CORONAVIRUS Update: USAHS plans a full return to campus for 2021 Fall Term courses and lab sessions. USAHS expects to resume all in-person classes and on-campus academic activities, such as regularly scheduled residencies, weekend labs and course intensives, with the September 7 Fall Term start.
BS in Exercise Science, Harding University
MPT, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
MS in Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville
PhD in Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville
Research Interests
Sensorimotor Function following Neurological Injury
spinal electrical stimulation
Activity-based Therapeutic Interventions
Neurologic Recovery
Dr. Atkinson is a physical therapist, researcher, and educator focused on improving the lives of individuals with neurological injuries and their families. He began his career in 2005 as a physical therapist specializing in spinal cord injury rehabilitation at TIRR/Memorial Hermann in Houston, Texas. In 2010, Dr. Atkinson joined the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, earning his PhD in anatomical sciences and neurobiology in 2016. He subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Kosair Charities Center for Pediatric Neurorecovery, also at the University of Louisville. Dr. Atkinson’s clinical and research interests center on promoting neurologic recovery after adult and pediatric spinal cord injury through the development and refinement of neuromodulation strategies that can augment current activity-based therapies. Dr. Atkinson’s teaching experience includes 2 years as an instructor/course coordinator of the human biomechanics course at the University of Louisville. In addition, he is a consultant and senior instructor in post-professional courses and on the topics of recovery-based interventions for adult and pediatric neurological populations. Dr. Atkinson joined the core DPT program faculty at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences at the Austin, Texas Campus in 2019 and teaches within the neurological course components of the program.
