Message from the Chair

Welcome to the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine’s newly designed website.  The University of Miami is an exciting institution that is growing in many areas of medicine including Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.  Our department has a first class faculty that is dedicated to teaching and providing excellent patient care.

As some of you may know, I was recruited last year from the University of Washington to chair the department.  It is an exciting opportunity for me to build a new department and help it flourish and succeed.  One of my top priorities is to create an environment where the residents can flourish along with the faculty and one day see the whole program become the best in the Southeast.

We have a three-year PM&R residency program that is growing from residents per year to six residents per year.  In addition, we have two spinal cord injury medicine fellows in our fellowship program.  We are proud of all of our trainees.  Our major teaching hospital is Jackson Memorial Hospital the only Level 1 Trauma Hospital in Miami-Dade County.  Last year (2006) we admitted 185 patients with spinal cord injury or disease, 90 with traumatic brain injury, 650 with other comprehensive disorders, and 90 children and adolescents with disabilities due to injury or illness.

Our out-patient clinics cover all the various subspecialities as described later in this website.  We continue to expand our outpatient practice.  Since I joined UM, I have added new faculty and plan to continue to grow.

Our research is focusing on four major areas (see Research):  spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, musculoskeltal disorders, and multiple sclerosis.  Our residents are active participants in research during their training.

This is an exciting era for the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and we promise to continue providing excellent patient/family care, training, and research.

Diana D. Cardenas, M.D.,MHA
Professor and Chair