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Ross Kaine has been a research assistant on CROR’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) since January 2024. Kaine works on two projects within the RRTC: one focused on the development and testing of HCBS outcome measures and another that will create a course on using motivational interviewing to provide person-centered HCBS.
Kaine, 25, first worked with CROR in 2022 as an intern, providing support for a grey-literature review for the RRTC on HCBS. At the time, he was a student studying health sciences and economics at DePaul University in Chicago.
Kaine thought an economics degree would be useful if he ever decided to work for his father, who owns several currency exchanges in the Chicagoland area. Kaine has worked at almost every one of them, starting when he was in high school. The businesses allow customers to do everything from pay utility bills, cash checks and purchase city stickers for vehicles. But Kaine was more interested in science and research. In his last year at DePaul before earning his economics and health sciences degrees, Kaine worked as a research assistant in an organic chemistry lab. He also became a certified medical technician and phlebotomist in case he wanted to pursue a medical degree in the future. “I was kind of ambivalent about what I was going to do, but I kind of knew it would be in health sciences or research.”
But lab work wasn’t for him.
“Working in the lab was a bit lonely,” Kaine says. “My supervisor was out a lot and I had to work very independently.” Kaine wanted to do qualitative research that more directly involved people, and the CROR internship provided just that opportunity.
During his internship, in addition to helping with the grey literature review, Kaine also helped transcribe interviews with HCBS providers about how they provide person-centered services. Soon after he graduated from DePaul, he started working full time at CROR.
“In his time as an intern, Ross demonstrated his curiosity, adaptability, and ability to self-initiate, making him a natural fit when his graduation date aligned with an open position on the HCBS team,” says Bridgette Schram, PhD, project manager on CROR’s RRTC on HCBS. “Ross has brought a positive energy to the HCBS team and I look forward to seeing his growth as a researcher as he continues to build off his interests, experience, and skills in this position.”
Kaine grew up in Oak Brook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, the youngest of four brothers. In addition to running the regional currency exchange business, his father also managed residential real estate. His mother was a stay-at-home mom. He currently lives in the Logan Square neighborhood. On Zoom calls, his moss-covered wall is unmissable in the background. “I spritz it and water it if it gets dry,” he says. “I really like nature and the outdoors.”
In addition to bryophytes, Kaine is also interested in Taiwanese kickboxing. “It’s like regular boxing except you can throw elbows and knees,” he says. “My brother and I like to work out together and we’ve done a marathon together, but I just felt like this was a good way to change up the routine.”
Kaine says that kickboxing is a bit unlike him. “I’m not a very confrontational person, but this is more about assertiveness, and I have found that this helps me build that assertiveness muscle.”
Kaine is registered to run in the 2024 Chicago Marathon. He is running to raise funds for an organization that supports veterans called Salute.
As for his time at CROR, Kaine says he’s looking forward to getting the motivational interviewing training out into the world. “It’s been interesting learning about Learnie, the company we are working with to get the material organized for our trainings.”