Margaret A. Turk SUNY Upstate Medical University, USA
Margaret A. Turk, M.D., is professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) and pediatrics at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University (SUNY UMU) at Syracuse. She is also a visiting adjunct professor at Fudan University, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. As an academician, she engages in a variety of activities within the university and community environment and on a national and international basis. Within her home institution, she serves as vice chair of the PM&R Academic Department, associate medical director of the Rehabilitation Unit, and program director for Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine at SUNY UMU. She has been active in faculty governance and has participated in the leadership as chair of the Faculty Organization and Medical College Assembly. As a part of the Syracuse health care community, she is medical director of rehabilitation services at St. Camillus Health and Rehabilitation Center and vice chief of the PM&R Department on the Upstate University Hospital at Community General Campus.
Throughout her career, Dr. Turk has engaged in most of the clinical areas of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation practice, with a special focus on pediatric rehabilitation and services for those with lifelong disabilities. Her present clinical activities include participation in the University Hospital Gold-Plus Stroke Program, providing early rehabilitation services and problem-solving best sites for rehabilitation care. She is active in medical education for medical students at SUNY UMU, and for residents in the PM&R Department residency training program and in other departments at SUNY UMU.
Dr. Turk has participated in and contributed to the larger physiatry and rehabilitation community. She has served as a director and chair ofthe American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (ABPMR), participated in the development of the Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine subspecialty certification for ABPMR, and has been active with the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) on the board of directors and within the committee structure. She is a member of a variety of professional organizations and has participated in governance and committee work with them. She has worked with the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR) and the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) in an advisory capacity. She participates with the New York State Department of Health Disability Prevention Program, funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD), and has served as the co-chair of the Advisory Board and Working Group on Secondary Conditions. She has also served on the Advisory Board for the NIH-funded K–12 Rehabilitation Medicine Scientist Training Program. She has been a member of a variety of program planning committees and standing and ad hoc study groups for CDC, NIH, and NIDRR.
In addition to her clinical, education, and administrative responsibilities, Dr. Turk is involved in rehabilitation research and has been funded for projects related to secondary conditions of and health promotion for persons with disabilities, and rehabilitation interventions. Topics of her publications and national, regional, and international presentations have included pediatric rehabilitation, pediatric electrodiagnosis, tone management, adults with cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury and concussion rehabilitation, secondary conditions, health promotion in disability, the health of women with disabilities, stroke rehabilitation, and training and education in PM&R. She contributed to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) national reports on disability published in 1997 (Enabling America: Assessing the Role of Rehabilitation Science and Engineering) and 2007 (The Future of Disability in America), and the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank–sponsored World Report on Disability, released in June 2011. She has participated in programs nationally and internationally to promote the principles of that report.
Dr. Turk is co-editor of the Disability and Health Journal, a quarterly publication sponsored by the American Association for Health and Disability, and an associate editor of the Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Journal. Within Disability and Health Journal, she has published editorials and a commentary related to the promotion of health for people with disabilities, including rehabilitation strategies. She continues to participate in peer reviewof manuscripts submitted for publication to other professional journals.
Dr. Turk received The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health Alumnae Achievement Award in 2000, and the United Cerebral Palsy Research and Educational Foundation Isabelle and Leonard Goldenson Technology and Rehabilitation Award in 2004. She was honored with the Walter J. Zeiter Lectureship Award by the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in 2008, and the Chambers Family Lifespan Lectureship Award by the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine in 2009.
