Sep 17, 2026
CHP Physical Therapy faculty, Michael Kiefer, awarded NIH Career Development Award to advance pediatric muscle disease research
Michael Kiefer, PT, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Virginia Commonwealth University’s College of Health Professions, has received a five-year K23 Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The grant is designed to protect time and provide mentorship for early-career clinician-scientists to establish independent research programs.
“Dr. Kiefer’s research exemplifies what we strive to develop at VCU, which is someone who brings clinical expertise to important research questions, and who helps us find the best ways to care for our communities,” said Ben Darter, P.T., Ph.D., chair of VCU’s Department of Physical Therapy. “We are incredibly proud to see Dr. Kiefer receive this well-deserved recognition from the NIH for his commitment to advancing pediatric physical therapy and to improving outcomes for children with rare diseases.”
According to Kiefer, who serves as director of the Motor Assessment and Trial Readiness Studies (MATRS) Lab, the funding supports vital work to advance clinical trials for children with congenital myotonic dystrophy. This disease can affect children early in life and is characterized by low muscle tone and difficulty breathing.
“The K23 award provides protected time and mentored training to develop my career as an independent researcher,” Kiefer said. “It allows me to build on my background in pediatric motor assessment to learn new skills in advanced statistics and the use of wearable sensors to measure motor function.”
Kiefer’s research project, titled “Clinical Outcome Assessments in Congenital Myotonic Dystrophy,” focuses on children from birth to 18 years old with congenital myotonic dystrophy type 1 (CDM), a severe condition that is present at birth. Children often have severe weakness, which can lead to difficulty breathing and eating. A lack of clinical outcome assessments presents a challenge to testing potential treatments in children. Kiefer’s work aims to address these challenges by studying whether new measures, including a wearable sensor to monitor activity in the community, can detect changes in function.
“My primary focus is on outcome measure development — how do we measure a child's response to a treatment and design clinical trials in rare disease populations,” Kiefer explained. “Ultimately, we hope this work can be used to identify effective treatments for children with congenital myotonic dystrophy”
Kiefer added that this is a collaborative effort across schools at VCU. His team of mentors is led by Dr. Nicholas Johnson, M.D., professor of Neurology and director of the Center for Inherited Myology Research (CIMR) at VCU, and Dr. Benjamin Darter, chair of the Department of Physical Therapy.