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When Trevor Paris was young, he had a speech impediment that greatly hampered his public speaking ability, even in the classroom.

Paris knew he would have to overcome his tendency to stutter to reach his full potential in life. After realizing the impediment was primarily mentally induced, he actually sought opportunities to speak in public.

"In so doing, I overcame this difficult problem," said Paris, medical director for Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital, a 143-bed acute physical rehabilitation hospital in Jacksonville, and vice president of Brooks Rehabilitation Specialists, Brooks' physician practice.

Born and raised in Athens, Ga., Paris grew up in a house his grandfather built. The youngest of four children, his dad, David, was a plant engineer at the University of Georgia and his mom, Elizabeth, was a schoolteacher.

"Even though he died before I was born, my grandfather's influence on our family was a powerful force," recalled Paris. "I can remember at an early age hearing of his medical exploits, especially when he had been a surgeon in the Navy."

Paris grew up in a very culturally diverse social environment, with people from many different parts of the world who were friends of the family.

"This early exposure to different cultures gave me a comfort level with people different than myself and opened my interest in serving those with disabilities," he said.

Because his grandfather and great-grandfather were physicians, and none of his siblings had chosen medicine, the expectation was clear, said Paris, that he would at least strongly consider medicine as a career path.

However, when Paris entered college, he studied architectural history and struggled with the decision to become an architect. Ultimately, he followed his calling.

"The aspect of using physical methods of healing first attracted me to physical medicine and rehabilitation," he said. "I was also interested in providing care to a population of patients with disabilities who I felt needed an advocate."

After earning a degree from the Medical University of South Carolina, Paris completed an internship in internal medicine and a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Loma Linda University Medical Center in southern California.

Board-certified by both the American Board of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners, Paris served as medical director of rehabilitation services at Tennessee Christian Medical Center, which included a 52-bed acute rehabilitation facility and outpatient services. At the same time, he managed a private practice and provided leadership in customer service, program development, and quality care initiatives for the hospital.

Since joining Brooks three years ago, Paris has provided leadership in the establishment of an evidence-based foundation for the delivery of stroke rehabilitation care, actively participated in several research projects, and is co-principle investigator of the first Brooks-initiated research project "Homeward Bound," which was presented at the International Stroke Conference last month in San Diego.

In his new role as medical director of Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital, Paris provides medical leadership for the development of best practice models for the delivery of medical/clinical care and the use of ancillary services and other key resources as chairman of the Quality Council and Utilization Management Committee. He also develops quality goals and a related set of metrics to measure and monitor effective physician practice patterns and patient satisfaction, and also advises and collaborates with healthcare leaders in the development of new programs, services and other strategic initiatives to enhance the delivery of care.

As vice president of Brooks Rehabilitation Specialists, Paris provides direct supervision of staff and contract physicians and also leads the medical practice's growth and expansion initiatives.

"In my previous role as medical director for the Brooks Stroke Center of Excellence, we developed a recovery program dedicated to the goal of helping our patients return home and achieve their greatest functional potential," said Paris. "We strive to provide the most innovative scientifically-supported therapeutic interventions available. Stroke research has clearly revealed that incorporating repetition, task specificity, sensory integration and bilateral arm or leg activities into therapeutic tasks provides the best functional outcome. This scientific theory of recovery is known as motor learning. The commitment of the stroke recovery program is to incorporate these critical elements of motor recovery as the foundation for all our treatment regimens."

Paris said his primary goal now as medical director for the hospital is to develop a best practices model for comprehensive rehabilitation programming at Brooks that is patient-centered and expands the evidenced-based, scientifically supported interventions.

"The goal is to deliver consistent, quality care with exceptional outcomes for every patient served," he emphasized.

In his spare time, Paris heads outdoors to hike, bike and kayak with Cynthia, his wife of 27 years, and their three children, now grown.

Thomson, their oldest, is a graduate student in the entomology department at University of Florida. Taylor, their younger son, graduated from Southern Adventist University last May with an accounting degree, and then decided to pursue a career in medicine. He is currently taking pre-med requirements at the University of North Florida. The youngest child, Sarah, is a freshman at Southern Adventist University, studying elementary education.

"My wife, who had been a homemaker for 25 years, decided last May to go back to work as an OR nurse and is working on her BSN online at the same time," Paris said, adding that "when I retire, we'd like to run an orphanage for disadvantaged children overseas."

Tags:

Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital, Brooks Rehabilitation Specialists, Brooks Stroke Center of Excellence, Tennessee Christian Medical Center, Trevor Paris

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