HOF 2007 Nominees > Research in Quality of Life
ShareMarcalee Sipski
Dr. Marcalee Sipski completed her undergraduate degree at Penn State University and her medical degree at Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia. She is Board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and specialy certified in SCI Medicine. She has been an active clinician and researcher in the field for over 20 years.
What sets her apart from her peers is the research work she has completed on understanding sexual functioning after spinal cord injury. This is a topic that historically has not been given the attention it deserves relative to its importance for persons living with a spinal cord injury.
She and her colleagues have been scientifically investigating the physiological aspects of arousal and orgasm in both men and women with SCI, contrasting that to what we know about sexual responses in able-bodied men and women. She and her colleagues have also been investigating ways to improve sexual responsiveness.
Her work has been funded by the NIH which underscores the scientific credibility her work has been granted by her peers in the sciences. She has written widely about sexual functioning in men and women after SCI in both the professional and consumer literature.
Her expertise has been recognized and affirmed by her being asked to serve on the editorial boards of a number of rehabilitaiton and sexuality oriented professional journals, the numerous requests she has received to write chapters on sexuality and SCI in the leading Neurology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation textbooks, and the numerous invitations she has accepted to speak about this topic at other institutions.
Persons with SCI have benefitted indirectly from this work in that many SCI professionals have learned what they know about sexuality and SCI from this body of work. She is one of only several professionals active today whose name would surface if the topic of sexuality and SCI were brought up. In addition to her professional publications, Dr. Sipski has reached out to persons with SCI directly through publications in consumer oriented publications, through a cable-TV show she directed for several years called "Abilities" which covered issues of interest to persons with disabilities, and through two videos she and her colleagues produced: "Sexuality Reborn" and "Sexuality and SCI". She has, as umch as any other professional practicing today, raised the knowledge and awareness level of the field about the importance of this topic, and continues to pursue research that promises to help improve sexual response and functioning for persons with SCI.