What has been your experience in the Rehabilitation Science program? What have you enjoyed most about the program?
Being part of the Rehabilitation Science program is like being part of big family. I know that the friendships I have made while being in the PhD in Rehabilitation Science program are going to last a lifetime. Academically, I have been very pleased with the way the PhD courses are organized and how I am able to choose classes according to what I need to learn in order to be a successful researcher. From the research point of view, the RSD exposes all the PhD students to all types of research from bench to bedside, which helps us gain a better understanding of what rehabilitation research means. I have had the privilege of working and learning from the best in the field, and that is something that not everyone can say. Dr. Mark Bishop and Dr. Steven George have both been the right fit for me and that is what has taken me to the point where I am weeks away from defending my doctoral dissertation. I am very proud to be mentored by people whose names are nationally and internationally recognized. The RSD program has provided me with all the resources I need to travel and present research from my lab in national and international conferences. I am always impressed with the reputation the RSD program has at a national level. I have to say that I am proud of the accolades I receive when I tell people at conferences that I am in the Rehabilitation Science program at the University of Florida. I also had the opportunity to work as a teaching assistant for the first 4 years of the PhD program and this was an incredible experience because it allowed me to grow as a class instructor and to develop teaching strategies I would have never thought of if it wasn’t because I was being mentored by professors with a vast experience in teaching. Of course, not everything is about school and lab work. Being a student at the University of Florida is also about attending Gator athletic events and I always have the best time when I am cheering for the Gators in the football, basketball and volleyball games.
What are you currently researching?
My research interest is focused on understanding the interactions and relationships among physical activity, pain-related psychosocial factors and pain processing both in healthy people and people with acute musculoskeletal pain. A poorly understood area in low back pain is the transition from health to pain, because this transition is nearly impossible to observe in the clinical population. However, the implementation of a muscle injury protocol for the low back extensor muscles allows us to explore changes that occur in the transition from health to acute pain that can be target for interventions in the clinical population to prevent the development of chronic pain.
Honors and Awards
Fulbright Scholar Program. 2008 (for master’s degree in the United States, fiscal years 2009 – 2011)
Frederick Family Scholarship in Physical Therapy 2015.
GSC Graduate Student Council. 2013. Travel Award to present at the Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) of the American Physical Therapy Association
AMTI Force and Motion Foundation. 2014. Travel Award to present at Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) of the American Physical Therapy Association
GSC Graduate Student Council. 2014. Travel Award to attend Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) of the American Physical Therapy Association
GSC Graduate Student Council 2015. Travel Award to present at the American Pain Society national meeting
Rehabilitation Science PhD Program 2015. Travel Award to present at the American Pain Society national meeting
Published Manuscripts
Stabley JN, Dominquez JM 2nd, Dominguez CE, Fredy R. Mora Solis, Ahlgren J, Behnke BJ, Muller-Delp JM, Delp MD . Spaceflight Reduces Vasoconstrictor Responsiveness of Skeletal Muscle Resistance Arteries in Mice. J Appl Physiol. 2012 Sep. 4 Fredy Mora Solis, PT, MS
Payal Ghosh, Fredy R. Mora Solis, James M. Dominguez 2nd, Scott A Spier, Anthony John Donato, Michael D. Delp, Judy M. Muller-Delp. Exercise training reverses aging-induced impairment of myogenic constriction in skeletal muscle arterioles. J Appl Physiol. 2015 Jan.
Published Abstracts
Fredy Solis, M. Bishop. Effect of spinal manipulations and body-based interventions in a model of experimentally induced low back pain. J. Pain. Vol 16, Issue 4, Supplement. Page S94. April 2015.
Fredy Solis, Jose A. Dominguez, Michael W. Moser, Troy N. Trumble, Christiaan Leeuwenburgh, Jonathan Shuster, Flavia M. Cicuttini, Terese L. Chmielewski. Association of biomechanical measures with biomarkers of articular cartilage degradation following ACL reconstruction. Medicine and science in sports and exercise. Vol 46:5 Supplement. 2014
Payal Ghosh, Fredy Solis, Jimmy Dominguez, Michael Delp, Judy Muller-Delp. Contribution of Kv1 channel activity to myogenic responses in skeletal muscle arterioles with aging and exercise training. Supplement 678.7. Vol 28 no 1. The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. April 2014.
Fredy Solis, Trumble T. N., Leeuwenburgh C., Shuster J., Cicuttini F. M., Chmielewski T. L. 2013. Urinary type II collagen cleavage concentrations following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Supplement. Ostearthritis and Cartilage. Vol 21. supplement. April 2013. Pages S79.
Fredy Solis, Muller-Delp, Judy, Smith Barbara, Delp, Michael. Effect of aging and exercise training on the myogenic mechanism of skeletal muscle arterioles. Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy Journal. Vol 22. No 4. December 2011.
Delp, M. Stabley, J. Dominguez, C. Fredy Solis. Ahlgren, J. Dominguez, J. Delp, J. Behnke, B. Microgravity attenuates the vasoconstrictor properties of gastrocnemius muscle feed arteries. Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine. 82, 3; 190.