Michaela Keener's passion for the equestrian community has driven her groundbreaking work to improve equestrians' health care access through innovative digital health systems.
Keener, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of athletic training and clinical nutrition at the University of Kentucky's College of Health Sciences. Her research focuses on developing an interactive digital health system designed to enhance access to care for the people who ride horses as part of their jobs, like jockeys, exercise riders and outriders.
Keener's work began with jockeys at Keeneland, where she identified concerns regarding concussion protocols. Listening closely to their challenges, Keener led them to The Graham, an interactive digital health system designed to measure balance and reaction time. This system is poised to enhance care access for the equestrian community in Kentucky and worldwide.
Keener's research is an example of focusing on the people in our community, in an effort to teach, care, serve and discover. So many like her are putting in the work to advance Kentucky day and night.
That's why Keener and other members of our community shared their voices for both the 30-second and 60-second spots. While we hear only a few seconds from each of them, they have powerful stories to tell.
UKNow asked Keener a few questions about what it means to be part of the UK community — and of a legacy — of people who are working to advance Kentucky.
