Theresa LB Pape
Dr. Theresa Louise-Bender Pape is a Clinical Neuroscientist with the Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Administration (VA) Research Service and a Research Associate Professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Dr. Pape’s research track is neural plasticity in neurorehabilitation of Traumatic Brian Injury (TBI). Dr. Pape’s career objective has been, and continues to be, promoting the overall well-being of Veterans with TBI so they can live long and meaningful lives. To achieve this objective, she conceives of and then addresses questions that will advance the development of interventions for TBI neurorehabilitation.
Dr. Pape started her career by earning her Masters of Arts (MA) degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Western Michigan University in 1986. She provided speech-language services to persons with TBI for several years. Dr. Pape then completed a pre-doctoral fellowship with the VA Health Services Research and Development Service in 1999 as well as earning her doctorate of public health (Dr. PH) from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1999. Dr. Pape completed a post-doctoral fellowship in 2001 at Northwestern’s Institute for Health Services Research and Policy Studies (IHSRPS), which is an Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Program co-sponsored by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) and the National Research Service Awards (NRSA). Dr. Pape was also awarded a Merit Switzer fellowship through NIDRR. After completing this fellowship in 2001 Dr. Pape went on to receive three consecutive career development awards with the VA RR&D service. First she received a Research Career Development Award (CDA I) to study rehabilitation measurement and outcomes post severe TBI. She subsequently received an Advanced Research Career Development Award (CDA II) to study advanced neurosciences and neural plasticity. Dr. Pape completed her third award in 2010, a Career Development Transition Award, to study neural plasticity in neurorehabilitation after TBI.
Dr. Pape’s pre- and post-doctoral training cut across the traditional boundaries of medical rehabilitation research and this training builds on her clinical experiences in TBI. Dr. Pape applies and synthesizes her advanced training in neurosciences, neural plasticity, CNS repair mechanisms, measurement/psychometrics, outcomes, statistical analyses and research design to enable examinations of the efficacy and effectiveness of neurorehabilitation after TBI. Dr. Pape’s research career objective is to conceptualize and develop medical rehabilitation interventions according to derived evidence to shape and guide CNS repair to ultimately lead to functional recovery after TBI.
The field of TBI neurorehabilitation, particularly severe TBI, is shifting from a reactive management paradigm to a proactive treatment paradigm. Dr. Pape’s research has been a catalyst for recognizing the need for this fundamental shift. Dr. Pape’s research on the role of neural plasticity in neurorehabilitation focuses on two areas:
1.Neurorehabilitation effectiveness, also referred to as translational research, involves translating basic science findings to advance clinical knowledge of the TBI recovery trajectory and to develop robust yet customizable interventions that effectively induce, promote, and/or shape neural plasticity of the injured brain.
2.Neurorehabilitation measurement research provides the capacity to accurately detect meaningful treatment effects in clinical trials at behavioral and neurophysiological levels.
Current research in Dr. Pape’s lab related to neural plasticity includes examining the therapeutic effect and underlying mechanism for repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) with after severe TBI and intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation (ITBS) with mild TBI co-occurring with PTSD. Dr. Pape is examining the effect of rTMS alone with a grant from the Army and when combined with Amantadine with a R21 grant from the NIH. She is examining the effect of iTBS when combined with Attention Processing Training in a Clinical trial grant from the Army.
Current and recently completed rehabilitation measurement research in Dr. Pape’s lab includes examining diagnostic accuracy of mild TBI and determining how to measure meaningful neurobehavioral change during recovery from severe TBI.
