Sheila Dugan, MD is a professor in the Rush departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Preventive Medicine and Neurological Surgery. She is a co-investigator on the SWAN study, the ALIVE! project and the WISHFIT study and served as the Career Development and Training Core Director for the Rush Center for Urban Health Equity. After serving as interim chairperson of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation since 2019, Dugan was named permanent chair in 2023.

Dugan is the Medical Director of University Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation where she sees patients with pain and musculoskeletal disorders and performs EMG/nerve conduction studies. She co-directs the Rush Program for Abdominal and Pelvic Health. Dugan is board certified in PM&R, Electrodiagnostic Medicine, Pain Medicine and Sports Medicine. At Rush, she chairs the Rush Women’s Leadership Council and serves on the ADA Committee and Diversity Leadership Committee.  

Dugan serves on the board of the Foundation for PM&R and the Women’s Health Foundation. Past positions include President of PASSOR and board member of ACSM. Her research interests include health equity; health benefits of physical activity, in particular in underserved populations; pain, function and visceral fat in women at menopause; and pelvic wellness. She has published numerous book chapters and articles, and lectures locally and nationally. 

Dugan received her bachelor’s degrees in Biology from the University of Chicago and Physical Therapy from Northwestern University and her MD from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She did her internship at the University of Chicago in Internal Medicine and her residency at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago in PM&R. Prior to coming to Rush, she was on faculty at the Harvard Medical School.