About Dr. Backus

Deborah Backus is a grant-funded investigator, physical therapist, and educator with 30+ years of experience in the neurorehabilitation field. Dr. Backus received her B.S. in physical therapy in 1986 from Sargent College at Boston University and her Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2004 from Emory University. After completing her doctoral studies, her research focused on the study and clinical uptake of rehabilitation interventions to improve mobility, upper limb function, and health in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2013, Dr. Backus joined the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Institute at Shepherd Center as Director of MS Research and her research activities took on a new focus including facilitating pharmacologic and device-related clinical trials for MS as well as rehabilitation research. Her specific research agenda focuses on investigation of models of care and rehabilitation interventions to facilitate greater function, health, and quality of life in people with MS. Dr. Backus is currently the Co-Principal Investigator (PI) for one of the largest Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)-funded trials in MS—evaluating the comparative effectiveness of an evidence-based exercise program delivered in a facility or in the home. She has also received funding from the National MS Society, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). This work is published and has been presented both nationally and internationally to advance the rehabilitation of people with neurological conditions like SCI and MS. Dr. Backus currently serves as one of the founding editors for the Archives of Rehabilitation Research and Clinical Translation and is immediate Past President of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM), both of which serve the rehabilitation community to empower people with disability to live full and healthy lives.

Dr. Backus did not disclose any conflicts of interest for this workshop.