Program Directors

Barbara Bregman, PT, P.h.D.
Director

Dr. Barabara S. Bregman, Professor in the Departments of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC), also serves as Senior Research Scientist at the Medstar National Rehabilitation Hospital and Director of Education and Training for the Research Division. She has a long-standing interest and experience in recovery of function after CNS injury from both clinical and basic science perspectives.

Dr. Bregman received her B.S. in Physical Therapy from Russell Sage College in 1971, and practiced clinically for a number of years, specializing in CNS disorders. Dr. Bregman received her Ph.D. from the Department of Anatomy at the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

After postdoctoral research training in neural tissue transplantation techniques, Dr. Bregman established an independent research program that has focused on CNS development, plasticity, regeneration, and recovery of function after SCI in neonatal and adult mammals. Her research program has been internationally recognized and has been NIH-funded for over 25 years. The long-range goal of the research program in Dr. Bregman’s laboratory at GUMC is to identify the requirements of developing and mature CNS neurons for survival and axonal regeneration after injury and to identify ways to enhance regenerative growth and recovery of function after SCI at birth or at maturity. In recognition of her research, Dr. Bregman was awarded the J. Warren Perry Allied Health Lecturer Award from the University of Buffalo and the Distinguished G. Heiner Sell Lecturership at the Amerian Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) meeting & the first Kenneth Viste Award for contribution in the field of Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. Dr. Bregman helped establish and serves on the executive committee for the nationally accredited MNRH/GW PT Neuroresidency Program.

Alexander Dromerick, M.D.
Former Director

Dr. Alexander Dromerick was Vice President for Research at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital. He was also Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine and Neurology and Chairman of Rehabilitation Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC. He was a Research Scientist at the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Dromerick was a neurologist and rehabilitation physician who focused his clinical and research activities on brain recovery and restoration of motor function after stroke, traumatic brain injury, and upper extremity loss. He graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he also did an internship in Internal Medicine. He completed his Neurology residency at the University of Pennsylvania as well as basic science fellowships at Johns Hopkins and Princeton Universities. He was a Neurorehabilitation Fellow at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital/Cornell School of Medicine. He was Administrative PI for the NINDS StrokeNet clinical trials consortium in the Mid-Atlantic Region, which includes Georgetown, George Washington, and Howard Universities as well as the University of Virginia and the University of Maryland. He was co-Director of the Georgetown-MedStar NRH Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery. He was Co-Principal Investigator of the NINDS-funded I-CARE trial, a Phase III trial to improve arm recovery after stroke. He was Co-Principal Investigator of the NINDS-funded PROTECT DC Phase II clinical trial, aimed at reducing recurrent stroke in urban underserved individuals. His studies to improve prosthetic arm function in Veterans have been funded by the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense and studies in methods to improve the battlefield screening for traumatic brain injury have been funded by the Department of Defense and MedStar Health. His latest research, the Critical Period After Stroke Study (CPASS) in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) identified a critical time window for rehabilitation after stroke. Read the Georgetown press release here and learn more about the Critical Period After Stroke Study (CPASS) here.