Valerie E. Kelly

Valerie E. Kelly, PT, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She directs the Kelly Research Group focused on mobility impairments in neurodegenerative conditions, particularly Parkinson disease. Dr. Kelly has over 20 years of clinical and research experience working with individuals with Parkinson disease.

Her educational background includes:

• Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Rehabilitation Science, University of Washington (2006)
• PhD in Movement Science, Washington University in St. Louis (2003)
• MS in Physical Therapy, Washington University in St. Louis (1999)
• BA in Physical Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania (1996)

Dr. Kelly's research focuses on understanding mechanisms underlying movement impairments in Parkinson disease and developing innovative interventions to improve mobility. She examines how cognitive and genetic factors influence gait and balance, with particular interest in dual-task walking performance and freezing of gait. Her work bridges clinical rehabilitation with advanced motion analysis techniques, including virtual reality environments and quantitative gait analysis.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on Parkinson disease rehabilitation, with increasing emphasis on genetic factors and virtual reality applications. Her work demonstrates strong interdisciplinary collaboration across neurology, engineering, and rehabilitation fields, producing clinically relevant insights about cognitive-motor interactions in mobility disorders.

Dr. Kelly actively mentors research trainees at pre-doctoral and post-doctoral levels, with current mentees including Raima Amin, MD and Niffer Supowit, DPT. Her research has been supported by significant funding from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, Stolov Research Fund, Institute for Translational Health Science, and Royalty Research Fund.

She leads the Kelly Research Group, which operates within the Amplifying Movement and Performance Laboratory. The group employs advanced motion capture technology with over 50 reflective markers to analyze kinematic traces during walking tasks, including virtual reality simulations of environments known to provoke freezing of gait.