Bio — Scientific Advisory Board member

Theresa Louise-Bender Pape, Dr. PH

Dr. Pape is a Clinical Neuroscientist with the Veterans Administration's (VA) Rehabilitation Research and Development (RR&D) Service, an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and a Clinical Research Associate with Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton, Illinois.

Dr. Pape earned her master of arts (MA) degree in speech-language pathology from Western Michigan University in 1986. She provided speech-language services to persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) for several years. Dr. Pape then completed a pre-doctoral fellowship with the VA Health Services Research and Development Service in 1999 as well as earning her doctorate of public health (Dr. PH) from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1999. Dr. Pape completed a post-doctoral fellowship in 2001 at Northwestern's Institute for Health Services Research and Policy Studies (IHSRPS), which is an Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Program co-sponsored by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) and the National Research Service Awards (NRSA). Dr. Pape was also awarded a Merit Switzer fellowship through NIDRR. After completing this fellowship in 2001 Dr. Pape went on to receive three consecutive career development awards with the VA RR&D service to study: rehabilitation measurement and outcomes post severe TBI; to study advanced neurosciences and neural plasticity; and neural plasticity in neurorehabilitation after TBI.

Dr. Pape's pre- and post-doctoral training cut across the traditional boundaries of medical rehabilitation research, and this training builds on her clinical experiences in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Dr. Pape applies and synthesizes her advanced training in neurosciences, neural plasticity, CNS repair mechanisms, measurement/psychometrics, outcomes, statistical analyses and research design to enable examinations of the efficacy and effectiveness of neurorehabilitation after TBI. Dr. Pape's research career objective is to conceptualize and develop rehabilitation interventions according to derived evidence to shape and guide CNS repair to ultimately lead to functional recovery after severe TBI. Dr. Pape has also provided her expertise to research projects examining TBI of all severities as well as projects examining assistive technology and spinal cord injury.

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