College of Public Health and Health Professions graduates Lisa McTeague, Ph.D., and Barbara Smith, Ph.D., P.T., were recognized at the University of Florida’s Outstanding Young Alumni Awards ceremony April 8.
McTeague, a 2007 graduate of the doctorate in clinical psychology program, is a clinical psychologist and an assistant professor in the Brain Stimulation Laboratory at the Medical University of South Carolina’s department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. The focus of her current work, which is funded by a career development award from the National Institute of Mental Health, is to develop neurocircuit-informed treatment adjuncts for cognitive-behavioral approaches for posttraumatic stress disorder. This work targets deficits demonstrated in affective neuroscience and psychophysiology, using brain stimulation concurrent with functional neuroimaging. The ultimate goal of her research is to leverage insights at the intersection of neuroscience, neuromodulation and evidence-based psychotherapy to improve treatment outcomes for the most refractory emotional difficulties.
Smith, a 2010 graduate of the doctorate in rehabilitation science program, is a research assistant professor in PHHP’s department of physical therapy. Her research interests are the control of breathing in conditions of health and disease, and harnessing rehabilitation and regenerative therapies to restore ventilation in cases of injury or neuromuscular disease. In 2013, she received the Excellence in Research award from the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy, the first for a physical therapist. She has served on the Respiratory Work Group of the Reeve Foundation-sponsored NeuroRecovery Network. She serves on the Regenerative Rehabilitation Committee of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Frontiers in Rehabilitation Science & Technology, or FiRST, Initiative and is the research chair of the APTA’s Acute Care Section. She is also an editorial board member of the Physical Therapy Journal.