USF Health held the annual Research Day event on Friday, February 23, 2018, in the Marshall Student Center Ballroom. Faculty, staff, and students were invited to present and view various posters across the USF Health disciplines. SPT&RS Faculty member, Dr. Kenneth Taylor, Assistant Professor, presented his research with a poster entitled, “The Association Between Poor Sleep and Chronic Low Back Pain: Secondary Analysis of a National Cross-sectional Study.” Dr. Taylor is currently a PhD student in the College of Public Health and won an award for one of the best College of Public Health’s poster presentations during this event.

Dr. Douglas Haladay, Assistant Professor and Co-Coordinator of Professional Education, and students from the third-year DPT class, Brittany Wert, Amy Shehadeh, and Kristen Smith, presented their capstone project regarding shared decision making for patients with low back pain in Physical Therapy. Additionally, Dr. John Mayer, Professor, and third-year DPT students, Matthias Oawster, Justin Whelchel, and Genia Gartman presented their research project on the relationship between injuries, fitness, and dietary habits in firefighters.

First-year DPT student, Danielle Gorman, was involved in an interdisciplinary poster presentation entitled, “Mobile-App Development and Usability Research to Improve Patient-Centered Effective Communication.” Ms. Gorman’s team was selected to conduct an additional study furthering their findings and will be presenting in an upcoming Research event.