NAFAPA Keynote speakers

Robert Motl, Ph.D.
Professor and Director of Research,
Department of Physical Therapy,
University of Alabama

Prof. Robert Motl has systematically developed a research agenda that focuses on physical activity and its measurement, predictors, and consequences in persons with neurological diseases, particularly multiple sclerosis (MS).

Prof. Motl has generated a body of research on the validity of common physical activity measures in persons with MS. This has resulted in foundational research on quantifying differences in physical activity, particularly rates of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, in persons with MS.

These two lines of research have provided the basis for examining the outcomes of physical activity in MS, particularly beneficial adaptations in brain structure, cognition, depression, fatigue, walking disability, and quality of life. Prof. Motl has undertaken research on social-cognitive predictors of physical activity that has informed the design of behavioral interventions for increasing physical activity in MS. This agenda serves as a test-bed for application and expansion into other conditions such as spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease.

Myriam Guerra-Balic, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Head of Department
Department of Sport Sciences,
Universitat Ramon Llull
Barcelona, Spain

Myriam Guerra-Balic, is a professor in the Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport Sciences – Blanquerna, University Ramon Llull (URL). She is a Medical Doctor specialized in Sport Medicine, with a Doctoral Degree that was developed on Exercise Physiology and Down Syndrome. She became a full professor of Exercise Physiology since 2001. She was the International Relations Vice-Dean at the URL for 9 years coordinating national and international exchange programs, cooperation programs and research mobilities for students and professors of her institution, as well as international research programs.

Myriam’s lecture is co-sponsored by Oregon State University’s President’s Commission on the Status of Women.

Kathleen Bogart, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor,
Department of Psychology, Oregon State University

Dr. Bogart is Assistant Professor of Psychology and Director of the Disability and Social Interaction Lab at Oregon State University. She is a social/health psychologist specializing in ableism and facial paralysis. She has received grants from the National Institutes of Health, Good Samaritan Hospital (Erkkila Endowment), and the Moebius Syndrome Foundation. She also serves as Consulting Editor for the American Psychological Association journal Rehabilitation Psychology. In 2016, Dr. Bogart was named “Professor of the Term” by the Panhellenic Executive Council of Oregon State University.

Her research focuses on the forgotten “ism,” ableism, or prejudice towards disability. She studies disability from a social psychological perspective, examining others’ attitudes toward disability and the way people with disabilities adapt to their conditions and manage stigma.

Sam Logan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
College of Public Health and Human Sciences
Oregon State University

Sam Logan’s research agenda focuses on the health and wellbeing of typically developing children and children with disabilities, with recent work emphasizing the role of independent mobility in the development of language, cognition, play interactions, and motor behaviors of children diagnosed with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, Down syndrome, and other significant physical and cognitive diagnoses. His research is interdisciplinary in nature, bridging the fields of Kinesiology, Psychology and Pediatric Rehabilitation.

More information about NAFAPA can be found from the conference website: https://health.oregonstate.edu/nafapa/

Online registration ends: September 26, 2018