East Tennessee State University assistant professor Dr. Kara Boynewicz has been awarded the American Physical Therapy Association’s Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy Dissertation Award for her research of motor development and neurobehavior in infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome.
Boynewicz studied hospitalized infants for the first two weeks of their life. Her research uses standardized outcome measures to determine the effects of prenatal opiate use on newborns to better understand early brain development for early identification of developmental delays.
“I was in shock when I won the award, as there are many P.T.-Ph.D. programs across the country who produce high-quality researchers,” said Boynewicz. “My Ph.D. was in early childhood, so I was able to combine both of my passions -- health care and the science of child development and education.
“I wanted to do something that would help the community that I raise my family and children in, help the community with an issue that is prevalent in our area in opiate misuse and give back to a wonderful place to live and work.”
The Dissertation Award was created in 1984 and is given to recognize an active or student member of APTA Pediatrics who has completed an outstanding research project as partial fulfillment of a research doctorate.
Boynewicz is an assistant professor in ETSU’s College of Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences and received her doctorate in early childhood education from the Clemmer College at ETSU.