Andrea Baraldi Cunha, PT, PhD

Physical Therapy
Munroe-Meyer Institute
985450 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-5450

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Professional Summary

Andrea Baraldi Cunha, PT, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the UNMC Munroe-Meyer Institute. She has a Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, and PhD in Physical Therapy.  She conducted post-doctoral research in the Move 2 Learn Innovation Lab at the University of Delaware. Her life is dedicated to pediatric physical therapy, which she has experience in clinical teaching, as a researcher and a clinician (experience in pediatric clinic, school and hippotherapy centers). Dr. Cunha is passionate about designing and assessing play interventions to advance development for infants and children with or at risk for motor delays. She is also interested in how caregiver practices can improve delevopment, and to test ad design low-cost technologies using a user-centered design approach.

Specialty Certifications

• Pediatric Rehabilitation
• Active Teaching and Learning Methodologies
• Hippotherapy, Manual Therapy and Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT)

Education

• BS in Physical Therapy, Methodist University of Piracicaba, SP, Brazil, 2005
• MS in Physical Therapy, Federal University of Sao Carlos, SP, Brazil, 2011
• PhD in Physical Therapy, Federal University of Sao Carlos, SP, Brazil, 2014
• Postdoctoral Research, University of Delaware, Newark, DE

Teaching Interests

• Pediatric Physical Therapy
• Research methods and basic statistics
• Practice-based evidence

Publications from PubMed

Special Interests & Projects

• To investigate of the role of perceptual-motor experiences in typically developing infants and infants at risk for motor delays and relationship with cognitive outcomes.
• To evaluate cultural aspects of parental practices and parent-child-interactions in early infancy.
• To design and assess early, effective and play interventions and rehabilitation devices to advance development for infants and children with or at risk for motor delays.

Professional Affiliations

• Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy (APTA) Pediatrics Partners Program
• American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM)
• International Society for Infant Studies (ICIS)
• International Motor Development Research Consortium (IMDRC)

Awards

• Toby Long Award the best paper published, “A Novel Means-End Problem-Solving Assessment Tool for Early Intervention: Evaluation of Validity, Reliability, and Sensitivity”, in Pediatric Physical Therapy journal in 2021.
• Scholarship for Research Studies abroad – PhD, Sao Paulo Foundation for Research Support (FAPESP), Brazil (Award #: 2012/05684-2)
• PhD Fellowship award, FAPESP, Brazil (Award #: 2011/01543-2)
• Master Fellowship award, FAPESP, Brazil (Award #: 2009/13631-3)