Rate My Professor Diane Allen

Dr. Allen's research centers on neurorehabilitation, patient-reported outcomes, and measurement methods including item response theory. She developed the Movement Ability Measure (MAM) to capture patients' perceived changes in movement abilities post-therapy. Key investigations include balance and gait enhancements in multiple sclerosis via sensory augmentation such as Balance-Based Torso-Weighting, and balance loss patterns in Parkinson's disease and MS. As co-PI, she led an NIH NICHD R15-funded study on somatosensory intervention mechanisms in MS and a PCORI pilot grant project, "Mind the Gap," analyzing discrepancies between patient and clinician perceptions of abilities. Her publications encompass over 20 peer-reviewed articles, such as "Patterns of balance loss with systematic perturbations in Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis" (NeuroRehabilitation, 2021), "Association of Continuous Assessment of Step Count by Remote Monitoring With Disability Progression Among Adults With Multiple Sclerosis" (JAMA Network Open, 2019), "Variability in postural control with and without balance-based torso-weighting in people with multiple sclerosis and healthy controls" (Physical Therapy, 2014), and contributions to textbooks on muscle tone, balance and falls, and neuromuscular diseases. She has instructed in Doctor of Physical Therapy programs, neuroresidency training, and provided statistical consultation resulting in student-led meta-analyses published in peer-reviewed journals.