Peggy Barco, OTD, OTR/L, SCDCM

Washington University in St. Louis (WU)

Dr. Barco’s research focuses on driving performance in older adults with various medical impairments. Her goals are to develop ways clinicians can better assess driving performance in clients as well as to identify interventions to prolong driving and community mobility throughout the lifespan. She collaborates with David Carr, MD, in grant-funded research studying fitness to drive in various populations including older adults with dementia, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and visual disorders. She developed a tool to score driving errors which has been utilized in their fitness to drive studies as well as a NIH funded study at Washington University Alzheimer’s Disease and Research Center investigating driving and pre-clinical Alzheimer’s Disease.
Additionally, Dr. Barco is collaborating with Eric Lenze, MD, studying the effectiveness of innovative training based programs focused on increasing motivation and therapy intensity in older adults receiving occupational and physical therapy services to improve functional outcomes (NIH R01 PI: Lenze).