Anjana Bhat, MS PT, PhD

Anjana Bhat is a leading Pediatric Physical Therapy researcher who's work showed that motor skill deficits can be seen, and can assist with diagnosis of Autism in infancy. Anjana is currently a professor at the University of Delaware in Newark. She is working under the department of Physical therapy as both a educator, teaching Neurology and Physical therapy is pediatrics since 2015, and a researcher.https://www.udel.edu/academics/colleges/chs/departments/pt/faculty/anjana-bhat/ 
==Schooling==
Anjana Bhat received her Bachelor's in Physical Therapy from Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College in 1993. After receiving her BS, she continued at LTM Medical College to receive a Masters in Physical Therapy with a Specialization in pediatric neurology in 1999. It was in 2005 when Anjana decided to move to the United states to further her education. At this time, she attended the University of Delaware to obtain her PhD in Biomechanics and Movement Sciences. Finally, Bhat decided to take her passions one step further and receive her post-doctorate fellowship from John Hopkins School of medicine. She focused on Autism Related Disorders through the Kennedy Krieger Institute. In an interview through University of Delaware Research Magazine, Bhat describes it was during her Post-Doctorate that she began advocating for treatment of motor impairments for children with Autism. She states that although the primary focus of social and communication difficulties within the population are important, treatment of motor impairments can also lead to improved Quality of Life outcome measures.https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2020/january/Anjana-Bhat-moving-forward-with-autism/?utm_source=UDaily%20Subscribers&utm_campaign=0425f40e70-UDaily_News_Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0b5034716d-0425f40e70-177538489&fbclid=IwAR14tusR27GLpFoPZtwqP_NCTP_ZXjABw-2hQpQpYPMr3i18wQOp13aLek0
==Research==
As stated previously, Bhat's research focused on the development and treatment of motor related impairments within the population of autism. Today, her research focuses on using creative movement to promote improvements in both motor and social communication skills with children.
Bhat runs a research labs through the University of Delaware called Move 2 Learn Innovation lab.https://sites.udel.edu/move2learn/current-projects/ Through this lab, her research focuses on incorporating play to encourage learning and development with an emphasis on family education. The main goal of her initiatives are to promote family involvement in the development of social and motor skills for children with Autism, and she aims to include families in decision making as well as treatments to enhance children's overall outcomes. 
She is currently involved in two projects through her Move 2 learn Lab, Baby Play project and Smart Garments. Baby Play is a program that educates parents and families on the effects of play to promote development. Smart Garments is a collaborative initiative with the University of Minnesota and Virginia Tech University. The project involves the creation of exoskeletal garments that provide arm support for users with movement impairments. 
Bhat has been involved in 113 publications, with a primary focus on Pediatric Development and physical therapy interventions for the Autistic population.https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ICl-Tm0AAAAJ&hl=en Her H-Index is 31, and she has been cited a total of 4,588 times.
Anjana Bhat is one of the leading female pediatric physical therapy researchers, and her work has greatly impacted the world of Pediatric Development in Children with Autism.
Category:University of Delaware alumni
Category:Researchers
Category:Professors