Gillian Hotz, Ph.D.

Gillian is the Co-Director of the Pediatric Brain & SCI Program and Director of Neurotrauma Outcome Research for the Division of Trauma & Surgical Critical Care. She is an Associate Research Professor in the Daughtry Family Department of Surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine in Miami, Florida. She completed her MSc in Communication Disorders at Boston University and then completed her PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience at Boston University School of Medicine.

As a research neuroscientist, she has been conducting neurotrauma research at the University of Miami since 1992. Her major areas of interest have been traumatic brain injury and stroke. Her research has focused on early rehab intervention for both adults and children and their outcomes. She has co-authored the Brief Test of Head Injury (BTHI, 1990) and in the process of standardizing the Pediatric Test of Brain Injury (PTBI, 2002) both are neurocognitive assessment measures.

Gillian is also a member of a number of National and International Associations and is a committee member actively involved in dealing with Pediatric TBI issues with the Florida Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program. She has authored many journal articles, book chapters and given numerous presentations including; pediatric and adult neurotrauma and neurorehabilitation, outcomes of traumatic brain injury, and injury prevention in the areas of pediatric pedestrians and motorcycle accidents.

With her interest in early intervention, her most current research has been studying children with acute severe brain injury using Snoezelen Therapy. The purpose of the study is to evaluate behavioral changes by assessing the physiological changes of children recovering from severe brain injury before and after receiving Snoezelen therapy.