Registration Has Closed
Disability Health Symposium — February 27-28, 2025
Location: Regions Field, 1401 1st Ave S, Birmingham AL 35233
Presented by: The Center for Engagement in Disability Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (CEDHARS) and the National Center on Health, Physical Activity & Disability (NCHPAD).
We are excited to invite you to the second-annual CEDHARS symposium to be co-hosted with the National Center on Health, Physical Activity & Disability (NCHPAD). The “Disability Health Symposium” will feature speakers, posters and discussions on the forefront of how inclusion science feeds into programs and back into research. Registration is free and includes breakfast, lunch and refreshments.
See Full Program and Agenda Opens a PDF.
Parking & Entry to Symposium
The parking lot is at 1400 3rd Ave S, Birmingham, AL, 35233. We encourage carpooling as there are not as many spots as expected attendees. There are six accessible spaces, and we are blocking off an additional six for a total of 12 accessible spaces. There will also be a shuttle running from the parking lot to the event space.
There are two pathways into the event space – one leads to the executive entry via the sidewalk, and one is the covered “back entrance” that leads to the service elevator and concourse inside the stadium, which is about the length of the stadium or a block. There will be students guiding people both ways. Let us know if you need any additional accessibility assistance.
2025 Featured Speakers
Anjali Forber-Pratt, Ph.D.
Anjali Forber-Pratt, Ph.D., is the Director of Research at the American Association on Health and Disability and is a disability activist, two-time Paralympian and former Director of the National institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).
Linda Long-Bellil, Ph.D., JD
Linda Long-Bellil, Ph.D., JD, is an Assistant Professor in the E.K. Shriver Center and the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Ian Graham, Ph.D
Ian Graham, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa and Senior Scientist in the Centre for Practice-Changing Research at Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.
Poster and Flash Talk Abstract Competition Winners
Poster Competition:
1st: Christian Lopez-Blanco | Transforming Disability Healthcare with AI-Powered Solutions and Patient-Centered Design
2nd: Hadeel Alganhim | Rehabilitation for Persons with Acetabular Dysplasia Undergoing Periacetabular Osteotomy: A Scoping Review
3rd: Bailey Tollett | More Than Grades: An Analysis of Non-Academic Disability Groups Across College Campuses in the United States
Flash Talk Competition:
1st: Dr. Christen Mendoca | The Energy Cost of a Touchpad Active Videogame Controller for People with Impaired Mobility
2nd: Dr. Madison Mintz | Correlates of weight loss and physical activity program for adults with physical disabilities: State of Slim Everybody
3rd: Dr. Casey Herman | Mobilizing Inclusive Health Coalitions: Lessons Learned From a Multi-state Inclusive Community Implementation Process
The CFA and criteria can be seen below.
Call for Abstracts - Competitive
Who can submit?
- Students and trainees from any institution are welcome to submit abstracts for poster presentation and oral presentation competition on basic, clinical, translational, and population science that are broadly related to disability health and rehabilitation science.
Poster Presentation competition:
- Abstracts selected for poster presentation competition to be held on February 27th will be announced the last week of January
Oral Presentation competition:
- A few abstracts will be selected for a flash talk competition. Selection announcements will be emailed during the last week of January. Abstracts will be reviewed and selected by faculty judges.
- Special consideration will be given to research focusing on 1) health management/secondary health conditions in disability, 2) telehealth and telerehabilitation, and 3) disability research dissemination and implementation.
- Principal authors of abstracts selected for oral presentation can also participate in the poster competition.
Awards:
- Principal authors of the winning posters and oral presentations (as determined by faculty judges) will each receive a travel award. For each competition, first place receives $500, seond receives $250 and third receives $100. Students and trainees from any institution are eligible for cash prizes.
Abstract Guidelines:
- Limit of 350 words in the abstract body, excluding title and authors. The abstract body should be formatted with the following headings: Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusions, Future Directions, and Acknowledgments. Use Arial, 12-point font, left justified, single line spacing, with 1-inch margins. Any embedded figures or tables must use no less than 12-point font.
- The title is limited to two lines of bold, Arial 12-point font. Immediately below the title, list all authors and their affiliations. The presenter must be the first author, and the author’s position should be listed above the abstract body.
- Please save the abstract file name in the following format before uploading to the submission form: Primary author's full name - "Abstract title" - 2025 Disability Health Symposium
Call for Abstracts - Non-competitive
Deadline to submit non-competitive abstracts - February 14th
Who can submit?
- Faculty, staff, students (undergraduate and postgraduate) and pre- and postdocs from any institution and corporate organization representatives who wish to present their research to the symposium attendees are invited to submit abstracts for poster presentations on basic, clinical, translational, and population science that are broadly related to disability health and rehabilitation science.
Abstract Guidelines:
- Limit of 350 words in the abstract body, excluding title and authors. The abstract body should be formatted with the following headings: Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusions, Future Directions, and Acknowledgments.
- Please use Arial, 12-point font, left justified, single line spacing, with 1-inch margins. Any embedded figures or tables must use no less than 12-point font.
- The title is limited to two lines of bold, Arial 12-point font. Immediately below the title, list all authors and their affiliations. The presenter must be the first author, and the author’s position should be listed above the abstract body.
- Please save the abstract file name in the following format before uploading to the submission form: Primary author's full name - "Abstract title" - 2025 Disability Health Symposium.