As the director in the Division of Physical Therapy, it is my primary responsibility to facilitate communication among the educational, research, and clinical components of our Division and to ensure that each has the support it needs to be successful. I have secondary roles in teaching and research but spend the majority of my time doing what I enjoy most – connecting our people with the resources they need to accomplish our collective mission and realize our collective vision.

I provide comprehensive audiology services focused on diagnosing and treating hearing loss, while also precepting and mentoring students to prepare them for clinical practice. My work combines patient-centered care with hands-on training to support both individual patients and the next generation of audiologists.

1. Fieldwork support focuses on securing fieldwork sites and providing training to clinical educators in a variety of sites, focusing on the division’s Novant initiative to increase the presence of practitioners in the southeastern part of the state.
2. Admissions support focuses on managing the prospective student experience via information sessions, class visits and supporting application reviews
3. Novant lead focuses on broadening access to OT services in a 5-county Southeast N.C. region, as well as recruiting providers; lead the Division’s first-ever Occupational Therapy Rural Health Committee, which conducts in-person site and classroom visits in the region
4. SHINES Training Grant Program Coordinator focuses on helping recruit, advise, retain, mentor and evaluate Scholars
5. General communications support: Manage social media for OS/OT division

Dr. Ryan Lavalley is an assistant professor in the Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy and primary lead of the Community Practice Lab. He has worked as a community occupational therapist since 2014, providing and developing programming most often related to aging, dementia, and housing. Ryan has and continues to work in partnership with multiple collaborators across North Carolina to further community-rooted initiatives. Ryan is the current coordinator of the Carolina Aging Network, which connects academic aging-related resources and initiatives across Carolina Institutions. Additionally, Ryan teaches the Community-Level Occupational Therapy course in the Masters of Occupational Therapy Program at UNC-CH through which he has guided student partnerships with multiple local organizations to develop programming and strategic actions steps to support community health and participation. Ryan co-hosts an occupational therapy and occupational science podcast with Dr. Khalilah Johnson.

Jessica Steinbrenner is a speech-language pathologist and autism researcher. Her research focuses on improving access to high-quality, evidence-based interventions for autistic individuals across the lifespan, with a particular emphasis on communication and social development. Drawing on my background as a speech-language pathologist, she collaborates with educators, families, and service providers to develop and evaluate practical, strengths-based programs that can be implemented in real-world settings such as schools and communities. Her work spans preschool through young adulthood and is grounded in both scientific rigor and real-world relevance. Her main areas of research interest include the development and testing of school- or community-based interventions, the identification and dissemination of evidence-based practices (EBPs), and the creation of reliable tools to measure progress in naturalistic settings.

Shawn Luby is an Assistant Professor and MCLS-MLS Admissions chair for the Division of Clinical Laboratory Science. He teaches the division’s undergraduate Immunology and Clinical Chemistry coursework, and directs the CLS student rotations in Molecular Microbiology, Immunology, and Clinical Chemistry. Before joining the UNC-CLS faculty in 2018, he worked as a medical laboratory scientist in the Core Laboratory of UNC Healthcare’s McLendon Clinical Laboratories, with a focus on hematology, body fluid analysis, and coagulation testing. His academic and professional interests center on information design and development, with particular emphasis on the role of effective communications in both student learning and patient education settings.