Denise Tate is a Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Michigan. She is a Psychologist by training with a focus on research and measurement. She directed the Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Model Systems program from the late 90's to 2016 focusing most of her research on SCI and outcomes research. She also directed the Advanced Rehabilitation Research post-doctoral program funded by NIDILRR and the department's T32 award funded by the NIH. She trained and mentored many of the department's faculty as well as other post-doctoral fellows. Dr. Tate served as a study section reviewer and programmatic board member for the US Department of Defense, SCI Research Program; NIH/NCMRR study section and advisory board; CDC advisory board, and AHRQ study section chair for training applications. In 2007, she was invited to become a member of the IOM taskforce on the evaluation of benefits for military personnel with disability. She was a member of the Editorial Board of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and served in the boards of American Spinal Injury Association, American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, and American Psychological Association Division 22. She is currently the platform lead for faculty interested in research collaborations with Brazil part of the Global Reach program.

Dr. Tate's research focuses mostly on spinal cord injury behavioral and quality of life outcomes. More recently, she has conducted studies on patient decision making, and complications of neurogenic bladder and bowel influencing quality of life. Outcomes evaluation that can lead to cross cultural research in SCI has been the focus of additional work on developing a psychological assessment database and validating a quality of life database to use across different countries. Recently, she completed a clinical trial in collaboration with Urology to determine the efficacy of Gentamicin instillations directly into the bladder after SCI to treat recurrent urinary tract infections. Earlier research was on adaptation to life and community participation after traumatic SCI.