Margaret Grace Stineman, emeritus professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, died at Simpson House retirement community on July 9. She was 67.

Dr. Stineman earned a BFA in painting and sculpture from Tyler School of Art in 1974. After completing her degree, she won a prestigious scholarship—the Prix de Roma, for her outstanding painting ability. She was to study in Italy for two years, but the selection committee rescinded the scholarship after the physical exam due to her physical limitations. Her mother arranged for her to go to Rome anyway, where she stayed for a year and studied art with the Temple School of Art International Programs. Dr. Stineman returned to Philadelphia and earned a BS in biology from Drexel in 1981. She earned her medical degree from Hahnemann University two years later.

After graduating, Dr. Stineman came to Penn as a resident and was hired as an instructor in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. From 1987 to 1989, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and instructor, and then a lecturer in the department of general medicine. In 1992, she became an assistant professor in rehabilitation medicine. She went on to become an associate and then full professor. She also held a secondary position as an assistant professor in general internal medicine. In 2008, Dr. Stineman became an associate professor in biostatistics and epidemiology as well as taking on a clinical position in rehabilitation with CPUP and serving as a professor in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She also served as vice chair and director for research in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation and was a senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. Dr. Stineman retired and earned emeritus status in 2014. 

Dr. Stineman received uninterrupted NIH funding beginning in 1990 for a broad range of projects applying quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the study of the rehabilitation of patients with disabilities related to neurological disorders, limb loss, and other disabling conditions. She and her colleagues developed a patient classification approach—function related groups (FRGs)—using sophisticated health services statistical methods to create patient categories based upon care needs. This work forms the basis for Medicare’s national payment system for inpatient rehabilitation. 

She worked with Dr. Carl Granger and pioneered the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) that would become the national standard for measuring progress during a patient’s inpatient rehabilitation stay. Prediction of patient outcomes was an area she excelled in, particularly for persons with strokes. The FIM was related to resource use and outcomes during inpatient rehabilitation. She and her colleagues developed a Diagnostic Complexity Index for rehabilitation that captured the influence of comorbidities on functional independence and resource use.

The foundation for her work has been an expanded biopsycho-ecological model that views interactions between the person and the environment as contributing to illness and disability. It is this ecological framework that has inspired her conviction that medical interventions should move beyond the person to include the environment in which he or she lives.

Dr. Stineman’s distinguished and remarkable career includes over 146 scientific peer-reviewed publications. Her awards include some of the most prestigious in the field of rehabilitation. She won Elizabeth and Sidney Licht Award for Excellence in Scientific Writing from the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine twice—1997 and 2001. Dr. Stineman was the first recipient of the Carolyn L. Braddom EdD Research Award from the Association of Academic Physiatrists. 

She was an inaugural recipient of the Fellow of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine distinction in 2002, and in that year also won Penn Medicine’s Samuel Martin Health Sciences Evaluation Research Award. The Distinguished Academician Award from the Association of Academic Physiatrists was presented to her in 2004. Dr. Stineman received the Gold Key Award from the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Dr. Stineman served as a national leader for the NIH. She was a member of the National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research from 1997 to 2000, then she chaired this board from 2000 to 2001. In this role Dr. Stineman left her mark on the direction of research in rehabilitation that has improved the lives of countless patients benefitting from research funded by the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research. She served on the long-range planning committee for NIDRR from 2004 to 2008. She was a Secretarial appointee to the Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Prosthetics and Special Disabilities.

Dr. Stineman was elected to the Institute of Medicine, now the National Academy of Medicine (Almanac October 19, 2010), and the Association of American Physicians in 2011. She earned the Drexel Alumni Award (Almanac May 13, 2008), and the Prince Salman Award for Disability Research (Almanac December 16, 2014). She also served on the University Council’s Personnel Benefits Committee. 

According to a tribute by Timothy R. Dillingham, The William J. Erdman II Professor and chair of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation, “Such an esteemed career is all the more remarkable knowing that these many contributions were made from a wheelchair and with visual assistive devices. She was born with a severely deformed spine and shoulders requiring many operations as a child. She spent her adolescent years in a body cast. In addition to her physical limitations she had severely impaired vision. She was incorrectly viewed as having mental impairments as a child and did not flourish in high school.

“The many obstacles she faced were overcome by her tenacity and the selfless help from her mother, Peggy Stineman—advocate, mentor, and learning assistant. Dr. Stineman contributed to the department and Penn in so many ways. She cared for patients early in her career as an attending physiatrist on the Piersol Rehabilitation unit at HUP. She inspired all those around her. ... She taught Penn medical students about disability and impairment through her own experiences.

“Her life and accomplishments are inspiring and reflect her indomitable spirit. Margaret retired from Penn Medicine in 2014 yet remained a part of our department as a Professor Emeritus.  

“Margaret Grace Stineman MD, truly embodied her middle name ‘Grace,’ showing grace, kindness, and humility while excelling in her profession and achieving national and international prominence. She touched so many of our lives and we are all better for having the privilege of knowing and working with her. One of her many legacies is the gift of inspiration that she brought to the Penn community.”

According to Neville Strumpf, professor of nursing and dean emerita in the School of Nursing and longtime colleague and collaborator of Dr. Stineman on a large NIH study and a doctoral dissertation, “She was a brilliant, brave, and gentle person, who struggled against enormous physical odds. She was generous, witty, uncomplaining, and among many talents, a fine artist. Margaret made an astonishing contribution to rehab medicine and geriatrics, and to the mentoring of students, fellows and young investigators.”

Dr. Steinman is survived by her mother, Peggy Stineman. In lieu of flowers, people could donate to the Dr. Margaret Grace Stineman Resident Research Award at the University of Pennsylvania Perleman School of Medicine. Checks should be made payable to “Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania” and mailed to: Penn Medicine Development, Attn: Sheryl Garton, 3535 Market St., Ste. 750, Philadelphia, PA  19104. There will be no memorial service due to the coronavirus pandemic.