Division of Physical Therapy to host inaugural Sudha Agrawal Memorial Endowment Lecture/Symposium on April 14

April 12, 2021

The College of Health Sciences and Professions' Division of Physical Therapy is hosting the inaugural Sudha Agrawal Memorial Endowment Lecture/Symposium on Wednesday, April 14 at 4 p.m.

The event will be hosted virtually via Zoom and will feature a keynote lecture by Adriaan Louw, PT, Ph.D, an adjunct faculty member at St. Ambrose University and the University of Nevada Las Vegas, teaching pain science, entitled: "Know Pain, Know Gain – Tackling the Pain and Opioid Epidemic." 

Sudha Agrawal received her MPT from Ohio University in 1998.

The event is made possible through the Sudha Agrawal Memorial Endowment, which was established in memory of Sudha Agrawal (1956-2016) through a generous gift from her family and friends for the benefit of the Division of Physical Therapy. The endowment serves as Agrawal's legacy to the students and faculty of the Division of Physical Therapy at Ohio University through the funds it provides to the Division of Physical Therapy to invite annually one or more prominent researcher(s) or practitioner(s) in the field as guest speaker(s) to organize lectures, symposia, workshops, seminars, or colloquia for the benefit of research and professional development of faculty and students. 

About the keynote: 
To truly impact pain, especially persistent pain, we need interventions that are effective, can be used by all healthcare providers, important to patients, widely available and cheap. Pain neuroscience education, an emerging evidence-based approach teaching people more about the underlying biology and physiology of a human pain experience, is gaining popularity by scientists, clinicians, and patients. A growing body of evidence is showing its ability to positively influence pain, disability, fear-avoidance, pain catastrophizing, limited movement, healthcare cost and utilization of imaging, surgery, and medication use. This lecture will showcase how pain neuroscience education has catapulted safe, effective non-pharmacological treatments for people in pain. 

About the Speaker: Adriaan Louw, PT, Ph.D.
Adriaan earned his undergraduate, master’s degree and Ph.D. in physiotherapy from the University of Stellenbosch in Cape Town, South Africa. He is an adjunct faculty member at St. Ambrose University and the University of Nevada Las Vegas, teaching pain science. Adriaan has taught throughout the US and internationally for 25 years at numerous national and international manual therapy, pain science and medical conferences. He has authored and co-authored over 80 peer-reviewed articles related to spinal disorders and pain science. Adriaan completed his Ph.D. in pain neuroscience education and is the Director of the Therapeutic Neuroscience Research Group – an independent collaborative initiative studying pain neuroscience. Adriaan is a senior faculty, pain science director and vice-president of faculty experience for Evidence in Motion. 

Learn more about the Sudha Agrawal Memorial Endowment: Alumni/Donor Spotlight | Ohio University