The CU Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation is excited to announce that Stephanie Tow, MD, FAAPMR, CAQSM joined the faculty on January 17, 2023 as an assistant professor. She specializes in pediatric rehabilitation medicine, pediatric sports medicine, adaptive/Para sports medicine (addressing sports medicine needs in pediatric and adult athletes with impairments and disabilities), and pediatric pain medicine.

Dr. Tow completed her undergraduate degree in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, after which she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship (focused in the field of education/teaching) in Hong Kong. She earned her medical degree at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (now Rutgers University) - New Jersey Medical School and completed her residency and chief residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at UT Southwestern. Dr. Tow is one of only four physicians in the US currently to have completed dual fellowship training in the subspecialties of pediatric rehabilitation medicine and sports medicine. She performed her pediatric rehabilitation medicine fellowship at the University of Colorado/Children’s Hospital Colorado and her sports medicine fellowship at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Dr. Tow is board certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Sports Medicine, Brain Injury Medicine, and board eligible in Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine.

Dr. Tow has a passion for working with athletes and patients with all types of abilities and is the Head Team Physician for Team USA’s Paralympics Swimming National Team. She also serves as a National Medical Classifier for US Paralympics Swimming. She has a wealth of experience serving as a team physician and medical director of multiple sports medicine teams and events, inclusive of many adaptive/Para sports organizations and events. She previously served as the Director of the Dallas-Fort Worth Adaptive Sports Coalition in 2020-2022. She has also volunteered as a sports medicine physician at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.

Dr. Tow serves in leadership roles for several national medical societies and has delivered many national presentations. She is involved in multiple research projects related to her clinical interests in adaptive/Para sports medicine; concussion; pediatric sports medicine, musculoskeletal care, and pain; pediatric rehabilitation medicine; and medical education. She sees patients at Children’s Hospital Colorado in the pediatric rehabilitation medicine program, pediatric chronic pain program, and pediatric sports medicine program.

"I will be working at Children's Hospital Colorado in 3 departments/programs: pediatric rehabilitation medicine, pediatric chronic pain, and pediatric sports medicine. This will be the first time we will have a PM&R faculty physician in the pediatric chronic pain and pediatric sports medicine programs, so I hopefully will be helping these programs grow with a PM&R perspective. For pediatric sports medicine, the plan is to have me help grow the sports medicine program in Colorado Springs. For pediatric chronic pain, part of the plan is to have me work together with our psychologists and physical therapists in the multidisciplinary pain clinic alongside our pediatric anesthesiology pain colleagues. For pediatric rehabilitation, I likely will be doing a mix of general pediatric rehab clinics, limb deficiency/amputee clinics, and spina bifida clinics. All of this is still a work in progress though. The department is also supporting my continued work in my role as Head Team Physician of the Team USA Paralympics Swimming National Team and with some other sports medicine Team USA physician roles I have with the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee," says Dr. Tow. CU PM&R enthusiastically welcomes Dr. Tow and the abundance of expertise she will bring to our department.