PHHP graduates named 2017 UF outstanding young alumni
College of Public Health and Health Professions graduates Mary Brinkmeyer, Ph.D., and Arun Jayaraman, Ph.D., P.T., were selected as University of Florida Outstanding Young Alumni for 2017.
Brinkmeyer, a 2006 graduate of the clinical psychology doctoral program, is the associate director for psychology training programs at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, or NMCP, in Virginia. She trains and supervises advanced graduate practicum students, predoctoral interns and postdoctoral fellows in providing evidence-based treatment to active-duty service members with an emphasis on addressing post-deployment issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, depression and insomnia.
She has been named a subject matter expert for the hospital on transgender mental health issues because of her clinical work, research and consultation in this area, including beginning the first official support group for military members who are transgender. She also provides Parent-Child Interaction Therapy to service members experiencing behavioral or relationship difficulties with their young children. Her recent awards include the 2016 Civilian Psychologist of the Year for the U.S. Navy, 2015 NMCP Civilian of the Quarter and 2015 NMCP Associate Master Clinician.
Jayaraman, a 2008 graduate of the rehabilitation science doctoral program, is an associate professor in the departments of physical medicine & rehabilitation, and physical therapy & human movement sciences at Northwestern University. He is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s physical therapy department and Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Administration Hospital. He is also the director of the Max Nader Center for Rehabilitation Technologies and Outcomes Research at The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, where he also serves as a research scientist.
His research focuses on developing and executing industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated research in prosthetics, orthotics, rehabilitation robotics and other assistive and adaptive technologies to treat physical disability. His work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense and other private funding agencies.