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In Memoriam: David B. Gray, PhD, Scientist, Colleague, and Advocate

2015; Elsevier BV; Volume: 96; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.apmr.2015.07.004

1532-821X

Glen W. White, Jessica Dashner,

Cerebral Palsy and Movement Disorders

Our dear friend and colleague, David B. Gray, PhD, passed away on Thursday, February 12, 2015, at the age of 71. In spite of the adversity he faced at the peak of his career, Dr Gray made some lasting contributions to the practice of disability and rehabilitation research and how it is applied to those who would most directly benefit from it. Dr Gray was a pioneer in the field of disability and rehabilitation research and a tireless advocate of the rights of people with disabilities. He was an insightful teacher and wonderful mentor to the students who were fortunate enough to be able to work with him. Dr Gray's original trajectory suggested he would be involved in a career in psychology or other social science field. In 1974, Dr Gray earned his doctor of philosophy degree in psychology and genetics (behavior genetics) from the University of Minnesota. After graduation, he worked as the Director of Behavior Modification at the Mental Retardation Center of the New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York. In 1976, Dr Gray accepted a position at the Rochester Adaptation Center, Rochester, Minnesota, and moved with his wife and three children to Minnesota. The family was building a new home when in July of 1976 a day came that changed his life forever. Dr Gray fell while covering a hole in the roof of the house that was under construction to keep rainwater from leaking through. This event caused a fracture of his C5-6 vertebrae, resulting in spinal cord injury. Dr Gray underwent a year of rehabilitation at Mayo Clinic while adjusting to his new life as a quadriplegic. This seemingly negative experience formed the foundation of a new and innovative career path and paved the way for some significant contributions to an emerging field. Dr Gray blazed a trail of disability research in many ways. He was the first person with a disability to head the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (called the National Institute of Handicapped Research back then, before he helped change the name). He then joined the National Institutes of Health where he helped to establish the National Center for Medical and Rehabilitation Research. He was always the consummate researcher who used science to identify solutions to socially relevant problems and apply the results to improve the lives of people with disabilities. In 1995, he joined academia and worked for 20 years as a professor of occupational therapy and neurology at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. Dr Gray taught classes on disability and social policy, issues of disability in society, research methods for disability research, and assistive technology and gave countless lectures to students in undergraduate and graduate programs. During his time at Washington University, he mentored more than 100 students receiving their master of science degrees in occupational therapy and more than 20 students receiving their doctorate degrees in clinical occupational therapy for their final projects (thesis). In addition to teaching and mentoring, Dr Gray established a community-based research program to investigate the outcome of interventions on the lives of people with disabilities. He supervised a very successful laboratory, later named the Disability and Community Participation Research Office (DACPRO), with a research focus on participation of people with disabilities in the environment. He developed participation outcome measures and empirically tested interventions (such as accessible exercise, personal assistance training, and assistive technology) to improve community participation for people with disabilities. Dr Gray's acquisition of grants was sustained and respectable. These funding opportunities covered various agencies and made significant impacts on the lives of individuals with disabilities. He received funding from agencies such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The receipt of these grants, as viewed by peer reviewers, provides additional confirmation of his understanding and application of research methodology to attack and solve difficult problems that are faced by people with disabilities in their everyday lives. Dr Gray also worked on the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps (Gray DB, Hendershot GE. The ICIDH-2: developments for a new era of outcomes research. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2000:81[Suppl 2]:S10-4.). His input on the International Classification of Function, especially on environment and participation, has truly enhanced this well-known global tool. In his work on the International Classification of Function, Dr Gray has joined other colleagues who are esteemed and distinguished in their respective disciplines. His measures of community participation and environmental facilitators and barriers have been recognized nationally and internationally. The measures developed by Dr Gray include subjective and objective measures of participation and the environment. The most widely used measures include the Participation Survey, the Facilitators and Barriers Survey, the Survey of Participation and Receptivity in Communities, and the Community Health Environment Checklist. Each of these measures has a distinct purpose but share the same underlying theme: measure what people actually do in the environment in which they participate in the activity. Dr Gray believed that the construct of participation extended way beyond the frequency of completing an activity in all his measures. He believed participation includes a combination of frequency (how often), evaluation (importance, choice, control, satisfaction), personal factors (experiencing pain or fatigue), and environmental supports (accessibility/usability, personal assistance, assistive technology). All the measures were developed with direct input from people with disabilities. Dr Gray always strived to “measure what mattered” to people with disabilities. Another significant contribution that originated from Dr Gray's creative vision was the Enabling Mobility Center (EMC). The EMC was a collaborative project between Washington University Program in Occupational Therapy and Paraquad, Independent Living Center in St. Louis. This venture was funded through the “Assistive Technology in the Community” grant by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The original EMC was a community-based facility offering a mobility skills course and assistive technology that people with disabilities could pursue at knowledge and skill levels. Additional funding from the Missouri Foundation for Health expanded the scope of the EMC to include accessible exercise equipment for people with disabilities to use with the goal of improving health and participation. The EMC eventually moved into the Paraquad building, and once the funding period was over, the EMC became the Paraquad Health and Wellness Center and continued to serve hundreds of people with disabilities each year. Dr Gray is survived by his loving wife, Margy; children, David (Alicia Yamamoto), Elizabeth (James Nackley), and Polly (Bill Payne); and grandchildren, James Marley Gray Nackley and Magdalena Nadira Gray Nackley. He was an unbelievably proud husband, father, and grandfather, and nothing put a bigger smile on his face than talking about his family. Dr Gray is tremendously missed for his smile, humor, intellect, great ideas, wisdom, and ability to connect people from all disciplines around the world. The void left behind will never be filled. Those of us who remain are committed to continuing his legacy with help from the momentum he initiated.