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Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research Associate Director, Linda Ehrlich-Jones, PhD, RN, received the Career Development Networking Group Outstanding Mentor Award at the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) Annual Conference in Dallas on October 31, 2024.
The award was established in 2016 to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to mentoring rehabilitation professionals both inside and outside the ACRM and also honors contributions to the Career Development Course and Career Development Networking Group’s Mentoring Task Force.
Dr. Ehrlich-Jones has served as a mentor in the Leadership Development Program through the ACRM Career Development Networking Group. She is the immediate past Chair of the ACRM Measurement Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group, and is current Chair of the ACRM Awards Committee.
Dr. Ehrlich-Jones's mentorship extends beyond ACRM. She has worked with mentees at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Northwestern University and at other colleges and universities.
“Dr. Ehrlich-Jones has been a mentor to me since I joined the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research as a post-doctoral fellow in May, 2022,” says Jacqueline Kish, PhD. “Her expertise in mentoring trainees across approaches like motivational interviewing, and in academic skills like grantsmanship have been invaluable to me as I work on establishing a research career. She is always available to provide useful feedback and is committed to my success.”
"I am fortunate to have had Dr. Ehrlich-Jones as an early career research mentor during a critical time in my journey," says Jen Weaver, PhD, OTR/L, assistant professor of occupational therapy at Colorado State University. "She supported my transition from doctoral student to early career tenure-track faculty mentor and helped me navigate that first year on tenure-track. Importantly, I was able to pitch research ideas, request edits on specific aims pages, and ultimately, two of these awards were funded. Dr. Ehrlich-Jones is generous with her time for mentees, and I hope to pay it forward.”
Dr. Ehrlich-Jones, who is also a Research Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, has been involved in the creation of behavioral interventions using motivational interviewing, targeting persons with chronic illness to increase physical activity and improve diet. She has served as PI and co-I on projects funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), the National Institutes of Health, the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation and other organizations and foundations.
She oversees the Rehabilitation Measures Database, a compendium of summaries of more than 575 instruments that receives about 5 million page views per year. She works with students, educators and professionals around the country to develop summaries and gather and validate psychometric and other data associated with each measure. She collaboratively produces educational resources about the database and delivers trainings and lectures on the database.
Dr. Ehrlich-Jones received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Knox College and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Rush University in Chicago, her Master of Science in Nursing from Loyola University in Chicago, and her PhD in Nursing Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a Fellow of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.