Sharon Landesman Ramey, Ph.D.
"Prenatal and infant stroke, cerebral palsy, traumatic and acquired brain injury, and neuromuscular disorders were once deemed in many cases to be 'static,' 'degenerative,” and 'incurable.' We are developing, implementing and evaluating new approaches to change the trajectory of these disorders and childrens’ lives."
Improving therapies and outcomes for children with disabilities
What therapies work best for children with cerebral palsy, brain injury and stroke?
Sharon Landesman Ramey focuses on three major areas of human development: the contribution of early experience, from prior to conception through the prenatal and early postnatal periods, to later health, social-emotional, and intellectual development (including the fields of behavioral teratology and early intervention research); the development and testing of highly promising treatments for children with disabilities and at-risk conditions; and how to improve the provision of health, education, and social services and strengthen natural community supports, to benefit children and families—the intersection between the new field of implementation science and public policy/public opinion.
Landesman Ramey also has a longstanding interest in improving the rigor of social science tools. She has developed new tools to aid in obtaining reliable, valid reports of young children’s subjective appraisals of their families, their schools, and their peers. She’s interested in how these personal experiences (phenomenology) change over time and influence decisions, behavior, and physical, mental, and social health.
Landesman Ramey is co-director of the Neuromotor Research Clinic, a lead principal investigator in the I-ACQUIRE Phase III clinical trial to examine the effectiveness of a pediatric therapy for 240 children nationwide who experienced strokes when they were under four weeks old, and a founder and leader of the first of its kind National Pediatric Rehabilitation Resource Center.
slramey@vtc.vt.edu
540-526-2081
R-2012, Riverside 2
- Research Professor and Distinguished Research Scholar, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
- Research Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Science
- Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, School of Medicine
Luo Y, Hétu S, Lohrenz T, Hula A, Dayan P, Ramey SL, Sonnier-Netto L, Lisinski J, LaConte S, Nolte T, Fonagy P, Rahmani E, Montague PR, Ramey C. (2018). Early childhood investment impacts social decision-making four decades later. Nature Communications 9(1): 4705.
Guardino CM, Hobel CJ, Shalowitz MU, Ramey SL, Dunkel Schetter C, Community Child Health Network. (2018). Psychosocial and demographic predictors of postpartum physical activity. Journal of Behavioral Medicine : 1-12.
Schiariti V, Fowler E, Bradenburg JE, Levey E, McIntyre S, Sukal-Moulton T, Ramey SL, Rose J, Sienko S, Stashinko E, Vogtle L, Feldman RS, Koenig J, On behalf of the AACPDM Cerebral Palsy CDE Workding Groups. (2018). A common data language for clinical research studies: The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine Cerebral Palsy Common Data Elements Version 1.0 recommendations. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology .
Georgetown University
Susan H. Mayer Professor of Child and Family Studies, School of Nursing and Health Studies Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine Director, Center on Health and Education Director, The Science of Effective Early Childhood Education Program
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Founding Director, Civitan International Research Center
Director, The Alabama University Affiliated Program in Developmental Disabilities
Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, Psychology, Pediatrics, Sociology, Nursing, Maternal and Child Health, and Neurobiology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Director, The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center
- University of Washington Seattle: Ph.D. , Developmental Psychology
- New College, Sarasota: B.A. , Psychology and Comparative Physiology
- Timeless Award, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Washington, 2012
- Scholar of the Week, Virginia Tech, 2012
- Research Achievement Award, Georgetown University Medical Center, 2008
- University of Washington Distinguished Alumna Award, Natural Sciences, 2007
- Distinguished Research Contributions to Public Policy, Society for Research in Child Development, 2007
- National Award for Contributions to the Field of Early Literacy, Scholastic Education and WETA, 2006
- Children’s Advocate Award, Individual Professional Contributions, 2002
- Foundation Fellow, Civitan International Research Center for Extraordinary Contributions in Leadership and Community Service, 2001
- Fellow, Association of Psychological Science, 2000
- "Best of" The Parent's Journal Public Radio Series for "Your Baby's Brain Development* interview, 2000
- Howell Heflin Award for Statesmanship and Contributions in World Health and Education, 2000
- Gold Award, National Parenting Publications Awards, Right from birth: Building your child’s foundation for life, 1999
- Gold Award, National Parenting Publication Awards, Going to school: How to help your child succeed, 1999
- American Association on Mental Retardation Research Award, 1999
- Pastor Distinguished Lecturer, Children's Hospital of Buffalo, NY, 1999
- American Association on Mental Retardation Distinguished Research Award, 1999
- Fellow, International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities, 1996
- Theodore Tjossem Memorial Lecture, University of Washington, 1994
- Fellow, American Association on Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, 1990
- Award of Excellence for Highest Achievement in Research in the Field of Developmental Disabilities, National Association of Public Services, 1987
- Fellow, American Psychological Association, 1985
- NICHD Research Career Development Award, 1980–1985
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Article ItemMoving forward: Neuroscientist explores movement, rehabilitation in public lecture , article
Motor learning expert and National Academy of Sciences member Amy Bastian will deliver the next Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture on Nov. 2 at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute.
Date: Oct 27, 2023 -
Article ItemFralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC: Growth of an innovator , article
Since its founding in 2010, the research institute has become a focal point for biomedical research across Virginia Tech. It now has more than 450 faculty, staff, and students in Roanoke and Washington, D.C., supporting research fueled by $173.7 million in external grants.
Date: Aug 29, 2023 -
Article ItemTherapy framework reveals promise for intensive pediatric rehabilitation for children with motor disabilities , article
Virginia Tech researchers with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC have demonstrated that children with a wide range of diagnoses that affect their motor function improve after receiving intensive pediatric rehabilitation called ACQUIRE Therapy.
Date: Jun 16, 2023 -
Article ItemResearchers associate early life stress with pro-inflammatory processes later in life during pregnancy , article
Women who experienced high stress during childhood and adolescence may be preset for inflammation during pregnancy, according to Sharon Landesman Ramey of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.
Date: Mar 28, 2023 -
Article Item‘The right place’: Sisters with rare disorder find help , article
Sisters with a very rare genetic mutation that affects brain development are benefitting from a form of intensive therapy being studied at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Neuromotor Research Clinic.
Date: Feb 03, 2023 -
Article ItemFralin Biomedical Research Institute occupational therapists train colleagues, treat children in Morocco clinic , article
Kelsey Burke and Megan Price, occupational therapists in the Neuromotor Research Clinic at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, took a personal volunteer trip to Morocco with a humanitarian group last year. They educated therapists and parents in pediatric therapy techniques.
Date: Mar 02, 2022 -
Article ItemRare disease research gives families hope, ‘vital’ to advancing medicine , article
Rare diseases afflict 300 million people worldwide. Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC researchers are bridging a gap in scientific knowledge by studying some of the diseases that together add up to a formidable public health challenge. Feb. 28 marks the 14th international Rare Disease Day.
Date: Feb 28, 2022 -
Article ItemLarge doses of intensive therapy better for children with cerebral palsy, Virginia Tech scientists, partners find , article
The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, shows that higher doses of Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy – 20 three-hour sessions over four weeks – yield significant and lasting improvement in use of their arms and hands, especially in everyday functional activities.
Date: Oct 14, 2021 -
Article ItemScientists say active early learning shapes the adult brain , article
Through the Abecedarian Project, an early education, randomized controlled trial that has followed children since 1971, Virginia Tech researchers, including Craig Ramey, Sharon Landesman Ramey, and Read Montague, revealed new discoveries about brain structure that have continued through decades.
Date: May 31, 2021 -
Article ItemMaternal stress may disrupt children’s health, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, UCLA researchers find , article
Unmanaged, prenatal stress can adversely affect children’s lives, potentially heightening the likelihood of disease later in life, according to researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Institute at VTC and the University of California at Los Angeles.
Date: Feb 24, 2021 -
Article ItemFralin Biomedical Research Institute graduate student awarded NIH Fellowship to examine balance, walking in children with cerebral palsy , article
Hassan Farah, a Virginia Tech translational biology, medicine, and health graduate student, has been awarded a $98,000 National Institutes of Health grant that will fund his remaining predoctoral research. Farah is studying the limb biomechanics, joint movements, and loading in children with cerebral palsy.
Date: Feb 01, 2021 -
Article ItemFralin Biomedical Research Institute, partners pioneer nation’s first pediatric rehabilitation resource center , article
Research partners across three institutions are opening the nation’s first and only resource center, known as C-PROGRESS, dedicated to promoting clinical trials research in the rapidly expanding field of pediatric rehabilitation.
Date: Jul 21, 2020 -
Article ItemVirginia Tech faculty receive top honors from the American Association for the Advancement of Science , article
Elected by their peers and representing a broad range of AAAS “sections,” including statistics, neuroscience, engineering, psychology, and geology/geography, the Virginia Tech professors are among 443 newly elected scholars.
Date: Nov 26, 2019 -
Article ItemNation’s first clinical trial for rehabilitating infant stroke victims to begin , article
Called I-ACQUIRE, the Phase III clinic trial will examine the effectiveness of a pediatric therapy to increase upper extremity skills, gross motor development, and cognition in 240 children nationwide who experienced strokes when they were under 4 weeks old.
Date: Mar 25, 2019 -
Article ItemVTC School of Medicine names Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Stephanie DeLuca as 2019 Outstanding Research Mentor , article
DeLuca, a developmental psychologist who also holds faculty appointments in the VTCSOM and the Virginia Tech College of Science, has been a Fralin Biomedical Research Institute faculty member for six years. She develops neurorehabilitation treatment techniques for both children and adults.
Date: Mar 05, 2019 -
Article ItemVTCRI researchers find positive effects of early education intervention four decades later , article
New research published in Nature Communications, led by Read Montague, of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, suggests that participants who received educational interventions in early childhood show positive effects on social decision-making more than four decades later.
Date: Nov 20, 2018 -
Article ItemVTCRI researcher, VTCSOM student team up to teach innovative treatment to Vietnamese therapists , article
The therapy is based on studies of the effects of prolonged disuse by parts of the brain that may occur as a result of cerebral palsy or after stroke.
Date: Jun 06, 2018 -
Article ItemVTCRI researchers join forces to improve life for children with genetic disorder , article
The accomplishments of three girls who received intensive therapy based on innovative pediatric neurorehabilitation research at the VTCRI have been documented in a report published in BMC Research Notes.
Date: Mar 22, 2018 -
Article ItemVirginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists: high-quality, early childhood education has significant benefits , article
Children given high-quality education at an early age – starting at 6 weeks old and continuing through their first five years of life – are more likely to be employed full-time and have better relationships with their parents as adults, according to new results from a longitudinal study now entering its fifth decade.
Date: Apr 21, 2017 -
Article ItemBrain Awareness Week will highlight the wonders of nature's most remarkable machine , article
Imagine a portable supercomputer that requires only the wattage of a dim lightbulb to run and yet can decode ancient languages, invent fictional worlds, and distinguish friend from foe. The Virginia Tech community will be celebrating that supercomputer – the human brain – during Brain Awareness Week, which begins March 11.
Date: Mar 01, 2013
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