{"id":36666,"date":"2026-04-22T13:31:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T17:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/?p=36666"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:32:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T17:32:53","slug":"three-phd-students-received-the-2026-dhs-research-excellence-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/2026\/04\/three-phd-students-received-the-2026-dhs-research-excellence-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Three PhD Students Received the 2026 DHS Research Excellence Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-36669 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/628\/2026\/04\/30720-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Mags McAllister, Monica Ridlehoover, and Joel Thompson at the April DHS Research Forum\" width=\"356\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/628\/2026\/04\/30720-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/628\/2026\/04\/30720-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/628\/2026\/04\/30720-175x131.jpg 175w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/628\/2026\/04\/30720-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/628\/2026\/04\/30720-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/628\/2026\/04\/30720-280x210.jpg 280w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/628\/2026\/04\/30720-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/628\/2026\/04\/30720.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 356px) 100vw, 356px\" \/>Three students at the UNC School of Medicine were awarded the Department of Health Sciences Research Excellence Awards. <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">Each year these awards recognize PhD students in the Department of Health Sciences \u201cwho showcase research excellence in their wider academic and professional communities.\u201d <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Each recipient receives a $1,000 award to support\u00a0travel\u00a0expenses\u00a0to support\u00a0their scholarly work.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">As part of the recognition, the awardees also\u00a0participated\u00a0in a research forum on Wednesday, April 16, 2026, where they presented and discussed their work.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">This year\u2019s recipients are Mags McAllister, Joel Thompson, and Monica Ridlehoover.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/people\/margaret-mags-mcallister\/\">Mags McAllister<\/a> is a third-year doctoral student whose research focuses on speech and language development in autism through an interactional lens. Her work examines how communication strategies vary across contexts to better understand autistic individuals and improve communication, with a focus on language differences such as repetition and regression.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">McAllister earned her undergraduate degree at UNC-Chapel Hill in psychology and neuroscience, with minors in environmental science and music. She has worked across research and clinical settings at UNC and Duke University, contributing to studies involving autistic children and older adults with dementia.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">She will use her award funding to attend the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) annual conference in Prague. She hopes to continue postdoctoral research focused on improving autistic well-being through greater understanding and acceptance.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/hmsc\/people\/joel-robert-thompson-pt-dpt-ma-clt-cpht\/\">Joel Thompson<\/a> is a third-year PhD student in the Human Movement Science program at UNC. His research focuses on axial spondyloarthritis, emphasizing lifestyle medicine approaches such as exercise, nutrition, and sleep to support patient self-management.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Thompson earned his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Elon University and holds degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill and Rutgers University. Before entering research, he spent\u00a0nearly 20\u00a0years working in\u00a0specialty\u00a0home infusion pharmacy.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">He will use his award funding to attend the SPARTAN annual meeting in Toronto to present his work and gain feedback from leading researchers. He plans to pursue a career in\u00a0teaching within\u00a0physical therapy or exercise physiology.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/people\/monica-ridlehoover\/\">Monica Ridlehoover<\/a> is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Occupational Science program at UNC. She has been an occupational therapist for\u00a0nearly 11\u00a0years, having graduated from Augusta University\u2019s occupational therapy program in 2015. Her clinical experience spans adult acute care and pediatric outpatient settings. Through her work, she\u00a0identified\u00a0a need for greater focus on mental health within occupational therapy, which led her to pursue doctoral training to help bridge this gap.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Ridlehoover\u2019s research uses a mixed-methods\u00a0approach to examine the sensory experiences of adult survivors of childhood trauma. She studies how sensory differences affect daily occupations for individuals with adverse childhood experiences.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">She will use her award funding to attend the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, where she hopes to connect with other occupational therapists and researchers in related areas.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">After completing her PhD, Ridlehoover plans to pursue a career in academia as a professor and researcher.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Please join us in congratulating these three<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three students at the UNC School of Medicine were awarded the Department of Health Sciences Research Excellence Awards. Each year these awards recognize PhD students in the Department of Health Sciences \u201cwho showcase research excellence in their wider academic and professional communities.\u201d Each recipient receives a $1,000 award to support\u00a0travel\u00a0expenses\u00a0to support\u00a0their scholarly work.\u00a0 As part &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/2026\/04\/three-phd-students-received-the-2026-dhs-research-excellence-awards\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Three PhD Students Received the 2026 DHS Research Excellence Awards\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123228,"featured_media":36667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[91,4,76,84,83,86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hmsc","category-news","category-osot","category-pt","category-research","category-sphs","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Three PhD Students Received the 2026 DHS Research Excellence Awards | Department of Health Sciences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/2026\/04\/three-phd-students-received-the-2026-dhs-research-excellence-awards\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three PhD Students Received the 2026 DHS Research Excellence Awards | Department of Health Sciences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Three students at the UNC School of Medicine were awarded the Department of Health Sciences Research Excellence Awards. Each year these awards recognize PhD students in the Department of Health Sciences \u201cwho showcase research excellence in their wider academic and professional communities.\u201d Each recipient receives a $1,000 award to support\u00a0travel\u00a0expenses\u00a0to support\u00a0their scholarly work.\u00a0 As part &hellip; Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/2026\/04\/three-phd-students-received-the-2026-dhs-research-excellence-awards\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Health Sciences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UNCHealthSciences\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-22T17:31:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-22T17:32:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/628\/2026\/04\/30722.jpg\" 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