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Research Physical Therapist
Mayo Clinic
I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Meegan Van Straaten, PT, MSPH is a research physical therapist at the Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery and the Rehabilitation Medicine Research Center, Mayo Clinic. After receiving her Bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from Stony Brook University, New York, she worked clinically in inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, and public education settings. She received her Master’s of Science degree in Public Health with an emphasis in epidemiology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 2001. She then worked in the field of assistive technology (University of Colorado Denver), mainly supporting special education educators in Colorado. She moved to Minnesota and began working in the Motion Analysis Laboratory at Mayo Clinic in 2008. She then transitioned to a full-time researcher as study staff and co-investigator on many rehabilitation-related studies whose funding sources included the National Institutes of Health, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation. She is a member of the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) and has served as the Chair of the Program Committee (2020). She is on the board and is team manager and volunteer coordinator of the Rochester Mustang Sled Hockey Program. Her research interests include maintaining the shoulder health of wheelchair users, developing metrics of wearable sensors to measure arm use, and testing the effects of health and wellness programs.
