Associate Professor
Project Co-Director, UAB Spinal Cord Injury Model System

Areas of Interest
Physical Disability, Spinal Cord Injury, Exercise, Adherence, Psychosocial Factors, Telehealth, eHealth, mHealth, Behavior Modification

Biography

Dr. Wilroy received his B.S. degree in Exercise Science, M.A. in Health Studies, and PhD in Health Education and Promotion from the University of Alabama. He completed two post-doctoral fellowships; one-year at Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama and two years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

He began his research career at UA as a master’s student surveying individuals with disabilities about topics of interest for a holistic health website. As a doctoral student he developed and validated a theory-based instrument to predict physical activity among people with spinal cord injury as part of his dissertation and funded with a fellowship through the graduate school. As a post-doc, he obtained a fellowship from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation and developed an online program for increasing physical activity behavior among people with spinal cord injury.

Dr. Wilroy’s research philosophy is to conduct research that centers on the needs of the patient and improves the capacity of clinicians to recommend specific exercise routines. The focus of his research is on the psychosocial aspects of adherence to exercise trials among people with physical disabilities. His current research projects include: a) recruiting PM&R patients into a large randomized controlled trial of a home-based exercise intervention, and b) identifying decisions points for piloting a sequential multiphase assignment randomized trial of an exercise and behavioral coaching intervention for people with physical disabilities.

Education & Training

Ph.D., University of Alabama