She is currently enrolled in the PhD program in Urban Education at Cleveland State University. Vanina continues to practice clinically. She works with clients who have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neuromuscular diseases and is involved in data collection for multi-center international pharmaceutical trials. She has received two grants that have allowed her to pursue her own clinical research interests. She is currently looking at qualitative and quantitative bulbar changes in individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and has looked at efficacy of electrical stimulation in individuals with myositis.
Issues related to teaching and learning are other areas of interest.
Two of these grants were co-authored with Beth Ekelman Ranke and focused on the development of educational materials that emphasized cultural issues and collaboration between Occupational and Physical Therapy students. In her spare time, Vanina enjoys travelling with her husband Tom and works on renovating their home.