Alex Evancho had been considering a career in physical therapy as she finished up degrees in Spanish and psychology at the University of Georgia. However, her world changed in multiple ways after her father experienced a massive stroke. This inspired her down a path that recently landed her as the new director of the CEDHARS Adaptive Human Performance Lab.
“I was initially drawn to PT because it seemed to offer a good balance between medicine and interpersonal connection,” Evancho said. “While I knew that physical therapists helped people decrease back pain and recover from knee surgery, I was unfamiliar with the concept of rehabilitating someone’s brain before my dad’s stroke.”
Although her father’s recovery was limited due to the nature of the stroke, Evancho was amazed by the world of neurorehabilitation.
“Our family became acutely aware of the societal and environmental barriers that individuals with permanent physical disabilities face,” she said. “It was this experience that solidified my decision to apply for PT school.”
Following graduation from PT school here at UAB, Evancho found herself resolute in her chosen career as she went into clinical practice at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, where she primarily worked in brain injury and stroke.
“I really enjoyed working with the patients,” she said. “I felt like it was meaningful and impactful. I learned a lot about how to physically manage patients, how to communicate, and how to translate what we were doing into their home environments.”
When the pandemic hit, Evancho transitioned into more of a management position at a senior living facility, which is where she also gained an affinity for working with individuals with neurodegenerative disease including Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Even back in PT school, Evancho had a desire to go into research, but she wanted the experience of working in clinic to come first.
“After being in clinical practice for about 5 years and getting some management experience, I had the bug of feeling like ‘I love being a PT, but I felt like there’s such a gap between what I’m reading in the literature and what’s happening in the clinic,’ and I just felt like there was something I was missing,” Evancho recalled.
Not wanting to be limited by the setting of clinic, Evancho stumbled across a job posting to help start the BRAIN Lab for Dr. Jamie Tyler, UAB professor of biomedical engineering, who was looking for a physical therapist who could combine his research that centers around neuromodulation with physical therapies for people with disabilities.
“I was like, ‘Well, that sounds perfect. I would love to do that,’” Evancho said. “[Tyler] wanted to find a clinician that he could train on non-invasive neuromodulation methods, who could design a study to facilitate translation into clinical practice. I was like, ‘I am your girl.’ It worked out perfectly.”
Evancho gained valuable skills while being mentored by Tyler in the time-limited position, including IRB approvals and grant application writing. In her time with Tyler, Evancho was awarded a pilot grant of her own from the School of Health Professions to bring Tyler’s neuromodulation into a PT setting. Through her connections in the PT department, she got connected with the CEDHARS lab, where she has run her study for the past year.
“I got exposed to CEDHARS and other lab staff members and loved what the mission of the lab was, and once this position opened up, I thought it was a natural fit,” she said. “I was able to keep my faculty appointment in PT, which is perfect because I think there’s so much collaboration we can do with the faculty of my department.”
Evancho may be most excited about the potential of combining forces of the Research Collaborative centers, CEDHARS and the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD), to bring research to evidence-based practice and vice versa.
“I just feel like there’s so much potential for getting research out into the community. We have such a good structure in place for that.”
Going forward, Evancho hopes to broaden her research portfolio and has already applied for grants that would bring her SHP pilot project to a larger scale, and she plans on continuing research with the Parkinson’s population as well as Dr. Chris Ballmann’s music and Parkinson’s research.
As for plans for the lab, Evancho is excited to expand the footprint of CEDHARS and lab at UAB and abroad.
“The collaborations and networking across campus was a big part of this job that really excites me,” she said. “Getting out into the community and UAB and inviting them into the lab will be really cool. We do such amazing stuff here, and not enough people know about it. Getting the word out more is my vision, so more people with disabilities can participate in research and benefit from the work we’re doing.”
