Core Faculty
- Professors
- Associate Professor
- Associate Clinical Professors
- Assistant Professor in Residence
- Assistant Clinical Professor
 Nancy Byl
Department Chair and Professor
UCSF
Degrees
BS PT - UCSF
MPH - UCB
PhD - UCB
Credentials
BS PT, MPH, PhD
Work Experience
Dr. Byl has been a Physical Therapist for 40 years with experience in outpatient orthopedics and neurological rehabilitation with children and adults with a special interest in musicians with repetitive strain injuries and focal hand dystonia.
Teaching
Dr. Byl teaches courses in therapeutic modalities, Radiology, and Evidence Based Practice
Area of Expertise
Patients with chronic pain related to repetitive strain injuries, neurovascular entrapment syndromes or focal dystonia of the upper limb, spine disorders (particularly, idiopathic scoliosis) and patients with neurological disorders comprising sensory function or balance as a result of trauma, cardiovascular accidents, or neurodegenerative disease.
Research
Dr. Byl has carried out research studies on wound healing, measurement of functional outcomes, primate models of focal hand dystonia, integrative balance problems in patients with Idiopathic scoliosis, effectiveness of training for patients with vertigo/dizziness, sensorimotor training for patients post stroke and patients with repetitive strain injuries and focal hand dystonia. To read more go to Dr. Byl's Research
 Ann Hallum
Dean of Graduate Studies and Professor
SFSU
Degrees
BS PT - UCSF
Fellowship in Pediatric Physical Therapy - University of North Carolina
MS in Child Development - UCD
PhD in Counseling and Health Psychology - Stanford
Post-doctoral Fellow in Medical Psychology - Oregon Health Sciences University
Licensure
Physical Therapy, Psychology
Work Experience
- Pediatric Physical Therapist, Children's Hospital Medical Center-Oakland
- Fellowship in Pediatric Physical Therapy, University of North Carolina
- Pediatric Therapist and Senior Lecturer, Stanford University
Area of Expertise
pediatrics, neurological dysfunction and psycho-social issues in rehabilitation
Research
Dr. Hallum has been doing research on using force plate and motion analysis data. Dr. Hallum has been studying the influence of spring shoe and shoe sole designs in producing an increased stride length in people with weakened gastroc-soleus muscles.
Dr. Hallum is also studying energy expenditure of children with myelomeningocele. She showed definite decreases in heart rate in children when using a wheel chair versus walking. She also showed that energy expenditure differed in the young child and in the teenager.
She has also carried out studies of the long-term impact on the families and caregivers of children with severe disabilities who have entered adulthood.
Currently, Dr. Hallum is focusing primarily on administrative duties as Dean of Graduate Studies at SFSU. To read more go to Dr. Hallum's Research
 Sandra Radtka
SFSU
Degrees
BS - University of Michigan at Ann Arbor MA, College Teaching (Physical Therapy) - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Ph.D. in Higher Education - UCB
Credentials
Certification in Kinesiological Electromyography (California)
Licensure
Physical Therapy (California and Michigan)
Work Experience
- Physical therapist for 32 years
- Clinical experience in neurological rehabilitation with children and adults in rehabilitation and acute care hospitals (outpatient and inpatient) and schools
- Academic experience in teaching pediatrics, adult and pediatric neurological rehabilitation, education and learning, research, and clinical education
- Research experience in conducting motion analysis with children and adults
- Post-doctoral fellow in Orthopaedics Biomechanics Laboratory, Shriner’s Hospital, San Francisco
Areas of Expertise
- Pediatric and adult neurological rehabilitation, pediatrics, education, motion analysis
- Director, SFSU Physical Therapy Pathokinesiology Laboratory
Research
Dr. Radtka’s research and specialized clinical evaluations involve motion analysis (kinematics and kinetics) and electromyographic studies of gait and stair climbing with orthoses in children with cerebral palsy, sitting balance in children with and without cerebral palsy, and effects of physical therapy treatment on sitting balance in children with cerebral palsy. She is expanding her previous gait and sitting balance studies with children to adults with neurological disorders. To read more go to Dr. Radtka's Research
 Kimberly Topp
UCSF
Degrees
BS PT - Northern Arizona University
PhD Anatomy and Cell Biology - UCD
Postdoctoral Training in Neuroscience - UCSF
Credentials
PT, PhD
Work Experience
- Acute neuro and orthopedic trauma and Inpatient Rehabilitation
- Outpatient Orthopedics
Area of Expertise
- Anatomy and the application of anatomical knowledge to clinical problems
- peripheral neuropathy research
Research
Dr. Topp's main interest is in the pathology of peripheral neuropathies. She has studied painful neuropathy induced by cancer chemotherapeutic drugs in animal models, and has demonstrated quantitative changes in sensory neuron microtubules and neurofilaments, as well as degenerative changes in primary sensory neurons in the dorsal root ganglia following cancer chemotherapy. In their studies of traumatic nerve injury, Dr. Topp and DPTSc student, Ben Boyd, have recently measured significant increases in nerve strain in the first three weeks after injury to the sciatic nerve in a rat model. They have correlated the alterations in biomechanical properties after injury with functional changes in animal gait. She and Ben recently published a review article describing the macroscopic and microscopic anatomy of peripheral nerve, and changes in nerve structure and biomechanics that occur in response to physical stresses placed on nerve during everyday activities (Physical Therapy, 2006). With the current doctoral students, Dr. Topp is investigating the subjective and objective responses to neurodynamic clinical tests in subjects with sciatica in the absence of clear lumbar pathology. Lastly, Dr. Topp has a long term collaboration with Dr. Patricia Painter, exercise physiologist, to quantify changes in skeletal muscle tissue in patients with end stage renal disease. To read more go to Dr. Topp's Research.
 Linda Wanek
Department Chair and Associate Professor
SFSU
Research
Dr. Wanek's clinical research is in the area of adolescent medicine especially adolescents and children with back pain and other aches and pains. The first study in collaboration with Professor Arriaga surveyed high school students and found that a large percentage had back pain of long duration. There were no correlations with back pain and anything such as sports or time watching TV or time spent studying, etc. Pain spikes about the time of puberty. Dr. Wanek and Professor Arriaga then went on to determine the effects of education on proper biomechanics. They developed an education module for 5th grade students and taught these students prior to puberty about proper keyboarding and lifting. Their first study showed that a brief intervention was retained for over one year. The same group will be retested this year and a pain survey will be added. The students will then have been studied in 5th, 6th, and now 8th grades. To read more go to Dr. Wanek's Research
 Rita Arriaga
Associate Clinical Professor
UCSF, School of Medicine
and
Director, Rehab Services
UCSF, Medical Center
Degrees
BS in PT- UCSF
MS in Health Science - SFSU
Credentials
BS PT, MS HS
Work Experience
She has over 30 years of experience in the physical therapy profession. She has broad clinical experience across both the age and care continuum. Her area of primary Physical Therapy practice is in treating adults with musculoskeletal problems in an outpatient setting. She has extensive Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Services, administrative and practice management experience in an academic medical center as well as a large Physical Therapy-owned private practice. Currently, she serves as Director of Rehabilitation Services at UCSF Medical Center and Clinical Practice Manager of the Faculty Practice for the UCSF Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science. Additionally, for the last 15 years she has been a member of the core academic faculty of the UCSF/SFSU Graduate Program in Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science. She is active in the American Physical Therapy Association and has held numerous appointed and elected positions at the local, state and national levels of the professional organization.
Area of Expertise
Clinically competent in the treatment of musculoskeletal problems for adults. Primary areas of expertise are in management, administration, health policy and ethics.
Research
Her focus has been on outcomes within the context of performance improvement/quality assurance in physical therapy practice. Her past projects have attempted to look at rehab outcomes in acute care for patients post-THR and post-MI. Her most recent research efforts have focused on measuring outcomes of PT intervention for adolescents with back pain. To read more go to Prof. Arriaga's Research
 Shannon Richards
UCSF
Degrees
PT Credential - UCSF
MA in Gerontology - SFSU
Credentials
PT, APTA CI Trainer for CI Course
Work Experience
- Primary acute care with cardiac patients and geriatric patients in SNF
- Currently, she is the Academic Clinical Education Coordinator and arranges and coordinates all of the clinicals for the students
Area of Expertise
Geriatrics
Teaching
She teaches and coordinates the course in kinesiology and clinical assessment, comprehensive Physical Therapy cardio pulminary physical therapy and therapeutic modalities.
Research
Program evaluation activities related to the
curriculum.
 Susanna Rosi UCSF
Degree
PhD, University of Florence - Florence, Italy
Credentials
PhD
Work Experience
Postdoctoral Research Associate in the department of Neural System Memory and Aging at the University of Arizona under the guidance of Drs. Gary Wenk and Carol Barnes (2002-2006) studying chronic neuroinflammaton and memory; identifying potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of neuroinflammatory-associated diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Area of Expertise
Alzheimer’s disease, chronic neuroinflammation, hippocampus, neurodegeneration, neuron-glia communication, activated microglia, immediate early gene, synaptic plasticity, cognitive impairment, spatial memory consolidation, anti-inflammatory drugs, NMDAR-antagonists.
Research
Dr. Rosi investigates how neuroinflammation alters the neurobiological bases of learning and memory. She is studying the biology of microglial and astroglial activation in vivo to gain further insight into its role in brain pathology. Her long-term research goal is to use a multidisciplinary approach to understand how neuroinflammation alters the ensemble dynamics in the network of brain structures that undergo plasticity. Her main question is to understand the communication between neurons and altered glial and how glial presence affects neuronal function; how activated glia could modulate neuronal activity, and how these two interconnected systems interact with each other to produce the cognitive dysfunction characteristic of many neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, HIV dementia and autism.
Her focus is to understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for inflammation-associated dysfunction and damage in the CNS with the final goal of identifying potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of brain injury and neuroinflammatory-related neurodegenerative disease. To read more go to Dr. Rosi's Research
 Jane Galvan
SFSU
Degrees
BS PT - New York University
MS Kinesiology -
CSU, East Bay
DPT - Temple University
Credentials
PT, MS, DPT, OCS
Licensures
OCS in Orthopedics
Work Experience
Professor in the Graduate Program full-time at SFSU for 3 years and treating patients at the Student Health Center at SFSU. Prior to SFSU, treated patients in the UCSF Faculty Practice. First 15 years of practice, worked at a variety of outpatient orthopaedic clinics.
Area of Expertise
Board Certified Specialty Area is orthopaedics, which she teaches in the Graduate Program. Areas of Interest within orthopaedics include cervical spine and shoulder problems, lumbar spine, and also soft tissue mobilization.
Research
Currently, working with Dr. Wanek on her study of musculoskeletal risk factors associated with low back pain in young adults. To read more go to Dr. Wanek's Research
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Directors
