Erica Twardzik, PhD

Dr. Erica Twardzik is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology and a 2024 Michigan Program for Advancing Cultural Transformation (M-PACT) Scholar. Prior to her role as an assistant professor at U-M, Dr. Twardzik was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She earned a dual-program PhD in Kinesiology and Epidemiology from the University of Michigan in 2021.

As a 2024 M-PACT Scholar, Dr. Twardzik is part of a cohort of tenure-track assistant professors with a demonstrated commitment and expertise in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the University of Michigan. The M-PACT program, launched in June 2023 with a $15.8 million grant from the NIH FIRST initiative and a $63.7 million university investment, aims to achieve greater inclusive excellence in the biomedical and health sciences at the University of Michigan and beyond.

Dr. Twardzik's research focuses on improving the lives, well-being, and inclusion of older adults and people with disabilities. In 2022, she was one of ten scholars selected from hundreds of applicants for the ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award, recognizing her exceptional dissertation. The National Institutes of Health have supported her research and training through several mechanisms, including a predoctoral fellowship (F31HD098870), postdoctoral fellowship (T32AG000247), and a K99 award (K99AG081563). Dr. Twardzik's research has not only been recognized for its quality and innovation but has also been translated to the public to bring about policy change. In 2017, she wrote and circulated a policy brief summarizing her research findings, which led to an invitation to speak to researchers, practitioners, and policy makers within the state of Oregon. Her research supported the 2019 House Bill 4067, which expanded service access to children with developmental delays.

Dr. Twardzik and her research team are guided by the following mission and vision:

Mission
Integrate multiple data sources to study how environments affect mobility among people with disabilities to inform policies that increase participation and inclusion within society.

Vision
Equitable environmental development can optimize societal inclusion and individual participation among people with disabilities.

Dr. Twardzik's work can be found at:

• My Bibliography (National Library of Medicine)
• Google Scholar
• Dr. Twardzik's personal webpage