Stephen J. Page bio

Steve attended Bexley schools from kindergarten through twelfth grade, graduating from Bexley High School in 1989.  He then attended the College of Wooster, was named to the Top Ten of the Outstanding Senior Male award, and was a four-year letter winner on Wooster's Varsity Men's Swimming Team.  After graduating from Wooster, Steve attended Ball State University, earning a Master's of Science degree in Exercise Science.  During his time at Ball State, Steve began working with, and performing research on, athletes with disabilities, as Ball State was the training site for the Paralympics.  Fueled by a desire to learn more about how to rehabilitate these individuals, Page then attended the University of Tennessee, where he earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 3 years, studying neurophysiology and majoring in Neuromotor Learning and Control.  At both Ball State and Tennessee Dr. Page was named "Outstanding Graduate Student."

Following his doctoral work, Dr. Page was admitted to the prestigious post-doctoral fellowship program at The Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, New Jersey, where Christopher Reeve, Dudley Moore, Yogi Berra, and others were performing their rehabilitation.  It was there that Steve began his groundbreaking work on stroke rehabilitation.  Dr. Page's work centers on developing new therapies to improve the motor function of stroke patients, as well as understanding how the brain rewires in response to these interventions (called "neuroplasticity").  Whereas it had been believed that the central nervous system was "hardwired," Dr. Page has been among the first to show that stroke patients can and do recover, and to show that stroke patients' brains can "rewire," even years after their strokes.  This discovery has begun to change the ways that therapy for stroke patients is provided across the world, and how it is reimbursed by insurance.  Furthermore, therapy programs that were developed by Dr. Page and his team have now been shown to harness the brain's ability to rewire, and are being used with stroke patients across the country and across the world.

Currently, Dr. Page is Director of Research in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and a Faculty Member in the Neurosciences Program, both at The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.  He is also a member of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Stroke Team; one of the largest and most recognized stroke teams in the world.  Dr. Page's laboratory, based in Cincinnati, is a premier site for stroke recovery research, and is currently the site for two Food and Drug Administration (PDA) trials that are testing new therapeutic devices for stroke patients.  Dr. Page is also Principal Investigator of three grants funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as several grants funded by pharmaceutical companies, testing new therapies to improve stroke patients' motor function. In July 2005 Dr. Page was also one of a handful of researchers across the country to receive a prestigious Bugher Award from the American Stroke Association. This four-year grant recognizes the best stroke research from across the United States.  Dr. Page was the only rehabilitation researcher honored with this award, and one of only a handful of clinical researchers.  For his research efforts, Dr. Page has been recognized by his professional colleagues, including recently being named a fellow of the American Stroke Association.  Dr. Page was also named chairperson of the 2004 and 2005 joint, annual conference of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine/American Society of Neurorehabilitation; the world's largest, interdisciplinary rehabilitation research conference.  Dr. Page has also edited a special issue of a major medical rehabilitation journal every year since 2001, and he also serves as a reviewer for multiple journals, on many grant review panels, and on professional committees.

Dr. Page also feels a strong commitment to the patients that he endeavors to serve and he ventures into the community at least once a month to "spread the word" about best practices to recover from a devastating stroke, both to patients and to clinicians.  Dr. Page is also an active volunteer for the American Heart Association and in 2005 he was recognized as the Heart Association volunteer with the most community speaking hours.  Dr. Page also attends several stroke support groups each month, acting as a resource for stroke patients and their families.

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