and accolades for excellence in teaching, service, research and innovation during her more than 20-year career in higher education and has worked extensively in interdisciplinary teaching and clinical roles. A highly accomplished researcher, she has secured millions in funding to further her research which focuses on aided language development and augmentative and alternative communication, has presented her work extensively nationally and internationally, and has led a variety of initiatives in the college to advance interdisciplinary research and practice.

An experienced educator, researcher and registered dietician nutritionist with more than four decades of experience in academia focused on nutrition and dietetics education and practice, Kauwell has served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Sciences for the last six years. Her mentoring skills and passion for educating future healthcare professionals have been recognized with multiple awards for teaching and mentoring excellence. Her research record, which focuses on folate and vitamin B12, has been published in top-ranked journals with findings translated into materials for healthcare professionals and consumers. Kauwell most recently spearheaded the development of the department鈥檚 first graduate program, the master鈥檚 in health promotion and behavioral sciences.

Eddins, a professor and the director of the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, has more than 30 years of academic and leadership experience in the field. She is a clinical audiologist and classically trained neuroscientist who has centered her clinical and research interests on neural encoding, neural plasticity aging and rehabilitative intervention 鈥� working to better understand the neural bases of auditory perception in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired individuals. Her research has been continuously funded by the NIH, NSF, private industry and foundations. Eddins is also a leader on a national level, serving as past President of the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences & Disorders and on the Board of Directors and journal editor for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Dawson has been involved with interprofessional education, practice and research throughout her 22-year career. An associate professor in the Division of Physical Therapy and director of the Aging and Longevity Initiatives for Vitality & Enrichment Lab, Dawson鈥檚 clinical work and research has centered around healthy aging and improving the quality of life for seniors. She is a Board Certified Geriatric Physical Therapist Emeritus who has been recognized by both the Academy of Geriatric Physical Therapy and the American Physical Therapy Association for her outstanding work as an educator. She holds an appointment with 麻豆原创鈥檚 Faculty Cluster Initiative in Disability, Aging and Technology, an interdisciplinary collaboration that explores innovations to better support aging populations.

A clinical associate professor in the Division of Physical Therapy, Rothschild is a board-certified clinical specialist in sports physical therapy and orthopedic physical therapy, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and a Menopause Society certified practitioner. Her areas of interest are determining best practices for the assessment and treatment of persistent pain to improve the health of patients. Rothschild has more than 25 years of clinical practice experience, collaborating with interprofessional and intraprofessional teams to deliver cost-effective, collaborative and patient-centered care to those with chronic pain. She has been recognized nationally for her teaching excellence, and recently helped lead the implementation of a new Women鈥檚 Health Physical Therapy Residency program in conjunction with Orlando Health. She also serves as editor in chief of the prominent publication Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Practice.

Beltran, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work and a co-director of the Center for Behavioral Health Research and Training is committed to fostering interdisciplinary education and research in social change and development. Her expertise is in gerontological social work and her research concentrates on end-of-life care, advance care planning and challenges that may come with working in hospice and nursing home settings. Beltran aims to enhance collaborative practice in the care of older adults and improve access and navigation of end-of-life care for older adults while preparing social workers for effective practice in interdisciplinary settings.

The NAP Academies also include dentistry, nursing, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, podiatric medicine, psychology, respiratory care and veterinary medicine.

These faculty members join four CHPS faculty previously inducted into the NAP. In 2023, 听补苍诲听, and in 2024, Clinical Associate Professors Laurie Neely and Jennifer Tucker 鈥�23 were inducted in physical therapy.

鈥淵ou just see that there’s this 鈥榣oss of self鈥� happening,鈥� Dawson says. 鈥淎nd when you sit and you talk to them, you know they’re there. Other healthcare providers would say that there鈥檚 little we can do, and I just didn’t agree with that. I knew there had to be something better.鈥�

She would set off on a path to help develop exactly that.

Dawson and her collaborators have created LEAD 鈥� Leveraging Existing Abilities in Dementia 鈥� a treatment framework designed to provide daily guidance to rehabilitation professionals such as physical therapists, speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists and to improve outcomes for patients.

The publication, Dawson鈥檚 labor of love for seven years, is a culmination of decades of clinical experience, an extensive literature review across multiple disciplines, and hundreds of hours conceptualizing the model鈥檚 framework with her collaborators and co-authors Katherine Judge, a professor at Cleveland State University, and Ashleigh Trapuzzano 鈥�18, a former graduate student of Dawson. It was published in Spring 2024 in the journal OBM Geriatrics.

At the foundation is the Strength-Based Approach, a common and well-established concept often used in counseling, psychology and social work that hasn鈥檛 been brought over to medicine and physical rehabilitation, a key move Dawson and her collaborators wanted to make. The premise is to treat the patient in a manner that targets their capabilities, abilities and interests, rather than try to remedy their deficiencies.

Dementia is complex; it can affect cognitive, behavioral or neuropsychiatric symptoms. And step one of the LEAD framework addresses the simple yet pervasive myth that has troubled Dawson from the beginning.

鈥淚 think in our traditional medical model, we focus on deficits, and what they can鈥檛 do,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hereas with patients with dementia, it’s really focusing on what they can do. What strengths are still available that we can use to help this person manage this chronic illness?鈥�

Judge, a psychologist who was also Dawson鈥檚 mentor as a doctoral student, was already using the Strength-Based Approach in practice, specifically for psychosocial intervention and training dementia caregivers on strategies and techniques. Dawson, who earned her doctorate in adult development and aging psychology, drew from her physical therapy clinical expertise, in particular building strength and balance in geriatric populations.

The LEAD framework gives clinicians a roadmap for daily practice, providing specific techniques and interventions for addressing issues related to care, managing behaviors, and engaging effectively with patients and their caregivers.

The program is structured around the three key areas that Dawson and Judge call 鈥渢he 3 C鈥檚鈥�: communication, cognition and coping.

For example, communication strategies may include tactics such as rephrasing questions to focus on immediate rather than short-term memory, using physical cues, avoiding unnecessary details and asking questions that can be answered in short responses or by selecting from choices. The framework鈥檚 cognitive strategies recommend the therapist use spaced-retrieval, external memory aids and teaching activities by modeling, among others. Coping strategies can include adjusting the environment to correct under- or over-stimulation, substituting behaviors, and reframing issues to decide whether it truly presents as a concern.

The approach is tailored and highly personalized to the patient, incorporating their abilities and interests. It鈥檚 what they like and want to do. It鈥檚 what they do well.

A therapist with a patient who is an avid gardener may incorporate gardening activities into therapy sessions, encouraging using a sitting stool rather than squatting to ensure proper balance. If a patient responds well to visual cuing, the clinician can be sure to demonstrate tasks rather than rely solely on verbal instructions. If a patient was formerly a schoolteacher, a therapist could incorporate activities using a chalkboard or whiteboard to facilitate standing activities.

鈥淚t’s really me as the therapist that has to shift,鈥� Dawson says. 鈥淚f my patient has high blood pressure, the way I approach them has to be different. If my patient has Parkinson’s disease or dementia, the way that I approach them is different. It doesn’t mean that because of their diagnosis, that they can’t benefit from the work that we’re doing together. I just have to make adjustments based on their abilities.鈥�

An estimated 5% to 7% of the population are living with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and related dementias worldwide and these numbers are expected to double every 20 years.

Dawson wants to reach more of this population and further test out her framework. She and Judge have developed a 12-hour training program for rehabilitation professionals based on the LEAD framework and completed a pilot study with published findings in the journal Dementia. Results showed it increased the therapists鈥� knowledge about dementia, improved their confidence and changed their practice patterns when providing services to those with dementia.

The researchers are actively looking for partners, ideally a large nursing home or a major outpatient rehabilitation center, where they can deliver the same training to the rehabilitation professionals on staff and conduct research on efficacy.

Dawson wants people to share the confidence she has that people with such conditions can actively improve the quality of their lives.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all about helping clinicians, families and researchers understand that while there’s not a cure or treatment for the disease process, that there’s still a way to help manage it so these patients can be as functionally independent as they can for as long as they can,鈥� she says.

The Academy of Geriatric Physical Therapy on Thursday presented Trapuzzano, a third-year physical therapy doctoral student, with the 2019 Student Award for Research at the academy鈥檚 national convention in Washington.

The award recognizes outstanding research by entry-level physical therapy students. Trapuzzano will also receive a $100 prize.

Assistant Professor Nicole Dawson, with whom Trapuzzano worked as a graduate research assistant in the Innovative Mobility Initiative Lab, wrote a recommendation letter on her behalf.

鈥淭rapuzzano impresses me with her exceptional achievements inside and outside the classroom through academic excellence, commitment to research and dedication to leadership,鈥� Dawson said in her letter.

Trapuzzano served as the principal student investigator on her capstone project, 鈥淲hat Makes Us Walk: Predictors of Gait Speed in Community Dwelling Older Adults.鈥� She and her team found that lower extremity strength, balance and executive function were unique predictors of comfortable gait speed. Meanwhile, lower extremity strength, balance and processing speed were indicators of fast gait speed. Trapuzzano will present her research Saturday at the conference.

She also serves as the co-investigator on an ongoing funded grant project entitled 鈥淚nvestigating the Unique Predictors of Comfortable and Fast Gait Speed in Community Dwelling Older Adults鈥� and serving as the project manager for a funded trial in the IMOVE lab.

Trapuzzano previously presented four national peer-reviewed presentations during the past two years and published one professional article, with two more currently under review.

鈥淭hrough these avenues, Ms. Trapuzzano has demonstrated outstanding research skills and dedication to broadening the body of knowledge benefitting older adults,鈥� Dawson said.

Trapuzzano will graduate this spring and credits her experience, success and recognition to the faculty in the physical therapy program at 麻豆原创.

鈥淭he PT program at 麻豆原创 is definitely a special program because the faculty challenge us as students to be evidence-based clinicians through our assignments and projects,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey also add a little bit of their personal expertise and really make this program feel a little more family oriented.鈥�

Grow and Play is an eight-week program designed by Jennifer Tucker and Nicole Dawson that pairs seniors averaging 80 years old and children averaging 9 years old to play games together such as Duck Duck Goose, Egg on a Spoon, Sly Fox, Monkey in the Middle and more. The goal is for participants to become more active and to have positive social experiences, where the adults feel a greater sense of wellbeing and purpose by helping the children, and the kids learn more about aging.

鈥淪o far what we鈥檙e seeing is really positive,鈥� said Dawson, an assistant professor of physical therapy. 鈥淲e feel if you can enhance the intergenerational bond, you can enhance the community.鈥�

Grow and Play began June 5 and will conclude July 26. Tucker, Dawson and physical-therapy students will analyze data from a week before the program to a week after the program on activity levels, mood and each generation鈥檚 perception of the other. Accelerometers are measuring participants鈥� activity levels, and surveys are measuring changes in moods and perceptions.

鈥淐hildren may have older adults in their lives with chronic diseases and that influences their [children鈥檚] thoughts on aging,鈥� said Tucker, a physical-therapy lecturer. 鈥淭hey may grow up thinking that鈥檚 how aging is for everyone. We鈥檇 love to change that perception.鈥�

For Bella Seagraves, 8, Grow and Play has showed her that getting older doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean slowing down.

鈥淚鈥檝e had loads of fun with them [the older adult participants],鈥� Bella said. 鈥淎t first I thought they were going to be slow, but then as soon as I played a game with them they were really fast and really fun.鈥�

Jean Walker, 83, joined the first cohort of Grow and Play because she liked the idea of seniors and children being the subjects of research. Plus, it鈥檚 a chance for her to better understand Generation Z.

鈥淚 see things differently than the children do, so this is an opportunity for me to find out what the younger people are thinking,鈥� Walker said. 鈥淧lus, it gives kids an opportunity to learn what our limitations are and what we did as youngsters.鈥�

Walker played Jacks and Pick-up Sticks as a kid 鈥� games the young participants of Grow and Play didn鈥檛 know 鈥� so she was able to teach them something new.

Fifteen participants up to 90 years old and as young as 6 years old make up the first cohort of Grow and Play that鈥檚 being held at Wekiva Presbyterian Church, which was donated for use of the program twice a week. Most of the adult participants are residents of Village on the Green retirement community, which 麻豆原创鈥檚 physical-therapy program has partnered with in the past for student clinical affiliations, balance and fall screenings for residents and more. The children participants were recruited by word of mouth, mostly through the church.

A nearly $5,000 grant from the Learning Institute for Elders at 麻豆原创 gave Tucker and Dawson enough funds to get their idea for Grow and Play off the ground.

鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely potential for this program to grow, and we鈥檇 love to see this be something that鈥檚 running year-round,鈥� Dawson said. 鈥淲e hope to eventually be able to give this to other community organizations so they can run it on their own.鈥�

Tucker and Dawson are searching for other grants and community support to expand Grow and Play. They intend to publish results by the end of the year of the first cohort, which could fill a gap that exists in scientific literature on intergenerational connections and physical activity.

To the originators鈥� knowledge, Grow and Play is the first of its kind.