Rosemary Gallagher is an associate professor and admissions coordinator at New York Tech’s Doctor of Physical Therapy Program. She is lead instructor in the Human Gross Anatomy (PHTH603) and Geriatrics courses and lab instructor in the biomechanics course. Gallagher graduated from Colorado State University in 1983 with a B.S. in Physical Education and has earned two degrees from Stony Brook University—a B.S. in Physical Therapy in 1989 and a Clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy in 2008. She graduated with her Ph.D. from the Interdisciplinary Studies program at Rutgers University, with a concentration in Rehabilitation and Movement Sciences in October 2017. She has over 30 years of clinical experience with a variety of patient populations including geriatric, neurologic, and orthopedic patients, in a variety of clinical settings including outpatient, acute care, acute and sub-acute rehabilitation, long term, and home care.
Gallagher is actively involved in research with an interest in improving the lives of people with Parkinson’s disease. She is a Parkinson’s Foundation Physical Therapy Faculty Scholar dedicated to improving physical therapy care in Parkinson’s disease through instruction to future physical therapists. She is also involved in the Rock Steady boxing program for people with Parkinson’s disease on the New York Tech Long Island campus and is co-coordinator for a local support group for people with PD.
Her Ph.D. work investigated stationary cycling as a rehabilitation strategy in individuals with PD using a virtual environment. She is currently expanding on her Ph.D. work by using immersive and semi-immersive virtual environments to increase exercise intensity during stationary cycling in people with PD, a study funded by the NIH. She is also interested in cognition in people with PD as it relates to balance, executive function, and procedural learning and memory. Gallagher is also involved in using optical motion capture technology and is a Co-PI on a study designed to investigate behavioral biometrics during cell phone use in healthy adults and people with PD, a study funded by the NSF. Dr. Gallagher has presented her work at the national and international levels.
Recent Projects/Research
- Gallagher, R., Farella Accurso, M., Johnson, D., Kang, R., Rodriquez, A., Cohen, E. The relationship between cognition and balance using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and the MiniBESTest in Parkinson’s disease.
- Balgani, K., Gasti, P., Kurtzer I., Gallagher R. National Science Foundation Grant. Evaluating the Security and Resilience of Smartphone Behavioral Biometrics using 3-D Motion Capture.
- Oreste, A., Gallagher, R. (PI), Werner, W., Zaman, N., Bloom, O. Ankle foot orthoses to treat genu recurvatum in hemiplegic stroke patients.
- Gallagher, R., Donohue, J., Deutsch, J.E. Does cycling in a VE increase VO2 max in healthy adults and persons with PD?
- Gallagher, R., Donohue, J., Deutsch, J.E. Virtual Cycling Environment (VCYCLE) Increases Exercise Intensity in Persons with Parkinson’s Disease.
- Serac, A., Gu, H., Gallagher, R., Werner, W., Dong, Z., Energy-efficient body area sensor network for nonintrusive freezing-of-gait study of individuals with Parkinson’s disease.
Publications
- Gallagher R., Damodaran H., Werner W., Powell W., Deutsch J.E. (2016). “Auditory and visual cueing modulate cycling speed of older adults and persons with Parkinson’s disease in a Virtual Cycling (V-Cycle) system.” J of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation. 13:77.
- Gallagher R, Damodaran H, Werner W, Deutsch, JE. (2015). “The influence of cueing, feedback, and directed attention on cycling in a virtual environment: Preliminary findings in healthy adults and persons with Parkinson’s disease.” IEEE 11-17.
- Kegelymeyer D, Ellis T, Esposito A, Gallagher R, Haro C, Hoder J, Hussey E, O’Neal S. (2015). “Measurement Characteristics and Clinical Utility of the Mini BESTest in Individuals with Parkinson Disease.” Arch of Phys Med and Rehab: 96; 1367-1368.
- Gade V, Gallagher R, Maidan I, Patel C, Deutsch JE. (2013). “Path width, path difficulty, and optic flow differentially affect young, older adults, and individuals post-stroke in a virtual cycling environment.” IEEE. 2013; 277-288.
- Gade V., Maiden I., Gallagher R., Torres C., Deutsch J.E. (2011). “Cycling Rate is modified by optic flow in a virtual bicycle environment.” International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation (ICVR), IEEE conference publications.
- Southard V., Gallagher R., Stith, N. “The 6MWT: Do different Methods of Instruction and Measurement Affect Performance of Healthy Aging and Older Adults?” JGPT. 2013; 36 (2): 68 77.
Honors and Awards
- Parkinson’s Foundation Physical Therapy Faculty Scholar, June 2018
- Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, NYIT School of Health Professions, 2016
- Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, NYIT School of Health Professions, 2013
Courses Taught at New York Tech
- PHTH603: Human Gross Anatomy
- PHTH601: Introduction to Physical Therapy
- OCTH602: Human Gross Anatomy