For the Record provides information about recent professional activities and honors of University of Delaware faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Recent appointments, presentations, publications and honors in the College of Health Sciences include the following:

Presentations

Scott Passalugo, a biomechanics and movement science doctoral student, presented at the Delaware Army National Guard’s 51st annual Safety and Occupational Health Conference on Feb. 7 at the Smyrna Readiness Center. At the conference, Passalugo, who manages UD’s Veterans and College Athletes Together (VCAT) exercise intervention, talked about concussion injuries in the military. He also highlighted the importance of exercise on brain health.

Publications

Melanie Rojas, an adjunct instructor in the Department of Health Behavior and Nutrition Sciences and manager of the College of Health Sciences Demonstration Kitchen, led a systematic review recently published in Nutrition Reviews that examined how the timing and types of complementary foods influence the developing gut microbiome in infants up to 12 months of age. The review analyzed data from 17 studies and found that an infant’s background liquid diet, such as breast milk or infant formula, appears to play a significant role in how solid foods shape the gut microbiome. Dairy and dairy-based foods were most often associated with lower levels of Bifidobacterium, a beneficial gut bacteria common in infants, though findings varied widely across studies. Additional intervention studies comparing types of foods are needed to further elucidate these findings. The publication was completed as part of Rojas’ master’s scholarly project under the mentorship of co-authors Jillian Trabulsi, interim dean of the College of Health Sciences and professor of health behavior and nutrition sciences, and Alisha Rovner, associate professor of health behavior and nutrition sciences. Lynn Ferro, who earned her doctorate in nutrition science from UD and is now a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute, also coauthored the publication. Her dissertation research on infant diet interventions and their influence on the gut microbiome laid critical groundwork for the project.

Alisha Fletcher, director of the Delaware Network for Excellence in Autism (DNEA), housed in the College of Education and Human Development’s (CEHD) Center for Disabilities Studies, wrote about her work to strengthen communication between autistic people and first responders in “Leading Beyond the Disability System,” issue 17 of the National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities Bulletin. She wrote about three impactful DNEA programs serving Delaware communities, including its first responder training program, its practice traffic stop events for autistic drivers and its participation in the Blue Envelope Program, a Delaware partnership that promotes safe, clear and respectful communication between law enforcement and drivers with autism and other disabilities.

Anjana Bhat, professor of physical therapy, published “Differences in Executive Functioning Performance and Cortical Activation Between Autistic and Non-Autistic Youth During an fNIRS Flanker Task: A Pilot Study” in Volume 16, Issue 1 of Brain Sciences in December 2025. Coauthors include Jacob Corey, an alumnus of the Biomechanics and Movement Science Interdisciplinary  (BIOMS) PhD program.

Airelle Giordano, associate professor of physical therapy and director of clinical services and residency training, published a scoping review titled “Outcome measures used for evaluating the effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a scoping review” in Knee Surgery Sports Traumatology Arthroscopy in January 2026.

Karin Grävare Silbernagel, associate chair and professor of physical therapy, published “Two-week cumulative tendon load estimated from insole sensor contact forces is associated with plantar flexor function in Achilles tendinopathy” in Scientific Reports in February 2026. Coauthors include Andy Smith, a biomechanics and movement science doctoral student and alumnus of the Doctor of Physical Therapy program, and Ryan Pohlig, director of the biostatistics core and associate professor of epidemiology. Silbernagel also published “Exploring the digital landscape: A scoping review of Achilles tendinopathy education on public websites and in randomised controlled trials” in Clinical Rehabilitation in December 2025. Coauthors include Morgan Potter, a BIOMS doctoral candidate, and Hayley Powell Smitheman, an alumna of the BIOMS PhD program. In January 2026, Silbernagel coauthored “Impact of COVID-19 on patellar tendon properties over the first year after infection” in Scientific Reports. Coauthors include João Luiz Quaglioti Durigan and Rita de Cássia Marqueti Durigan, associate professors at the University of Brasília, who spent a year as visiting researchers at UD. Silbernagel published a cross-sectional study, “Structure and Function of the Achilles Tendon and Plantarflexors after Non-Surgical Management of Achilles Tendon Rupture,” in Musculoskeletal Science and Practice in November 2025.

Jaclyn “Megan” Sions, associate professor of physical therapy, published “Strengths and Challenges of Sustaining Health Professional Education Programs: A Thematic Analysis for the Orthotic and Prosthetic Profession” in BMC Medical Education in January 2026. Sions also published “Development and Reliability of a Systematic Method to Evaluate Lumbar Paraspinal Muscle Size and Quality in Computed Tomography Images” in the North American Spine Society Journal in December 2025. 

Samantha Stauffer, an alumna of the BIOMS PhD program, published “Modifiable Factors Associated with Elevated Mean Arterial Pressure and Wide Pulse Pressure after Lower-Limb Loss” in the Journal of Vascular Diseases in December 2025, with Sions and Pohlig as coauthors.

New research by Daniel White, associate professor of physical therapy, and Sydney Liles, a biomechanics and movement science doctoral student and alumna of the Doctor of Physical Therapy program, found that adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA) who had patterns that included little activity in the morning and evening had roughly double the risk of death from any cause over eight years. The secondary analysis examined hip accelerometer data from nearly 2,000 participants to identify daily activity patterns linked to mortality. Their findings, published in the journal Arthritis Care and Research on Dec. 22, 2025, highlight how patterns of activity throughout the day may provide important insight into health risks for adults with knee OA.

Appointments

Daniel White, associate professor of physical therapy, has been named co-editor-in-chief of Arthritis and Care (AC&R), an official journal of the American College of Rheumatology and the Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals. White will lead the journal alongside Kelli Allen, professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and research health scientist at the Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System in Durham, N.C. The journal publishes research that promotes excellence in the clinical practice of rheumatology with major topics including evidence-based practice studies, clinical problems, practice guidelines, educational, social, and public health issues, health economics, health care policy, and future trends in rheumatology practice. White previously served as the AC&R’s associate editor.