Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences
Department of Speech-Language Pathology
NSU PT Professor Receives Excellence in Research Award
Alicia Fernandez-Fernandez, D.P.T., Ph.D., PT, CNT, a professor in NSU’s Physical Therapy Department, was recognized with the National Association of Neonatal Therapists (NANT) Excellence in Research Award at the NANT conference in April 2023.
This annual award was created to honor neonatal occupational therapists, physical therapists, or speech-language pathologists who tirelessly contribute to quality research in the specialized field of neonatal therapy. Fernandez-Fernandez maintains clinical practice in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) since 2003, and she holds a neonatal therapist certification (Certified Neonatal Therapist), which recognizes the neonatal therapy expertise, education, and knowledge needed to effectively serve high-risk infants and families in the NICU.
She is also a Neonatal Developmental Care Specialist. She serves as a board member of the Neonatal Therapy Certification Board since 2014, and is the exam liaison for neonatal therapy certification, responsible for the training of item writers, and development, deployment, and outcome analysis of the international certification exam.
Additionally, she participates in development, deployment, and outcome evaluation of the neonatal therapy practice analysis, leading to multiple publications that explore ongoing trends in this clinical area of practice. She has presented at national and international conferences on various neonatal therapy topics including neonatal referral patterns, safe sleep protocols, and neonatal certification.
She has also contributed to the Spanish translation of the first and second editions of the SENSE program, which provides education to engage families in providing developmentally appropriate positive sensory exposures to optimize outcomes for their infants.
At NSU, Fernandez-Fernandez collaborates with Raquel Garcia, S.L.P., CCC-SLP, CNT, BCS-S, an associate professor in NSU’s Speech-Language Pathology Department, and Daphna Barbeau, M.D., medical director of Neonatal Neurodevelopment at Envision Health and HCA (Hospital Corporation of America) Florida University Hospital, in the Tiny Tots Transition to Home program, a weekly education program series which is offered to caregivers of infants in the NICU at HCA Florida University Hospital with the goal of improving caregiver-child attachment and reducing caregiver stress.
The program is funded by an NSU Quality of Life grant and involves the collaboration of multiple departments at NSU.
