Bryan O’Young, MD

Dr. Bryan O'YoungDr. Bryan O’Young is a clinical professor at the New York University School of Medicine and an attending physician at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine. His passion is for international rehabilitation medicine with the goal of sharing research, clinical knowledge, and ideas to enhance the specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Dr. O’Young graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University with a major in Neuroscience and completed his medical education at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He fulfilled his physical medicine and rehabilitation residency training at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinic in Madison, Wisconsin. After completing his residency, he joined the faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and subsequently at the NYU School of Medicine. He is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation with a subspecialty in pain medicine as well as a certified physician acupuncturist. He is the medical director of two pain and rehabilitation medicine centers, one in Manhattan and another in Brooklyn.

Dr. O’Young holds several appointments on the national level. He currently serves on the Health Policy and Legislation Committee of the AAPM&R. He was appointed as a peer reviewer of PM&R: The Journal of Injury, Function and Rehabilitation, official scientific journal of AAPM&R. He is the current president of the Philippine Chinese American Medical Association in the U.S. and serves on the board of directors in the Federation of the Chinese American and Chinese Canadian Medical Societies. He also serves as the Secretary for the American Academy of Thermology.

He currently holds several international appointments at various university hospitals including visiting professor at the Peking University First Hospital in Beijing, China; Sun Yat-sen University First Hospital in Guangzhou, China; Capital Medical University, Xuan Wu Hospital in Beijing, China; University of the East College of Medicine in Quezon City, Philippines; and Capital Medical University, Electric Power Hospital in Beijing, China. He also holds the appointment of adjunct professor at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in Manila, Philippines. Finally, he is a consultant to Sichuan University, West China School of Medicine in Chengdu, China and the Rehabilitation Institute of Guangdong, Guangzhou, China.

Dr. O’Young has a track record of successful leadership positions at the international level. He has served on the Board of Governors/Assembly of Delegates at the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM). As the chair of the ISPRM International Exchange Committee (IEC), Dr. O’Young aims to facilitate international exchange through visiting scholars program. He has led the IEC in creating the first comprehensive international rehabilitation program “matchmaking service” where the individual academic observer can be introduced to a rehabilitation institute through a map on the ISPRM website. He has also assisted in placing over 50 individuals in visiting exchange programs in the US and other countries within the past 5 years. He is a co-chair of the ISPRM/WHO World Report on Disability/Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Subcommittee, and is a member of the ISPRM Education Committee and ISPRM/WHO Rehabilitation Disaster Relief Subcommittee. He also serves on the advisory board of the UN Digital Health Initiatives. Notably, Dr. O’Young is the president and founder of Rehabilitation Without Walls, a non-government organization affiliated with the International Council of Caring Communities (which has special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council).

As an academic physician and international lecturer dedicated to pain medicine and international exchange, Dr. O’Young shares his knowledge of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Pain Medicine, Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, Integrative Medicine, PM&R Education, and International Exchange with lay and scientific audiences from all around the world. He has presented over 220 regional, national and international lectures in over 10 countries and written over 75 peer reviewed educational and clinical research publications. He was the chief editor of the first, second, and third editions of the book Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Secrets. The New York University Rusk Educational Committee awarded him the John Gianutsos Award for his outstanding educational contribution from 2009-2011. The New York University Rusk Educational Committee also presented Dr. O’Young with the Rusk Without Walls Award for the most outstanding international educational contribution. In recognition of his most exemplary international contribution in academic exchanges, the ISPRM will award him the 2013 Haim Ring Memorial Award at the ISPRM World Congress in Beijing this coming June.

Dr. O’Young is committed to working with the international community to foster academic exchanges with a recent focus in China. He was appointed the deputy chief editor of the Chinese Encyclopedia of Medicine (implemented by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and sanctioned by the Chinese government) in the specialty of rehabilitation medicine. He is the coeditor of the textbook Practical Neurological Rehabilitation by the People’s Medical Publishing House, sanctioned by the Chinese Ministry of Health. He is the honorary editor for the Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, and serves on the editorial board of the Chinese Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Dr. O’Young is very much devoted to working with the global community in advancing the rehabilitation profession. Through the exchange of knowledge and ideas, Dr. O’Young hopes to preserve the dignity and maximize the potential of every disabled person around the world.