Shepherd Center - A Catastrophic Care Hospital

Deborah Backus is an experienced physical therapist clinician, educator, and researcher whose primary objective is to facilitate interaction between basic scientists, clinical researchers, and clinicians interested in improving functional recovery in people with neurological dysfunction. Debbie received her B.S. in Physical Therapy from Sargent College in 1986, and focused her clinical care on individuals with movement disorders primarily due to neurological injury and disease. She received her Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2004, and her research interests emanate directly from her earlier clinical experiences. Debbie’s research efforts are centered on gaining a greater understanding of how sensory inputs can be used to facilitate plasticity and improved function in people with nervous system disease and dysfunction, specifically spinal cord injury. She is also interested in applying information from basic science to the evaluation and development of activity based interventions for SCI. As associate director of spinal cord injury research, Debbie strives to facilitate the translation of this research into efficacious and cost-effective treatment interventions and programs as appropriate to maximize the potential for lifelong recovery in people with neurological injury and disease.