Dr. Kshamata Shah, assistant professor of Physical Therapy and director of Education for International Physical Therapists, was accepted to the U.S. Bone and Joint Initiative/Bone and Joint Canada Young Investigator Initiative (YII) Grant Mentoring and Career Development Program, a selective program which serves to help young scientists develop research proposals. Only 50 percent of applicants are accepted to the program.

Dr. Shah’s proposed project will analyze changes in blood flow in the muscles and tendons of human shoulders and will be examined through the use of ultrasound techniques. The project will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Philip McClure, chair and professor of Arcadia’s Physical Therapy Department and lead researcher for the Shoulder Research Center, as well as Dr. Levon Nazarian, Director of Ultrasound and Radiation Education of Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Shah is a team member of Arcadia’s Shoulder Research Center in the Physical Therapy Department, which seeks to understand the underlying causes of shoulder pain and develop optimal treatment approaches to manage it.

Dr. Shah will attend the YII Fall Workshop in Toronto, Canada, from Nov. 9 to 11. At the conference, she will be paired with a YII faculty member who will assist her in proposing the research project to apply for grant funding.

The overall objective of the YII program is to assist clinicians and scientists undertaking musculoskeletal research studies with the process of obtaining grants, and to provide guidance in order to develop their careers.