Janet Bettger, ScD, MS, FAHA

EMAIL: janet_bettger@med.unc.edu

PERSONAL WEBSITE:

PUBLICATIONS: Publications Link

I am a Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). As a health services researcher and implementation scientist, I am dedicated to establishing stakeholder informed real-world evidence aimed at improving health care quality, care coordination and policies that reduce the burden of disease and disability. I am co-PI of a study implementing an AI-powered technology platform that analyzes human motion and provides feedback to users and clinicians for more effective therapy therapeutic exercise outside of scheduled rehabilitation care. I am also a co-investigator as an implementation scientist implementing telehealth in schools across Kentucky and Alaska (NIDCD funded AppSTAR and North Star trials) and am co-leading implementation research and training for the NIA-funded Coordinating Center for the 12 Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers, an NIA-funded training initiative—Evidence to Impact—promoting implementation science and practice in aging research, and the NICHD-funded LeaRRn (Learning Health Systems Rehabilitation Research) Initiative.

With a passion for T3-T4 translation, FDA Phase IV studies, and pragmatic clinically and community embedded research, I have led and collaborated globally on studies engaging people across the lifespan, from pediatrics to geriatrics, with an emphasis on care transitions (COMPASS and RECOVER trials), use of technology to support recovery from an acute illness, injury or hospitalization (VERITAS, BETTER, and SINEMA trials), guideline implementation (BRIDGE-Stroke, GWTG-Stroke, Coverdell), social determinants of health and integrating health and social care (Help Desk, Parallel ED), and interventions aimed to increase access to care (hearing healthcare, rehabilitation, exercise [VA Gerofit program], medications [Senior PharmAssist]).