Dr. Gary’s Department of Rehabilitation web page

Kelli Williams Gary, Ph.D., MPH, OTR/L, is an assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling at Virginia Commonwealth University. Additionally, she is a licensed adult occupational therapist (OT) with 22 years of clinical experience in the Veteran’s Administration, academic medical centers, freestanding rehabilitation centers and skilled nursing facilities. Dr. Gary has authored/coauthored 23 peer-reviewed journal articles and three book chapters primarily focused on her areas of research interest of racial and ethnic disparities in community and health services outcomes for traumatic brain injury and other disabilities. She has served as a principal investigator (PI) and co-PI of federal and state grant projects related to racial and ethnic disparities, cultural intervention development and research training. She is on the leadership team of the VCU Institute of Inclusion, Inquiry and Innovation (iCubed) Culture, Race, and Health Transdisciplinary Core to design community-engaged research about health disparities in the Crater Health District. As a strong advocate for people with TBI and other disabling conditions, Dr. Gary serves as an appointee on Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs Federal Advisory Committee on Prosthetics and Special-Disabilities Programs (2013-current), and board of directors for Brain Injury Association of Virginia (BIAV; 2014-current).