PITTSBURGH, Apr. 27, 2016 – The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine has chosen one of its own renowned faculty members to be the next chair of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R). Gwendolyn Sowa, M.D., Ph.D., who will assume her new role July 1, also holds joint appointments in the School of Medicine’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and the Swanson School of Engineering’s Department of Bioengineering. She also serves as associate dean for medical student research and medical director of UPMC Total Care-Musculoskeletal Health.

 

“Dr. Sowa’s many accomplishments demonstrate her ability to cross specialties and to collaborate effectively in the clinical, research and educational arenas,” noted Arthur S. Levine, M.D., Pitt’s senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of Medicine. “She is the definition of a committed teacher and mentor.”

 

The department of PM&R ranks among the nation’s top programs in research funding from the National Institutes of Health and includes a team of multidisciplinary faculty members who train and educate the next generation of rehabilitation physicians and researchers, specializing in the fields of traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, diseases and disorders of the musculoskeletal and peripheral nervous system, and many other conditions that affect function and mobility.

 

“We are fortunate to have had Dr. Sowa as an internal candidate,” said Steven D. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice president, chief medical and scientific officer, and president, Health Services Division, UPMC. “Her extraordinary dedication to every aspect of her work will continue to strengthen the innovative mission of this program.”

 

Dr. Sowa’s research centers on molecular, laboratory-based translational and clinical research, investigating the effect of motion on inflammatory pathways and the beneficial effects of exercise. She is co-director of the Ferguson Laboratory for Orthopaedic and Spine Research, a 3,000-square-foot laboratory fully equipped to perform molecular assays, including gene expression analysis, protein analysis, cell and organ culture, histology, and cellular and spinal biomechanical testing. She also has an active research program investigating the role of serum biomarkers in guiding individualized treatment in intervertebral disc degeneration and back pain. She has received national recognition for her research.

 

Dr. Sowa completed her M.D. and Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, followed by residency training at Northwestern University, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.