Acting Assistant Professor Amy Chambliss, MD, received $5000 from the UW Global Innovation Fund: Global Research Award for her project “Global Academic Rehabilitation Medicine – Mapping Collaborations and Partnerships between UW, Ghana, and the International Rehabilitation Forum to Improve Quality of Life for People with Disabilities.” The project will identify opportunities to strengthen the academic partnership between the UW Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the non-profit International Rehabilitation Forum (IRF).
One outcome of this project will be a collaborative needs assessment, which will help identify the scope of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) in Ghana. The needs assessment will be used to map opportunities to address the unmet need for rehabilitation services in Ghana. Along with the IRF, Dr. Chambliss will primarily work with Dr. Abena Tannor, Ghana's first rehabilitation physician. Dr. Chambliss and Associate Professor Ny-Ying Lam, MD, are lead faculty members for the IRF fellowship in Africa.
The UW Global Innovation Fund provides seed funding to initiate innovative research collaborations that connect different disciplines and continents. These awards help teams launch new projects, build international networks, and lay the groundwork for future large-scale research initiatives. Dr. Chambliss hopes to use the seed funding to build partnerships that will lead to future projects, publications, and scholarly work in global academic rehabilitation.