David X. Cifu, MD is Professor and Chairman, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia; National Director for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services, Office of Rehabilitation and Prosthetic Services, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC. He is the author of Braddom’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 5th Edition, Geriatric Rehabilitation, 1st Edition, and Braddom’s Clinical Handbook of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Dr. Cifu received his MD from Boston University School of Medicine and performed post-graduate work at the Baylor College of Medicine. He then served on faculty at Baylor in the Department of PM&R and as adjunct faculty in the Department of Restorative Neurology before joining the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in 1991.

In his career as an academic physiatrist, Dr. Cifu has been funded on more than 30 research grants and is the principal or co-principal investigator on several current grants. He has delivered more than 425 regional, national and international lectures, published more than 165 articles and 65 abstracts and co-authored 20 books and book chapters.

In 2005, Dr. Cifu was instrumental in developing the VCU Center for Rehabilitation Science and Engineering, a research consortium. He has been a member of the board of governors and president of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He has served as Deputy Director and National Director of the PM&R Program Office of the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as Senior TBI Specialist for the Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2014, he received the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia.

Dr. Cifu’s areas of research include outcome predictors in stroke, brain injury, brain tumor, spinal cord injury, and spinal cord tumor; the impact of aging on brain injury and spinal cord injury rehabilitation; and orthopedic and hip fracture rehabilitation.