Body
Roberto López-Rosado is a physical therapist, student, researcher, and educator – and above all, a lifelong learner. His career has been nothing if not unconventional.
López-Rosado, PT, DPT, is currently a fourth-year PhD student in Northwestern University’s Health Sciences Integrated PhD Program. For the past 14 years, he has also served as the lead anatomist for Northwestern’s master of prosthetics and orthotics program, and in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation.
López-Rosado’s academic journey began in Puerto Rico, where he earned an undergraduate degree in biology and enrolled in medical school. “I loved anatomy—it was always my favorite subject,” he recalls. But about two years into medical training, he realized the traditional path of medicine wasn’t his calling. After taking a break to reflect, he chose to immerse himself fully in anatomy.
What followed was a 26-year teaching career in anatomy, beginning in Puerto Rico and continuing through New York City and Florida, eventually landing him at Northwestern University. Along the way, he earned both a master’s degree in anatomy and doctorate in physical therapy.
Now, under the mentorship of Allen Heinemann, PhD, director of the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research (CROR) at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Northwestern, López-Rosado is working on a dissertation that examines mobility outcomes among older adults with spinal cord injuries who are Medicare beneficiaries.
"Roberto is very interested in understanding how social factors, such as limited health literacy or living alone, affect patients' mobility outcomes,” says Anne Deutsch, RN, PhD, a research scientist in CROR and one of López-Rosado’s dissertation advisers. Drawing on the expertise Deutsch, López-Rosado will leverage large-scale Medicare claims data to investigate how social determinants of health as well as facility-level factors like accreditation and geographic location, shape recovery trajectories in this vulnerable population. “I’m a physical therapist by training, so I’m very interested in mobility,” he explains. “But I’m also drawn to the systems and structures that influence outcomes at scale.”
López-Rosado’s collaboration with Heinemann extends beyond his dissertation. He has worked with Heinemann on other several other projects, including one that looked at the use of foot orthoses at a national level. He is now working with Heinemann, together with an international group of researchers on a project examining how inpatient rehabilitation length of stay and intensity affect outcomes for people with spinal cord injury in different countries.
“Roberto brings his unique experience as a physical therapist, anatomist, and clinician educator to an important but under-studied health services problem – how social determinants of health relate to functional improvement during rehabilitation for older adults with spinal cord injuries,” says Heinemann. “
“I chose health services research because of the scale of the impact,” López-Rosado says. “It’s about studying real-world outcomes that affect large populations, and it gives us tools to identify and close gaps in care.” For him, joining the international spinal cord injury study was a turning point. “It’s such a massive project—I didn’t even know work like this existed until I was invited to be part of it.”
While teaching remains a central component of his role at Northwestern, López-Rosado is looking ahead to the next chapter: building a research program that integrates physical therapy, public health, and data science. “My goal is to establish a lab focused on health services and movement equity at the macro level—really diving into big data analysis to understand and improve care delivery systems,” he says. He has already begun forming collaborative networks, particularly with professionals who share his dual background in physical therapy and population health.