Dr. Shelby Sweat graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2021. She went on to complete her preliminary medicine year at the AU/UGA Medical Partnership in Athens, Georgia before coming to University of Louisville for her residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation. 

Dr. Sweat completed her Bachelor of Science in Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2013. During her time as an undergraduate, she acted as a student ambassador for the campus health service which allowed her to organize and carry out health promotion events within the Yellow Jackets community. She volunteered extensively to provide education and resources to other students about the importance of healthy living and physical activity. She also served as a teaching assistant for the Bio@Tech summer program where she taught general biology laboratory skills, aiming to foster a love of basic sciences to future researchers. She discovered her own love of the basic sciences in the Sulchek BioMEMs and Biomechanics Lab where she conducted applied research in the field of biophysics, specifically studying how to use Fc-functionalized microparticles to modulate complement activity. Additionally, Dr. Sweat worked in Dr. Cassie Mitchell's Laboratory for Pathology Dynamics to assemble a database of ALS patients to provide a hierarchal structure for computational algorithms to model disease progression. After graduation, Dr. Sweat worked for two years in the Silvestri Lab at Emory University on AIDS pathogenesis using non-human primate models of SIV/SHIV infection and conducted HIV vaccine trials using novel microparticle systems. These experiences prompted her to pursue a Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences, where she studied the biophysical properties of the tumor microenvironment in breast cancer. 

Since starting medical school, Dr. Sweat's research interests have shifted from basic sciences to clinical. She has published multiple case reports to the American Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (2020), the Association of Academic Physiatrists (2021), and the American Osteopathic College of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (2020) on the topics of neurogenic claudication, rare neurological disorders, and rare presentations of common pathology. Dr. Sweat will present two case reports at the Association of Academic Physiatrists meeting in 2023 along with her attending Dr. Camilo Castillo. She hopes to contribute more meaningful work to the field of neurorehabilitation throughout her residency. 

Dr. Sweat is passionate about physiatry education and serves as a mentor to anyone who enters her Twitter DMs. She is specifically interested in leveraging social media for good by connecting people who would otherwise not have the exposure to PM&R as a specialty or have the resources for mentorship within their medical school sphere. This interest stems from her own difficulties finding mentorship as a first-generation college student and continued until she found a mentorship network within her medical school's PM&R interest group. She has since served the AOCPMR as social media chair for two years, significantly growing the organization's digital reach, and now serves as the PhiT Council Secretary and PhiT representative for her residency program. 

Dr. Sweat is interested in the intersection of technology and rehab, specifically as it relates to virtual/augmented reality and neuromodulation. She plans to work in a mixed inpatient and outpatient practice. Outside of medicine, Dr. Sweat likes to stay active with running and weightlifting and enjoys playing video games in her free time.