Jason R. Falvey, DPT, PhD

Dual B.S, English and Kinesiology, Husson University, Bangor, Maine 

Doctor of Physical Therapy, Husson University, Bangor, Maine 

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 

Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Epidemiology of Aging, Yale School of Medicine

Dr. Falvey is a board-certified geriatric physical therapist and clinician-scientist dedicated to improving aging in place for older adults living with new disability.  Dr. Falvey received both a dual bachelors degree in English Literature and Kinesiology and his DPT degree from Husson University in his home state of Maine, a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences from the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, and he subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Epidemiology of Aging at the Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Falvey is also the director of The ENhancing Rehabilitation to Improve Community Health (ENRICH) lab, which aims to reduce participation and mobility inequities among older adults. This work is conducted under the umbrella of the Center for Disability Justice, a new research initiative funded in summer of 2024. 

Dr. Falvey’s published scholarship and grant funding has focused on improving functional outcomes and quality of life for older adults recovering after hospitalization. The overall focus of Dr. Falvey's work is to reduce disability-related health disparities among older adults.

Dr. Falvey is the second physical therapist ever to be awarded a $1.1 million Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders in Aging Career Developement Award (K76) from the National Institute on Aging, which supports a large scale initiative focused on understanding and address neighborhood-level barriers to community mobility among older adults recovering from fall-related traumatic injuries like hip fracture. He uses quantitative epidemiological and health services research methods, qualitative methods, and community-participatory approaches to address research questions important to the Baltimore community and more broadly older adults and their caregivers. 

Dr. Falvey is also the co-principal investigator with Dr. Jasmine Travers (NYU) on a 5 year R01 to evaluate neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and the resultant impact on nursing home staffing and resident outcomes for those living with dementia. Dr. Falvey is also a co-investigator on additional studies funded by NIA, NHLBI and PCORI evaluating post-acute care use, care transitions, and patient-centered outcomes for older adults. 

Dr. Falvey also is an active member of the APTA, and serves on multiple committees evaluating how to demonstrate value of post-acute rehabilitation care on patient outcomes following acute hospitalization. He is 1 of 13 appointed members of the APTA Public Policy and Advocacy Committee, and is a standing member of the Post-Acute Care Workgroup. He is also co-lead of the National Value in PT Workgroup of the APTA. 

At UMB, Dr. Falvey serves on the Steering Committee for the PATIENTS program, helping support initiatives for engaging the community as partners in research. He additionally is involved in the Epidemiology of Aging T32 program as a mentor and co-directs the Baltimore Hip Studies Program--a research collaboration focused on fall-related injury epidemiology and recovery for older adults. 

Rehabilitation epidemiology, rehabilitation health services research, home health care, disability, older adults

Selected First and Senior Author Publications (of 76 total)

Travers JL, Hade EM, Friedman S, Raval A, Hadson K, Falvey JR. Staffing and Antipsychotic Medication Use in Nursing Homes and Neighborhood Deprivation. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(4):e248322. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.8322

Falvey JR, Hajduk AM, Keys CR, Chaudhry SI. Association of Financial Strain With Mortality Among Older US Adults Recovering From an Acute Myocardial Infarction. JAMA Intern Med. 2022;182(4):445–448. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.8569

Falvey, JR, Murphy, TE, Leo-Summers, L, Gill, TM, and Ferrante, LE. Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Disability after Critical Illness. Critical Care Medicine, 2021.

Falvey, JR, Cohen, AB, O’Leary, JO, Leo-Summers, L, Murphy, TE, & Ferrante, LE. Associations of Social Isolation with Disability Burden and 1-year Mortality among Critically Ill Older Adults. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2021. 

Falvey, JR, Hade, EM, Friedman, S, et al. Severe neighborhood deprivation and nursing home staffing in the United States. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2022; 1- 9. doi:10.1111/jgs.17990

Albrecht JS, Kumar A, Falvey JR. Association Between Race and Receipt of Home- and Community-Based Rehabilitation After Traumatic Brain Injury Among Older Medicare Beneficiaries. JAMA Surg. Published online January 25, 2023. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2022.7081

Gimie AM, Melgar Castillo AI, Mullins CD, Falvey JR. Epidemiology of public transportation use among older adults in the United States. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2022 Dec;70(12):3549-3559. doi: 10.1111/jgs.18055. Epub 2022 Sep 22. PMID: 36137460; PMCID: PMC9771957.