Kimberly Hreha, EdD, OTR/L, assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Occupational Therapy Doctorate Division, and senior fellow in the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, has been awarded a K01 grant from the National Institutes of Health and specifically the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research.
NIH Career Development (K) Awards support early career faculty-level candidates to further their research and become competitive for additional significant grant support. This Mentored Research Scientific Development Award provides three years of funding for Hreha to expand her knowledge in epidemiology and the mechanisms of post-stroke dementia and learn more about the neuropsychological and clinical assessment of dementia while developing her clinical research methodology and statistical analysis skills.
Dr. Hreha worked as a clinician at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation immediately upon graduating with a master's in occupational therapy. There, she became interested in visual impairments due to age and neurological conditions. She was drawn to a career in research to answer many of her questions and ultimately seek to improve the visual and cognitive health of aging stroke survivors.
Through this grant, she will rely on existing data to investigate whether specific types of vision impairment and visual deficits increase the risk of post-stroke dementia. The expected findings will provide critical insight into the types of vision impairment and visual deficits experienced by people with post-stroke dementia, including more information on distinguishing between pre- and post-stroke visual impairments and the expected differential impact on dementia. Dr. Hreha’s primary research mentors are Heather Whitson, director of the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, and Nikki Hastings, a senior fellow at the Center for Aging and Human Development.