Dr. Robert Gailey PhD, PT, FAPTA
Dr. Gailey is a Professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Department of Physical Therapy and the Director of the Neil Spielholz Functional Outcomes Research & Evaluation Center. He has been a Special Advisor to the Department of Defense for amputee rehabilitation and continues to work with our military and veterans with a number of programs. His Doctorate in Prosthetics and Orthotics was received from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. He has authored over 90 peer reviewed publications and book chapters. He has lectured nationally and internationally with over 400 presentations in 35 countries. Over the years, he has been involved in the development of 15 outcome measures, including the Amputee Mobility Predictor and Comprehensive High-Activity Mobility Predictor and continues his research efforts directed toward amputee rehabilitation, prosthetic gait, functional assessment and amputee athletics with the use of mobile technologies. He has received numerous honors including ISPO’s Forcheimer Prize for Research, AAOP’s Researcher Award, an Honorary Member of AAOP, the Amputee Coalition Ernest Burgess Award and is a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association.
Dr. Christopher L. Bennett, Ph.D., M.S., B.S.E.E.
Dr. Bennett is a faculty member in the Music Engineering Technology program at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. In addition to teaching, he collaborates with faculty and students from the Departments of Physical Therapy and Biomedical Engineering on several inter-disciplinary research projects, investigating auditory biofeedback, rehabilitation engineering, and wireless kinematic data acquisition. He completed postdoctoral research at the UM Miller School of Medicine investigating audible medical alarms and operating room acoustics in simulated clinical settings to improve patient outcomes. An entrepreneur, he is a founding partner of Oygo Sound LLC, an audio development and consulting company with prominent clients in both music and medical fields. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Audio Engineering Society, IEEE and other notable associations and is published in such journals as the J. Acoustical Society of America, Anesthesia & Analgesia, and the J. Audio Engineering Society. Before his professional appointments he earned a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, with a concentration in hearing science, a M.S. in Music Engineering Technology, and a B.S.E.E. in Audio Engineering.
Dr. Ignacio Gaunaurd, PhD, MSPT
Dr. Gaunaurd received his BS in Dietetics and Nutrition from Florida International University in 2000. He graduated with an MSPT from Florida International University in 2004. He has been working as a Research Physical Therapist at the Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System (VAHS) since 2005. He completed his PhD in 2012 from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Department of Physical Therapy, with a specialization in Amputee Rehabilitation and Prosthetics. His dissertation work focused on the development of an outcome measure, called the Comprehensive High-level Activity Mobility Predictor (CHAMP), to determine readiness to return high-level activity such as sport and duty for our service members who have suffered lower limb loss in OEF/OIF. His dissertation work was published in a Single Topic Issue in the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (November 2013).
Dr. Kyoung Jae Kim, Ph.D.
Assistant Scientist
Dr. Kim is currently an Assistant Scientist with the Functional Outcomes Research and Evaluation (FORE) Center at the University of Miami. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea, all in electronics and computer engineering. He has theoretical and technical expertise in the signal processing. He also has a background in biomedical and rehabilitation engineering, with specific training and expertise in key research areas for the FORE Center. His current research interests include motion profiling, pervasive gait analysis, high-speed human movement analysis for sports applications, and automating clinical assessments for at-home and field use applications.
Natasha Crowther, M.B.A.
Director, Finance
Ms. Crowther has worked for the University of Miami for over 11 years. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Management and Communications at the University of Miami. In addition, she earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration at Nova Southeastern University. Ms. Crowther is responsible for the day-to-day management of all sponsor-related activities including research and program grants for the Department of Physical Therapy. This includes, responsible for all budget and strategic planning, pre and post award, quality assurance, human subject activities, fiscal management and coordination of research related meetings. In addition, seeks funding opportunities in the areas of research, program, and scholarship grants. She also provides support to the F.O.R.E. Center faculty members and students.
Anat Kristal, M.Sc.PT
Anat Kristal is a PhD student at the Physical Therapy Department at Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami. Mrs. Kristal acquired her bachelors and master’s degrees at Tel-Aviv University in Israel. With over 18 years of experience in working in the area of amputee rehabilitation and prosthetics, she is considered an expert in this field. She served as a lecturer at Tel-Aviv University in the Medical School and Haifa University in the Physical Therapy Department. In collaboration with Sheba Medical Center, Mrs. Kristal developed and managed the rehabilitation training modules for lower-limb amputees in Haiti following the 2010 Earthquake. Her clinical experience includes working with and treating wounded soldiers and veterans of the Israeli Defense Force. She additionally served as a consultant and therapist for the Israeli Consulate to the US, assisting Israeli Defense Force veterans receiving care in the US. Recently, she led the translation of the Amputee Mobility Predictor into Hebrew while additionally training and disseminating its proper use to clinicians throughout Israel.
Pedro Davila, M.S., B.S.
Mr. Davilla joined the Center for Computation Science as a systems administrator with the high performance computing core in May 2011. In July of 2012 he began working with the FORE Center on the RELOAD and CHAMP projects. Prior to joining CCS, he was a systems administrator with UM’s IT Student Support Services. Pedro provides application development and database support for the FORE Center. His responsibilities at CCS include HPC Operations Management, end-user support and systems administration. He is responsible for all database systems and web programming for the HPC core. Pedro obtained his BS and MS in Computer Science from the University of Miami in 2003 and 2005.
