Kelly O'Brien (Canada)

Session

Focused symposium:  Physical Therapy Leadership in Disability and HIV: Sharing International Perspectives (Speaker)

Biography

Kelly O'Brien, BScPT, BSc, PhD, is a physical therapist and researcher with an interest in HIV, disability and rehabilitation. She completed her PhD in the Clinical Epidemiology Stream of the Graduate Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Kelly is currently undergoing a postdoctoral research fellowship at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario Canada. She is also a Lecturer in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Toronto and member of the Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation a national organization aimed at enhancing rehabilitation in the context of HIV through education, research and partnerships. Kelly's doctoral research included developing a conceptual framework of episodic disability from the perspective of adults living with HIV published in Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2008, 6:76 (http://www.hqlo.com/content/6/1/76) and assessing how well existing HIV-specific health status instruments captured the concept of disability as outlined in this framework. Kelly's postdoctoral research involves developing and assessing the measurement properties of a new HIV-disability questionnaire. With the Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation, Kelly conducted a scoping study to identify the key research priorities in HIV and rehabilitation published in AIDS and Behavior (March 2009; DOI 10.1007/s10461-009-9528-z). In collaboration with Stephanie Nixon, Kelly examined the effectiveness of aerobic and resistive exercise interventions for adults living with HIV using Cochrane Collaboration systematic review methodology (AIDS Care. July 2008: 20(6): 631-653; and Physiotherapy Canada. 2006; 58(2): 114-29).

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