Bailey Petersen, PhD, DPT, Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) and former T32 Scholar, was awarded a K23 career development award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Her grant titled “Physical Activity and Neurobehavioral Recovery in Pediatric TBI” uses advanced multi-disciplinary techniques to improve the care of children with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Physical activity has the potential to meet the critical need for evidence-based therapies that promote neurobehavior in children with TBI by increasing expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Despite promising evidence in similar populations, we currently know little about physical activity after injury in children with complicated mild-severe TBI; and families and healthcare providers often limit physical activity in these children for fear of exacerbating symptoms, which can have detrimental effects on TBI recovery. Dr. Petersen’s grant aims to inform the development of an evidence-based, physical activity intervention to improve neurobehavior in children with TBI by characterizing it and defining its relationship to BDNF and neurobehavior. Dr. Petersen assembled an exceptional multi-departmental mentorship team including Michael Boninger, MD and Amery Treble-Barna, PhD, from the Department of PM&R; Yvette Conley, PhD, in the School of Nursing and Carissa Low, PhD, in the Department of Medicine.
“This is an outstanding accomplishment by Bailey, who exemplifies the exceptional quality of the young investigators training on the long-standing multi-disciplinary and multi-departmental T32 Training in Pediatric Neurointensive Care and Resuscitation Research. This work is a perfect example of the importance of the continuum of care in optimizing outcomes after acute brain injury in infants and children—said Emeritus Safar Center Director, Dr. Patrick Kochanek. Congratulations to Bailey.”