Local & Global Outreach

The department partners with professional colleagues to increase both our local and global outreach. Below are highlights from our growing effort to expand the benefits of rehabilitation medicine and education. With your support, we can help many others experience better quality of life. We also continue to participate in a local program that benefits patients globally, through our involvement with MEDworld. Our department also participates in community events, such as the Joggin' for your Noggin' with the Brain Injury Association of NC.

Community Outreach

Our outreach to the community benefits patients at different milestones on the journey to recovery.

UNC Rehabilitation E-News

We publish an outreach e-newsletter, the Rehabilitation Reader, for the benefit of patients, caregivers, medical specialists and others. Now available only in electronic format, our e-news may be printed or viewed at your convenience from our home page. Look for our latest issue at the top of our home page, and the previous issue on the right (features) column. We post at least one thematic issue and one highlights issue each year on our website. You also may sign up here to receive our e-news at your preferred email address.

Community Support Groups

Brain Injury Support Group

The UNC Brain Injury Support Group's mission is to provide support, education and advocacy for survivors of brain injury as well as for their families, friends and caregivers. This group meets on the third Wednesday of each month.

Meeting Place and Time: UNC Wellness Center, Meadowmont, 1:00-2:00 PM

For more information, call 919.966.9501.

Stroke Support Group

This group, which meets the second Wednesday of each month, hosts speakers to address various topics in stroke recovery for survivors, family, friends, and caregivers.

Meeting Place and Time: UNC Wellness Center, Meadowmont, 1:00-2:00 PM

Some of our meetings include downloadable notes. We invite you to browse these helpful presentations:

For more information, call Stephanie McAdams at 919.966.9493.

Peer Mentors

In addition, our department benefits from Peer Mentors. These volunteers motivate patients during their healing process in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Center. Read their words of wisdom on our extended resources page, our web supplement to our stroke issue of the Rehabilitation Reader.

Aphasia Support Group

Do you or a loved one have speech or language problems resulting from a stroke or other brain injury? Join this group, which meets weekly on Mondays from 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM in Conference Room A, 7th Floor (Rehabilitation Center), UNC Memorial Hospital. The group offers conversation and companionship. For more information, contact: Denise Caignon, MS, CCC-SLP, at the UNC Center for Aphasia and Related Disorders: 919.843.3699.

Statewide Outreach

The department has two telemedicine programs, which serve as wonderful examples of our statewide outreach.

TelAbility

TelAbility provides telemedicine consultation to patients across North Carolina, in their own communities. The program, which uses internet-based video conferencing, enhances communication, care coordination and professional education for parents and care providers of young children with special needs. Joshua Alexander, MD, directs this program.

The WATCH Project, an initiative of TelAbility, recently received $45,000 to upgrade two videoconference systems to large screen units, thereby allowing more people to participate and providing a higher quality viewing experience. The funding was provided by Wake County Smart Start upon recognition of the WATCH Project's success in strengthening the early intervention network in Wake County. WATCH Project activities such as video-clinics (which improve care coordination among a child's care team) and professional development sessions (which have improved and enhanced the leadership development and professional competency of early intervention professionals) help to meet Wake County Smart Start's goals to increase identification and connection to early intervention services for children with special needs and increase the knowledge base of early intervention service providers. Congratulations to TelAbility for receiving this unsolicited grant!

STAR Project

The STAR Project, for which Patricia Gregory, MD, served as the primary investigator (PI), was created with generous support from the Duke Endowment Fund.

The STAR Project piloted a stroke telemedicine video-conferencing consult service with a rural community hospital in Robeson County. This part of the state has the highest stroke prevalence, but limited stroke recovery services. Dr. Gregory provided consult recommendations on secondary stroke prevention, stroke rehabilitation and caregiver support during the acute hospital stay, and at 30 and 90 days post-stroke.

National Presentations & Honors

Our faculty regularly present at national conferences, and have been recognized with national awards and fellowships. We encourage you to browse our faculty pages as well as news and features columns (on the right) for highlights.

International Outreach

Global Partnership in Medical Rehabilitation

Read about our Global Partnership in Medical Rehabilitation, including outreach in Peru.

International Visiting Scholars Program

The department hosts visiting faculty from around the world. In past years we have hosted visiting faculty from Slovenia, Colombia, Brazil, Japan and Korea. If you are interested in this program, please download our application and carefully read our visiting scholar policy.

2012-2013 visiting scholars include the following:

Dae Kyoo Chung, KMD, PhD

Position in Korea: Professor, Daegu Hanny University, Daegu, Korea

Interests: Effectiveness of cooperation with eastern and western medicine treatment for pain control, Alzheimer's Disease

Current Research:

  • Heart rate variability (HRV) of headache patients caused by emotional stress
  • The effect of hominis placenta herbal and acupuncture solution on the Alzheimer's disease model including beta amyloid

Seung Hyun Chung, MD, PhD

Position in Korea: Head of Department of Rehabilitation, National Cancer Center, Korea; Chief of Information Technology Team; Chief of New Building Project Team

Interests: Cancer rehabilitation, lymphedema, supportive and palliative care in cancer

Current Research

  • Comprehensive supportive care and rehabilitation in advanced cancer patients
  • Lymphatic dysfunction after breast cancer surgery

Be Na Lee, MD, PhD
Position in Korea: Assistant Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, St. Paul’s Hospital College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

Current Position at UNC: Medical Study Coordinator

Interests: Rehabilitation observation, education and research

In-Sik Lee, MD, PhD
Position in Korea: Associate Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation; Director of U-Healthcare Center, Konkuk University Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

Interests: Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation, histology-based medicine, bioinformatics

Current Research:

  • Morphologic changes of tendon tissue associated with denervation and disuse
  • Longitudinal observation study of degenerative changes of shoulder using ultrasonography

Hee-Dong Park, MD

Position in Korea: Director of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

Interests: Stroke rehabilitation, pain management, electro-diagnosis, cardiac rehabilitation

Current Research:

  • Effect of balance training with force platform with visual feedback on the recovery of locomotor function in post-stroke patients

More Information
Our previous visiting scholars welcomed Tai Ryoon Han, MD, PhD, president of the Korean Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine, during his visit to UNC PM&R. See our news item for details.

For more information about the PM&R International Visiting Scholars Program, email Steven Tomaro.