Dorothy Farrar Edwards

About

Dorothy Farrar Edwards is a Professor in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, with appointments in the Departments of Medicine and Neurology at the School of Medicine and Public Health. She holds a PhD in Experimental Psychology from Washington University (1980) and a BA in Psychology from Loyola University (1972). Her research focuses on neurocognitive performance, stroke rehabilitation, health disparities, and community-based interventions, particularly among underserved populations. She has contributed to understanding neurocognitive outcomes after stroke, recruitment strategies for clinical studies involving diverse populations, and interventions aimed at reducing barriers to stroke treatment and dementia care in African American communities.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychology
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Psychiatry
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation
• Neuroscience
• Physical therapy
• Social psychology
• Clinical psychology

Selected publications

• Critical Period After Stroke Study (CPASS): A phase II clinical trial testing an optimal time for motor recovery after stroke in humans

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2021 · 254 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  = 0.29). Thus task-specific motor intervention was most effective within the first 2 to 3 mo after stroke. The similarity to rodent model treatment outcomes suggests that other rodent findings may be translatable to human brain recovery. These results provide empirical evidence of a sensitive period for motor recovery in humans.

  DOI

• Making Functional Cognition a Professional Priority

  American Journal of Occupational Therapy · 2020 · 86 citations

  Functional cognition is a critical domain of concern for occupational therapy practice. As the health care system moves to assessing value through achievement of quality outcomes, the field of occupational therapy must address the inclusion of functional cognition in evaluation and treatment. Evidence indicates that impaired cognition contributes to risk of hospital readmission and poor overall health outcomes across diagnostic groups. Moreover, expenditure on occupational therapy services that…

  DOI

• “There’s not much we can do…” researcher-level barriers to the inclusion of underrepresented participants in translational research

  Journal of Clinical and Translational Science · 2021 · 53 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  INTRODUCTION: The lack of diversity in health research participation has serious consequences for science as well as ethics. While there is growing interest in solving the problem, much of the work to date focuses on attitudes of distrust among members of underrepresented communities. However, there is also a pressing need to understand existing barriers within the cultural and structural context of researchers and research staff. METHODS: This study adopted a sequential exploratory mixed-method…

  DOI

• Functional Cognition: Moving the Field Forward

  OTJR Occupational Therapy Journal of Research · 2024-11-14 · 11 citations

  review

  The concept of functional cognition has been variously defined, but at its core relates to how cognitive and performance abilities are integrated and used in everyday life. Functional cognition is a fundamental element of occupational performance, and functional cognitive assessment and intervention are central to how occupational therapy can improve client outcomes. Attendees at a conference convened by the American Occupational Therapy Foundation identified areas where the construct of functio…

  PublisherDOI

• Comparison of sample characteristics of Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center participants with the Wisconsin state population—An evaluation of the recruitment effort

  Alzheimer s & Dementia Translational Research & Clinical Interventions · 2025-01-01 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  INTRODUCTION: Understanding how a research sample compares to the population from which it is drawn can help inform future recruitment planning. We compared the Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (WADRC) participant sample to the Wisconsin state population (WI-pop) on key demographic, social exposome, and vascular risk measures. METHODS: The WADRC sample included 930 participants. Population statistics were estimated using several national and state data sources. We compared WADRC to…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Core C - Data Management and Statistical Core

  NIH · $55.0M · 2019–2029

• NIH Grant P50AG005681

  NIH · $115.9M · 2021

• NIH Grant U54NS057405

  NIH · $12.0M · 2013

Frequent coauthors

• Chelsea S. Kidwell

  438 shared

• Jeffrey J. Wing

  Johannesburg Hospital

  421 shared

• M. Chris Gibbons

  Johns Hopkins University

  328 shared

• Nawar Shara

  MedStar Health

  325 shared

• Stephen Fernandez

  268 shared

• Amie W. Hsia

  MedStar Health

  235 shared

• Lewis B. Morgenstern

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  232 shared

• Bernadette Boden‐Albala

  University of California, Irvine

  186 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Kinesiology

  University of Wisconsin-Madison

  1990

• M.S., Kinesiology

  University of Wisconsin-Madison

  1985

• B.S., Kinesiology

  University of Wisconsin-Madison

  1983

Similar researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Dane Cookh-60
• David Bellh-53
• Lisa Bertramh-29