The recognitions are pouring in for CEDHARS Co-Director and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Director of Research Dr. Yu-Ying Chen.
Dr. Yu-Ying ChenChen was recently selected as the second annual recipient of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine SCI-ISIG Dr. Margaret Nosek Award. The award recognizes an individual who demonstrates drive and commitment to advancing scientific knowledge, developing standards of clinical practice, raising awareness, and advocating for appropriate health care and community support for women with disabilities.
The award is given by the ACRM Spinal Cord Injury Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group each year as part of the Margaret Nosek Lecture series to commemorate the late Dr. Margaret Nosek, who was an internationally recognized authority on the health of women with disabilities. The award recognizes her contributions across 30 years of disseminating knowledge as a researcher and advocate of disability rights.
Chen will be presented with her award at the 100th annual conference, set for October 30 to November 2 in Atlanta. Chen will give a symposium at the conference about her work and thoughts on the future of SCI rehabilitation.
Chen was also recently named to the board of directors of the American Spinal Injury Association. ASIA is the premier North American professional organization in the field of spinal cord injury care, education and research. Chen will be attending her first board meeting at the 50th annual conference in April, where she will also be a presenter.
“ACRM is giving me the award in their 100th year, and ASIA does it during their 50th anniversary – it’s an interesting 2023,” Chen said with a laugh. “I feel very honored to be recognized.”
Dr. Amie McLain, former co-director of CEDHARS, brought Chen into the research field of women with disabilities. They collaborated on this historically understudied population, studying topics such as gynecological and reproductive health before McLain retired.
Chen believes there are multiple reasons for women with SCI having been understudied compared to men. While women make up about 20% of people with SCI, there is also a demographic difference in the researchers – most researchers are male.
“After they get a spinal cord injury, they ask these types of questions, ‘Can I have sex? Can I have children? Can I have a family?’ because they’re usually young when they get injured,” Chen said. “In the past, there were not many answers. That’s how the research got started.”
The research field has advanced, and many of the questions that were around when Chen first begun her research in this field now have well-established answers. Yes, people with spinal cord injury can have children and families. However, true to her researcher nature, studying these topics for women with spinal cord injury led to many more questions for Chen to investigate, such as obesity, metabolism, and cardiovascular health.
“Because most of the research focused on men with SCI, in general,” Chen said.
Chen’s research continued to grow in scope when she became the data center director of the UAB National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center because she got access to the massive dataset. This enabled her to look at similarities and differences between men and women with SCI, such as pain, life satisfaction, and weight gain post-injury.
“We have this huge database, so part of me feels like that’s my mission,” Chen said. “I need to address those minorities.”
