In the early 1990's, the Department of PM&R was formally established as an Academic and Teaching program. At the same time The Charlotte Rehabilitation Hospital became Carolinas Rehabilitation signifying a new era for us. The residency program in PM&R was established and welcomed its first set of residents in July 1992. Since that time the program has flourished and has received the maximum number of years of allowable accreditation (5) by the ACGME for the last two accreditation cycles. The residency program director has remained the same since 1991 and has helped to guide the young, energetic, and exceptional faculty in developing one of the premier residency training programs in PM&R. Our faculty includes a variety of practitioners in both academic and private practice settings exposing our residents to all of the different practice options.

As a free standing Academic Center our research department remains very productive and successful. The Carolinas Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation and Research System, the name for our Traumatic Brain Injury Model System based out of Carolinas Rehabilitation is one of the most successful of the Brain Injury Model Systems enrolling the largest number of patients among the 16 nationwide model systems. Since the origins of our newly organized department in the early 1990's, Carolinas Rehabilitation and the Department of PM&R has grown tremendously both clinically and academically. We continue to offer tertiary rehabilitation care, perform state of the research, and are the primary source for the PM&R educational needs of our local and regional professional community as well as our patients. Our inpatient and outpatient programs successfully provide for the rehabilitation needs of adults and children with brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, cancer, orthopedic and musculoskeletal injuries from the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia, and beyond.

Chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation/Medical Director of Carolinas Rehabilitation:
Dr. Bockenek graduated Summa Cum Laude from Florida State University in 1982 and received Phi Beta Kappa Honors as a Junior. He went on to graduate Medical School at University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla with Alpha Omega Alpha honors He subsequently entered an Internal Medicine residency at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (formerly known as North Carolina Baptist Hospital) but after two years he saw the "light" and transferred into the residency program in PM&R at University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark, NJ affiliated with the Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation. Following the completion of his residency and year as Chief Resident he started his academic and clinical career in Charlotte, NC at Carolinas Medical Center and Carolinas Rehabilitation. Since his arrival in Charlotte in 1991 he has maintained as strong interest in his subspecialty area of Spinal Cord Medicine and is one of two faculty at CMC board certified in Spinal Cord Injury Medicine. He also is very clinically active in the care of patients with Post-Polio Syndrome, in performing electrodiagnostic procedures (he is Board Certified by the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine), and muscle/nerve injections for spasticity management. He has also remained very active in the research arena participating as principle investigator or co-investigator on several industry sponsored multi-center studies. He is involved in many national PM&R organizations including the American Academy of PM&R, American Board of PM&R (one of 13 Board Directors), American Paraplegia Society (Board member), American Spinal Injury Association, Association of Academic Physiatrists, and is a member of the Residency Review Committee for PM&R. He has many interests outside of work that include sports of all kinds, hiking in the mountains, visits to the beach, and spending time with his wife, 2 children, 2 cats and 1 dog.

Vu Q.C. Nguyen, M.D.
Director, PM&R Residency Program
Director, Stroke Rehabilitation Program
Director, Acupuncture Clinic
Professional Associations: Association of Academic Physiatrists, American Academy of PM&R, American Stroke Association, National Stroke Association

Dr. Nguyen graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Drake University where he was awarded College Honors in the Honors Program. He went on to achieve his Doctorate of Medicine from Michigan State University. Following medical school, he completed an Internship in Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics at Butterworth Hospital in Michigan. He then served as a physician in the United States Air Force (USAF). During his first two years in the USAF, he served as an Emergency Medicine physician. During this period, he was promoted to Interim Medical Director of the Emergency Department. It was here that his love of teaching was nurtured. He successfully coached an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) team to 1st place in the Pacific and 7th place in National competitions. In his final two years in the USAF, Dr. Nguyen practiced Family Medicine. During this period, he participated in the USAF Physician Assistant training program as an attending. Leaving the USAF, he came to Charlotte Institute of Rehabilitation to complete his residency training in PM&R. He served as Chief Resident in his final year of training. He joined our faculty upon graduation from residency. Being a lifelong learner and a strong advocate of medical education, perform state of the art researchs, he eventually was promoted to be the Director of our PM&R Residency Program. Professionally, his current research interests involve post-traumatic amnesia, dysphagia, spasticity, and poststroke shoulder neuromodulation. On a personal basis, Dr. Nguyen is married to another physician. They have two beautiful children and one cat. Their current interests include hiking, camping, and going to the beach.