Gaskins, Erica, Byrne, DPT

My long-term research goal is to develop a more complete model of the relationships between cognition and communication across the lifespan. Better understanding the relationships between communication and cognition is critical to the development of more effective treatments for high-level communication problems experienced by many men and women with neurologic communication disorders. Toward this goal, I am interested in better understanding how cognitive deficits translate into communication disorders after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and how communication outcomes may change across the lifespan.

I serve as a vestibular physical therapist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a native of Saratoga Springs, New York, I have served in a variety of clinical settings in Colorado, North Carolina, and Florida focusing on acute and subacute neurological impairments, and I am primarily passionate about vestibular rehabilitation and craniofacial pain. At UNC, I participate in the long-COVID multidisciplinary team and I have worked most recently to develop the vestibular rehab portion of UNCs Transforming Health and Resilience in Veterans (THRIVE) Program, a multidisciplinary team for veterans suffering from mild traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).