James E. Gordon, Ed.D., P.T.

Co-Principal Investigator: James E. Gordon, Ed.D., PT joined the faculty at USC in the capacity of Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy in July, 2000. Dr. Gordon has a distinguished career in research and education in Physical Therapy. Dr. Gordon received his B.S. degree from SUNY Downstate Medical Center, his MA and Ed.M. in movement science from Teachers College, Columbia, New York and his Ed.D. from the same institution. Prior to receiving his Ed.D., Dr Gordon was coordinator for the Master’s degree program in motor learning for Teacher’s College, Columbia. Following doctoral training he was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University, New York in the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior. After postdoctoral training, he assumed the position of Research Scientist, Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, and NYS Psychiatric Institute. Following this and for four years he was Assistant Professor, Program in Physical Therapy, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York. Prior to his arrival at USC and for five years, he was Professor of Practice and Program Director, Program in Physical Therapy, Graduate School of Health Sciences, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY.

Dr. Gordon’s research contributions are numerous and significant (see Biosketch). While at Columbia University and working with Dr. Claude Ghez, he was the lead investigator in three major research projects that each made significant contributions to our understanding of motor control. The aspect of Dr. Gordon’s expertise that has particular significance for this training proposal is his interest in helping students and clinicians to make connections between research and clinical practice. His appreciation for the need to bridge the gap between the laboratory and the clinic in biokinesiology-rehabilitation science is captured in several review articles and textbook chapters. We highlight two of these publications. First, in 1987, he published an article called “Assumptions underlying physical therapy intervention: Theoretical and historical perspectives” in a textbook called Movement Science. This article has often been cited in the rehabilitation literature and it is widely used in physical therapy educational programs. It proposes a theoretical basis for evaluating therapeutic approaches to neurological rehabilitation. He recently updated the article for the 2nd edition (Assumptions underlying physical therapy intervention: Theoretical and historical perspectives. In J.H. Carr & R.B. Shepherd, Eds., Movement science: Foundations for physical therapy in rehabilitation, 2nd edition. 2000, Aspen Publishers, Rockville, MD.)

Second, since he gave three of the motor systems lectures in Columbia medical school’s Neural Science course from 1984 to 1995, he was asked by Kandel, Schwartz, and Jessell to write two chapters in the third edition (1991) of Principles of Neural Science, covering muscle receptors and spinal reflexes. This textbook is highly regarded and widely used in neural science courses; the editors are members of the faculty at Columbia. Indeed, Eric Kandel won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine last year for his fundamental work in the cellular and molecular basis of learning and memory. Dr. Gordon recently revised these two chapters with Keir Pearson, Ph.D. The new chapters appear in the fourth edition of the textbook, published two years ago (Kandel et al., 2000).