Remembering Dr. Kelli Sharp
Kelli helped establish the Reeve-Irvine Research Center and was a valued member of our team for the first 15 years.
A founding colleague, dedicated educator, and cherished friend of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center
With profound sadness, we share the unexpected passing of Dr. Kelli Sharp on October 15. Kelli helped establish the Reeve-Irvine Research Center and was a valued member of our team for the first 15 years of the Center’s existence. Her contributions to our research, teaching, and community remain an important part of RIRC’s history.
For those who worked alongside her, Kelli was much more than an accomplished colleague. She was a friend whose connection to the Center—and to its founding director, Dr. Oswald Steward—reached beyond the laboratory.
A connection that began before RIRC
Os knew Kelli and her family long before she joined his research group. During their middle school and high school years in Charlottesville, Virginia, Kelli and Os’s daughter, Jessie, rode at the same barn and competed in hunter shows. Both continued riding in college as members of their equestrian teams, competing in the hunter-jumper division.
After completing her bachelor’s degree, Kelli was looking for a job and joined the Steward research group at the University of Virginia as an entry-level technician. Os’s senior technician hired her while he was away at a meeting.
When Os returned, he was surprised to see Kelli in the hallway and asked what she was doing there. Kelli was equally surprised—she had not realized that the laboratory that hired her was Os’s.
Kelli had only recently joined the laboratory when Os decided to move to UC Irvine to establish the Reeve-Irvine Research Center. She had already demonstrated her skill as a technician, so he invited her to make the move with him. She agreed and quickly immersed herself in spinal cord injury research, becoming a critical colleague and collaborator throughout the Center’s first 15 years.
A lasting contribution to research and education
At RIRC, Kelli developed exceptional expertise in small-animal surgery and handling and led the live-animal portion of our spinal cord injury studies. Her skills and dedication made her an invaluable member of the research team.
She also served as a lead instructor in RIRC’s Spinal Cord Injury training course, sharing her expertise with other researchers. Through her work in the laboratory and the classroom, Kelli became well known and well loved throughout the spinal cord injury community.
While at RIRC, Kelli completed a doctorate in physical therapy. She was subsequently recruited to the faculty of UC Irvine’s Department of Dance, with a joint appointment in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
She rose to become Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Dance and Director of Research in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation—a remarkable journey from the new graduate whose first job was as an entry-level technician in Os’s laboratory.
Remembering our colleague and friend
“Kelli was an amazing person!” Os wrote in his remembrance.
Her accomplishments were extraordinary, but our loss extends far beyond her professional contributions. Kelli was part of the Center’s earliest days, a valued collaborator in its research, and a cherished member of the community that grew around it.
All of us at the Reeve-Irvine Research Center join the wider UC Irvine community in mourning her passing. Our thoughts are with her family, her friends, and the many colleagues around the world who knew and loved her.
We remember Kelli with deep gratitude for all she gave to the Center and to the spinal cord injury community. She will be greatly missed.
Kelli’s legacy extends across the UC Irvine community. The Claire Trevor School of the Arts shares an additional remembrance honoring her life, her leadership, and her contributions to dance and medicine.
Read “Remembering Dr. Kelli Sharp, Chair of the Department of Dance.”
