Faculty Research Interests

Suzanne Dougherty - Ms. Dougherty has two themes in her research - cultural competence of physical therapists and instructional assistance aids for anatomy.  She conducts annual service learning projects to Nicaraugua and has presented in several venues on the cultural development of students participating in this project. 

Karen Gibbs – Dr. Gibbs’ primary research interest is in wound care with an emphasis on how the integumentary system is addressed in entry level physical therapy education. Her current research projects focus on wound care treatment and integumentary system curriculum development.

Denise Gobert - Dr. Gobert's primary research interest centers around biomechanical analysis and rehabilitation strategies used to help patients with balance disorders due to acquired brain injury such as vestibular disorders, stroke or mild head injury.  Her published works focus on the visual-vestibular interactions used for successful coordination and balance control.

Jason Hardage-Dr. Hardage has recently completed his DScPT and the subject of his doctoral study was exercise in the home bound elderly.  He plans to continue his research along these lines as he begins his tenure at Texas State.

Barbara Melzer - Dr. Melzer has a research agenda which has long included learning styles in clincial education and alternative clinical education experiences. In addition, she has previous and current research on reasons students choose a specific physical therapy educational program.

Rick Nauert - Dr. Nauert's research interests incorporate his expertise in health care administration, health promotion and disease management toward investigation of home-based therapy.  Areas of investigation include short and long-term clinical outcomes, resource management utilization and patient satisfaction.

Mary Elizabeth Parker - Ms. Parker is a pediatric physical therapist and is interested in mitochondrial disorders and Rett syndrome, both having unique genetic components that when understood will help treat a myriad of other diseases. She is currently involved in case studies involving children without diagnoses but with obvious impairments. Other research interests of Ms. Parker are the Texas population of children with spina bifida, and brain tumors in pediatric and adult populations. She is committed to applying evidence-based practice in pediatrics.

Barbara Sanders - As a sports physical therapist, Dr. Sanders is interested in preparticipation physical examinations for athletes and health and fitness of physical therapy students. A long time interest, Dr. Sanders has had several projects investigating physical therapy student selection processes. In addition to these areas, she has supervised students involved in a variety of projects - from minority recruitment and retention to high school students' knowledge of physical therapy.

Robert S Wainner – Dr. Wainner is a frequent research presenter at state and national meetings and lectures extensively on advanced clinical examination techniques, evidence-based practice and manual physical therapy at the graduate and post-graduate level. He is actively involved in clinical research related to identifying subgroups of patients with low back and neck pain, manual therapy intervention, diagnostic test properties, and the development of clinical prediction rules.