DOCTOR OF PHYSICAL THERAPY DIVISION

Academic Appointments

2006–present  Medical Instructor, Division of Physical Therapy, and Assistant Professor, Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Health Systems

 

1995 – 2002 Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, Misericordia University , Dallas , PA

 

 

Education

1991 B.S. Physical Therapy, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA

 

1994 M.A. Applied Physiology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY

Thesis: “Aerobic exercise training in elderly patients with congestive heart failure”

Mentor: Ronald DeMeersman, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biobehavioral Sciences

 

1998-2000 Doctoral Student, Applied Physiology Teachers College, Columbia University

 

2004 Ph.D. Program, Cellular and Molecular Physiology, University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB)

Thesis Dissertation: “Aerobic exercise attenuates asthmatic airway inflammation

Mentor: Lisa M. Schwiebert, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics and Department of Cell Biology, Research Scientist in the Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center, UAB

 

2004-2006 Post-doctoral Fellowship, Department of Cell Biology, Duke University , Durham , NC .

Project: "The role of Surfactant Protein A and allergic airway disease"

Mentor : Jo Rae Wright, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Cell Biology, Pediatrics and Medicine, Vice Provost & Dean of the Graduate School

 

Teaching Responsibilities

PT315 Cardiovascular & Pulmonary Practice Management, Spring Semester, Course Coordinator

PT508 Evidence-Based Practice III, Spring Semester, Research Project Mentor

PT511 Professional Development Portfolio, Student Mentor

 

Division of PT Committees:

Co-Chair, Division of PT Research Committee

Member, Division of PT Curriculum Committee

Member, Division of PT Faculty Search Committee

 

Clinical Practice

Cardiovascular and Pulmonary

Developer and Mentor, DUHS Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Physical Therapy Residency Program 

Research

Dr. Pastva’s clinical and research interest area focuses on the development and treatment of chronic lung diseases. She is currently funded by NIH grants from the NIA and NIAID. She has three active areas of investigation. (1) She is interested in determining how exercise training alters immune and lung physiological responses in asthma. Dr. Pastva’s experiments have raised the intriguing question of whether sedentary lifestyles are a predisposing factor to the development of allergic lung disease. (2) Her other area of interest is in the immune regulatory properties of pulmonary surfactant. In these experiments, she explores whether deficiencies in or inactivation of pulmonary surfactant proteins leads to or promotes allergic lung disease. (3) She is also investigating the association between immunosenescence, activity level, and the development lung disease. In these experiments, Dr. Pastva will determine whether aerobic exercise training can attenuate the susceptibility of older adults to environmentally-induced lung injury by altering innate immune system function and receptor signaling pathways. Dr. Pastva has presented her research findings at international conferences for the American Physical Therapy Association, American Thoracic Society, and the American Physiological Society, and at the International Surfactant Conference. She is a manuscript reviewer for the Journal of Immunology, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, American Journal of Physiology - Lung Molecular and Cellular Physiology and Clinical and Experimental Allergy  

Selected Publications

• Pastva A, Estell K, Schoeb TR, and Schwiebert LM. Aerobic exercise attenuates airway inflammatory responses in a mouse model of atopic asthma. Journal of Immunology, 172(7):4520-6, 2004.
   
• Pastva A, Estell K, Schoeb TR, Atkinson TP, and Schwiebert LM. RU486 blocks the anti- inflammatory effects of exercise in a murine model of allergen-induced pulmonary inflammation. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 19(5):413-22, 2005.
   
• Pastva A, Wright JR, and Williams KL. Immunomodulatory roles of surfactant proteins A and D - implications in lung disease. Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society, 4(3):252-7, 2007.
   
• Maddox L.A., Walker J.K.L., Giamberardino C., Brown B., Lawson B.L., Foster W.M., Korfhagen T., Schwartz D.A., Que L., Eu P., Wright J.R., and Pastva A. Nitric oxide mediates a relative airway hyporesponsiveness to LPS in SP-A null mice. (In revision, American Journal of Respiratory Cellular and Molecular Biology)
   
• Brown-Hsia B., Pastva A., Eu J., Que L., Abraham S., Wright J.R., Zaas D. Decreased airway hyperresponisivness and smooth muscle contraction in caveolin-1 deficient mice. (Submitted, American Journal of Physiology – Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology)
   
• Pastva A., Murkerjee S., Giamberardino C., Lo B., Brown-Hsia B., Sempowski G., and Wright J.R. Surfactant Protein A modulates lung T cell phenotype and function during allergen-mediated inflammation. (Manuscript submission Nov 2009 to Journal of Immunology)
   
• Mukherjee S., Pastva A., Giamberardino C., Evans K., Wright J.R. SP-A differentially modulates CD4+ T cell function based on the strength of activating signal. (Manuscript submission Nov 2009 to Journal of Experimental Medicine).

Awards and Honors

1991-present  Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit National Honor Society

1991 Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities

1998 Who’s Who Amongst Professors in American Colleges and Universities

2000 Foundation for Physical Therapy, Mary McMillan Scholarship

2000-2003 Graduate Assistantship, UAB

2002 Best Platform Presentation, APTA Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Section, CSM

2002 APTA Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Section Scholarship

2003 NIH, Lung Diseases Training Grant Fellowship

2003 Honorable Mention, Presidential Address, Homer Boushey, Ph.D., July Newsletter, American Thoracic Society

2004 Outstanding Graduate Student in Cellular and Molecular Physiology Program, UAB Graduate School

2004 Featured article: UAB Reporter, Vol 28, No. 24.

2004 Summa Cum Laude, UAB

2008 NIH NIAID, K08 Career Development Award

2008 Pepper Center, Duke University, Career Development Award

Grant reviewer - Women in Science

Member - American Physical Therapy Association, American Thoracic Society, American Physiological Society

 
FReD Publications