pt pintcast

Stroke Recovery Research with Sandy Billinger

Sandy Billinger is an Associate Professor at an academic medical center and lead a research laboratory. She serves as the Neurovascular Division Director, KU Alzheimer’s Disease Center and I is an educator in the classroom teaching Cardiopulmonary PT and a mentor for trainees.

Sandy is dental assistant turned academic who almost chose cardiac rehabilitation research instead of stroke recovery research. She enjoys her research and mentoring role that she did a Walk Across Kansas with her son to raise money to purchase unique equipment for an idea she had to assess brain health after stroke. Five years later, she and her lab team were the first in the world to publish on this methodology, Middle Cerebral Artery Dynamic Response during Moderate Intensity Exercise.

What we cover:

Stroke recovery research

Novel methodology for measuring cerebrovascular function during exercise

Career path

Roles/thoughts on mentoring

Value of DPT students collaborating with me in research