Staff

Kevin J. Lyons, PhD, FASAHP

Dr. Kevin J. Lyons is Associate Dean in the College of Health Professions and the College of Graduate Studies and Director of the Center for Collaborative Research

Dr. Lyons has presented numerous papers at national and international scientific meetings and has been a frequent consultant to universities and government agencies on issues such as research development and program improvement. He has also co-authored the book, “Successful: Grant Writing: Strategies for Health and Human Services Professionals,” the second edition of which was recently published by Springer Publishing. Dr. Lyons has written chapters for the books Medicine and Health Care into the 21 st Century and “Allied Education, Practice Issues and Trends into the 21 st Millenium,” and served as co-editer for the latter. He has served on the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Health Services Research: Training and Workforce Issues and written a white paper for the National Commission on Allied Health on Current Organizational Research Agendas Related to Allied Health Practices. He also serves as Editor of the Journal of Allied Health, the scholarly journal of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions, and has received the J. Warren Perry Distinguished Author Award and been elected a Fellow in that organization.

Dr. Lyons is a funded investigator, having received three grants from the Bureau of Health Professions to conduct research institutes to advance the research mission of the allied health professions and four awards to conduct graduate programs to prepare health professionals to work in the homeless community. Dr. Lyons has served on peer review panels for FIPSE, OSERS, NCAM and NIDRR in the U.S. Department of Education, the Bureau of Health Professions and for numerous professional journals.

Kathleen Swenson Miller, PhD, OTR/L

Kathy Swenson Miller is Director of the Combined BS/MSOT Program, Assistant Professor in Occupational Therapy at Thomas Jefferson University, Director of the Community Health Concentration in the Department of Occupational Therapy, and a Research Associate in the Community and Homecare Research Division in the Jefferson College of Health Professions. Dr. Swenson Miller has been Director and Co-Project Director on multiple community health grants. She received her undergraduate degree in occupational therapy from the University of Minnesota, a Masters degree in allied health from Boston University with a focus on neurosciences and maternal/child health, and a doctorate in public health from Temple University with a focus on community health. She has over twenty-five years of experience working in community health as an occupational therapist with underserved populations in multiple capacities and in interdisciplinary endeavors. Her experience includes being a clinician, researcher, educator, administrator/entrepreneur, and policy maker. Most of her clinical experience has been in community maternal and child health, and with the homeless population.

Through one community health grant, Dr. Swenson Miller led an interdisciplinary health team's extensive needs assessment of a new transitional housing program for the homeless; the priority need expressed by residents was to be connected to technology. In the past four years, she has been instrumental in development of the infrastructure of computer technology for the homeless population in three housing programs, has taken web site design coursework, and has completed a study exploring the meaning of computers to the homeless populations. Using technology as a medium, Dr. Swenson Miller works clinically with a homeless population to assist them in attaining their personal goals towards self-sufficiency.

Diane Cornman-Levy, MS, PT

Ms. Cornman-Levy received her Masters degree in physical therapy at Northwestern University in Chicago. She is currently the Executive Director and Founder of Journey Home, a non-profit organization whose mission is to nurture the potential of marginalized individuals and communities. She has been involved with community-based organizations for over 20 years and has extensive experience working with underserved populations to improve healthcare service delivery.

In 1994, Ms. Cornman-Levy and a group of physical therapy students at Thomas Jefferson University started a student-run physical therapy clinic for homeless adults called Hands of Hope. For the past 9 years, she has co-directed three student-training grants, which resulted in the creation of two interdisciplinary, community health training programs for underserved populations. The most recent program teaches students how to use Internet technology to create eHealth promotion programs tailored to an underserved population. Ms. Cornman-Levy is also co-director of a new grant, the purpose of which is to create an allied health center for excellence in eHealth promotion programs for underserved populations. In addition she has made numerous national presentations on community health curriculum design, coalition building, service-learning models, and team development.

In 1998, she was recipient of the Pennsylvania Physical Therapy Association's Humanitarian Award. For her contributions to the field of Physical Therapy, she received the Founders Award from the Department of Physical Therapy at Thomas Jefferson University in 2001, and the Dervitz Award from the Department of Physical Therapy at Temple University in 2003. Ms. Cornman-Levy currently serves on the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation (PHMC) Healthcare for the Homeless Advisory Board and the Main Line Unitarian Church Social Action Committee.