Research Team
Sr. Research Associate: Patty Carlson-Kuhta
I received my PhD in Physiological Science at the University of California, Los Angeles and also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA in the Neuropsychiatric Institute. I have studied the sensorimotor control of stereotyped limb movements and brain plasticity during development following cortical lesions. My current research focuses on posture and gait deficits in people with Parkinson’s disease; specifically looking at how Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson’s disease affects balance, and the use of wearable motion sensors to quantify movement deficits.
Postdoctoral Researcher: Rajal Cohen
I am interested in how psychological factors, such as intention, expectation, memory, attention, body schema, habit, and imagination, influence posture and movement. Previously I have studied planning and preparation for upper limb movements, the evolution of performance variability during the learning of a novel skill, and neurophysiological correlates of cognitive inhibition.
Presently I am studying freezing of gait (an intermittent failure to initiate or maintain walking) in older adults with Parkinson's disease, and the possible role that failures of inhibition might play in the etiology of that phenomenon. I am also, along with Victor Gurfinkel, investigating the role of top-down influence in kinesthesia, and I am exploring ways to use motor imagery to study brain areas associated with locomotion in the fMRI scanner.
www.rajalcohen.com
Pennsylvania State University, 2008
Postdoctoral Researcher: Jessie Huisinga
Jessie Huisinga received her PhD in Biomechanics from the University of Nebraska and joined the Balance Disorders lab in Summer 2010 as a Postdoctoral Fellow. She is interested in human movement variability and in improving treatment protocols in pathological populations by establishing a better understanding of the underlying motor deficits that contribute to motor disability. Currently, she is exploring balance control in multiple sclerosis patients and developing a mobility assessment system for persons with multiple sclerosis using wearable inertial sensors.
Assistant Professor: Laurie King, PhD, PT
Dr. Laurie King is currently an assistant professor in the department of Neurology. She received her Doctor of Philosophy degree from Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, in Anatomy and Neurobiology. Prior to that, she graduated from Mayo School of Heath Sciences in Rochester MN with a Masters in Physical Therapy. She has over 15 years clinical experience treating neurologically impaired patients. Her work as a post-doctoral fellow at OHSU led to the development of an agility-based sensory motor exercise program for Parkinson's disease and she is currently coordinating a clinical trial comparing two, evidence-based rehabilitation programs for Parkinson's disease. Additionally, she has expertise in using sensitive technology, such as gait analysis, motion analysis, dynamic posturography and inertial sensors, for assessment and quantification of mobility. Dr. King has 2 active and funded lines of research; one in the area of exercise and Parkinson's disease and the other in the area of traumatic brain injury and balance assessment.
Postdoctoral Researcher: Martina Mancini
Dr Mancini received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Italy in 2009. She joined Balance Disorders Lab in July 2010 as a post-doctoral fellow, and she is currently working on development and validation of algorithms to analyze posture and postural transitions by means of wearable inertial sensors, with a particular focus on Parkinson’s disease.
Actually, her goals are in understanding how balance deteriorates with disease progression, and how balance is influenced by medications and deep brain stimulation. Also, she is interested in understanding if posture and postural transition are possible predictors of falls in normal aging as well as in Parkinson’s disease.
Neurologist: Amie Peterson
Amie Peterson, MD is currently a fellow in movement disorders focused on the care of Parkinson’s patients and related disorders. Her current research project is looking at the relationship between vitamin D levels and balance in persons with Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Peterson is also involved in advocacy work at a local and national level.
Sr. Research Associate: Arash Salarian
Arash Salarian received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland in 2006. He joined Balance Disorders lab in March 2008 as a post-doctoral fellow. Currently he is working on design, development and validation of analysis algorithms and inertial systems to build a new objective gait and balance score called iMobility. iMobility includes four sub-components: iTUG, instrumented timed up and go test; iSway, instrumented body sway analysis; iPush, instrumented push and release test and iStep, instrumented step initiation test.
Postdoctoral Researcher: Beth Smith
Beth A. Smith received her DPT degree from Boston University and worked as a PT at University of Michigan Hospital before obtaining her PhD in the Developmental Neuromotor Control Laboratory in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan. Beth’s dissertation focused on control strategies for gait across the lifespan in persons with Down syndrome, and how variability in gait patterns relates to stability of walking from a nonlinear perspective. She is interested in how developmental and aging processes interact with atypical sensor-motor systems and disease processes like PD to lead to unique movement patterns, and how and when PT’s can best intervene to promote maximal function.
Postdoctoral Researcher: Rebecca St George
My PhD investigated sensorimotor adaptations for locomotion orientation and was done at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute in Sydney Australia. I have recently joined OHSU where I am investigating the effects of deep brain stimulation on balance and postural control in Parkinson’s Disease.
Graduate Student: Julia Marshall
Julia Marshall received her BS in Engineering and BA in Psychology from Gonzaga University in 2010. She is currently a graduate student in OHSU’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. She is a PhD candidate for the class of 2015. Julia has joined the Point of Care Laboratory (Biomedical Engineering) and the Balance Disorder Laboratory (Neurology). She is currently investigating executive dysfunction and freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease.
Julia plans to focus her dissertation on the relationship between Mild Cognitive Impairment and gait. She is interested in the possible correlation between certain gait measures and cognitive decline.
