Michelle A Meade

I am a Rehabilitation Psychologist and a Professor with tenure in the University of Michigan (U-M) Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) and Family Medicine. I am also the founding Director of the U-M Center for Disability Health and Wellness (U-M CDHW), an interdisciplinary Center within the Department of PMR, which focused around conducting innovative research, educational and clinical activities in order to ensure that all people - especially individuals with disabilities - have access to safe, relevant, and high quality healthcare.

The Mission of U-M CDHW is to develop and apply innovative research, clinical, and educational strategies to address inequities in healthcare access, quality, and outcomes experienced by individuals with physical, sensory and developmental disabilities across the lifespan. Our Vision is of working in partnership with members of the disability community to ensure that all people, regardless of type or severity of disability, have full access to quality health care and to wellness activities personalized to their background, strengths and needs.

My personal focus is on enhancing health and participation, and reducing healthcare disparities and costs, among adults aging with physical disabilities through (1) identification of modifiable factors; (2) development and validation of culturally relevant interventions; and (3) implementation of (tailored) dissemination and knowledge translation strategies.

I have been working to identify and address health and healthcare disparities for adults with physical disabilities for over 15 years, leading and collaborating on numerous observational and interventional studies around the topic. I am currently the Principal Investigator and Director on three center grants funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), within the Administration on Community Living, which are focused on enhancing the health and wellbeing of individuals with physical disabilities: the AHEAD-DC RRTC, the MI-SCIMS, and a new RRTC on Health, Aging, and Physical Disability (RAPiD), a collaboration with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).

Through the Investigating Disability Factors and Promoting Environmental Access for Healthy Living Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (IDEAL RRTC), which was completed in 2024, we explored the interactions of personal and environmental factors on healthy aging for adults with long-term physical disabilities. We have not only found higher rates of chronic and secondary health conditions among adults with long-term physical disabilities but also identified the importance of social determinants of health and related environmental factors on health outcomes.
We are building on this work with the RAPiD, our new RRTC with Dr. James Krause at MUSC, to better understand the relationship between age-related outcome and specific characteristics of various physical disabilities and to an intervention to enhance the transition to older adulthood.

The Advancing Health Equity for Adults with Disabilities from Diverse Communities (AHEAD-DC) RRTC began in 2022 and expands our focus to adults with physical, cognitive, sensory, and developmental disabilities from marginalized communities, layering on a recognition of intersectional identities on all research, training and knowledge translation. While serving as the Director and the PI with Dr. Michael McKee and the lead for the National Resoruce Center, I direct the research projects to develop a Disability Dashboard and to Develop a Systems-level invervention to Improve how healthcare systems serve individuals with disabilities.

Finally, the Michigan Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (MI-SCIMS) is designed to enhance the health and reduce secondary conditions among individuals with SCI with a particular focus on racial minorities and those from underserved communities.