Despite moving to Birmingham in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Eric Evans will be leaving Birmingham with expert knowledge on rehabilitation research, a wife, life-long friends and a new kidney.
“Obviously, a lot has happened the past couple years – very significant events,” he said with a laugh.
Dr. Eric EvansAfter nearly four years in an entirely new part of the country and in a postdoc position at UAB, Evans is moving on to become a Graduate Medical Education Research Coordinator at the Northeast Georgia Health System in Gainesville, Georgia.
Prior to his move to Birmingham, Evans lived his entire life in Indiana, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in kinesiology as well as a doctorate in health and rehabilitation science from Indiana University – Indianapolis.
With background and personal interest in exercise and video gaming, his dissertation was a combination of the two along with active gaming, or exer-gaming. Evans conducted research during the early stages of virtual reality technology, using headsets for exercise and pain sensitivity.
Evans continued his research on the combination of exercise and technology with a postdoc position under Dr. Mohan Thirumalai, director of RecTech and one of CEDHARS core directors. The position had him working on projects involving technology, health and wellness as well as the freedom to pursue his own academic interests.
“Personally, it’s been a whirlwind as well as professionally,” Evans said. “Getting thrown into an environment that’s completely different than the one I came from and had done all my higher education at took a bit of an adjustment. Obviously, Covid didn’t help with that either.”
Nearly all of Evans’ research while at UAB was online-based with health coaching and self-management programming, which was an adjustment: all his prior work had been hands on in a laboratory-based setting. Over time, though, he was able to pursue more hands-on research in the areas he was interested in.
Evans was awarded pilot funding with Dr. Laurie Malone, associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, for a research project studying the use of virtual reality for physical activity and socioemotional health in an underserved community in Birmingham. Publications are still in the works.
“It’s cool to see a research proposal get funded and be able to implement it,” he said. “Once you see the person, it’s awesome, but getting it approved, working with community partners and things I had zero experience in, you take a leap of faith.”
Part of what made the research meaningful for Evans was that the research team was able to leave the technology with the community members and Lakeshore Foundation so that it could continue to be utilized going forward, which Evans believes the field should focus on more.
“I read the literature, and these brilliant programmers develop their own VR games, which is so cool, but the research side and implementation has a gap there,” he said. “You have a game that was created that is not immediately accessible to everyone else. I had struggles with balancing projects with long-term implementation. It can be a socioeconomic barrier. I wanted to see that gap narrowed.”
In his new job, Evans won’t be directly working on his own research, but he will be able to guide the research of physician residents with the skills and knowledge he’s gleaned while at UAB.
From protocol design and data analysis to IRB and recruitment, Evans will facilitate the research projects of these physician residents as part of their program in the medical education department.
“I’m not a subject matter expert in most of the things these doctors are, but my role is to make sure they understand the process of research. When they told me about the position, I was like, ‘Sign me up.’”
Moving his career in academia into the healthcare setting will be an adjustment, but Evans is excited for the new chapter. He’s loved his time at UAB and will miss the roots he’s grown in Birmingham, and he’s been asked by many people around him if he’ll miss the VR research in his new role.
“The short answer, without being callous, is no. It has nothing to do with that space. It has everything to do with this new position and the direction it could lead me in my career, and I’m genuinely excited for it. Where I was to where I am now, the evolution over time helps me to keep discovering myself and what I want to do regardless of whether it’s in academia or healthcare.”
