Postdoctoral Fellows
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David J. Clark, ScD David J. Clark, ScD is a Research Health Science Specialist at
the Veterans Affairs Brain Rehabilitation Research Center (mentor:
Steve Kautz, PhD.) He completed his Doctor
of Science in Rehabilitation Sciences at Boston University and his
Bachelor of Science in Exercise Physiology at the University of
Massachusetts – Lowell. Dr. Clark’s research has focused on neuromuscular
control of force and movement in adults who have experienced a stroke
and in elders with functional limitations. He is currently investigating
the neuro-mechanical impairments underlying locomotor deficits in
adults post-stroke. Specifically, he seeks to understand the role
of descending motor inputs for making voluntary adaptations to the
gait pattern. |
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Sean C. Forbes, PhD Sean obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Western Ontario (School
of Kinesiology). During his doctoral studies he examined the effects
of acid-base status on skeletal muscle energetics using magnetic
resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Following graduate studies, he completed
a post-doctoral fellowship at Michigan State University (Department
of Physiology). Presently, Sean is a post-doctoral associate in
the laboratories of Krista Vandenborne,
PhD, PT, and Glenn Walter, PhD at the University of Florida.
His primary research interests involve utilizing novel MRI/MRS techniques
to study muscle metabolism and structural integrity, and how these
are altered in various conditions, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
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Kun-Ze Lee, PhD Kun-Ze Lee, PhD is a post-doctoral associate in the Department of Physical Therapy (mentor: David Fuller, PhD). He received his PhD degree in National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan. His reseach focuses on neurophysiology and neuroplasticity of respiratory-related neurons in response to chemoreceptor activation and spinal cord injury. |
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Min Liu, MD, PhD |
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Kai Qiu, PhD Kai Qiu, PhD is a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Physical Therapy (mentor: David Fuller, PhD.) He is using gene therapy approaches such as adeno-associated virus (AAV) to deliver genes of interest to respiratory neurons. His work is aimed at improving respiratory insufficiency in conditions such as spinal cord injury and glycogen storage disease. He uses behavioral, neurophysiological and molecular methods to examine these questions. |
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Sarah Reed, PhD Sarah Reed, PhD is a Post Doctoral Associate in the laboratory of Andrew Judge, PhD. Sarah received her Doctoral degree in Animal Sciences from the University of Florida where her work focused on the isolation and characterization of equine umbilical cord derived stem cells. Her prior graduate research involved the identification of proteomic differences between active and quiescent muscle satellite cells. Currently, she is investigating the involvement of the Foxo and NF-kB signaling pathways during muscle wasting in response to cancer. |
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Chris Robertson, PhD Chris is a post-doctoral fellow with the Veterans Affairs Brain |
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Nicole Tester, PhD Nicole received her chemistry degree from Millikin University (Decatur, IL) and her PhD in neuroscience from the University of Florida’s College of Medicine. Her graduate work focused on determining the effects of spinal cord injury on locomotor function and characterizing spontaneous locomotor recovery in animal models. In addition, she evaluated the therapeutic potential of different interventions aimed at enhancing locomotor recovery. During her graduate career, Nicole became interested in translational research--how what we learn from the basic sciences can be integrated into the clinical laboratory and ultimately, clinical practice; and conversely, how findings from clinical research can drive the questions we pursue in basic research. For one year, she held a joint postdoctoral position between the Physical Therapy and Neuroscience departments in which she assessed the effects of locomotor training in both animals and humans following spinal cord injury. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Veterans Affairs Brain Rehabilitation Research Center and contributes research efforts to the Locomotor Initiative (mentor and leader: Andrea Behrman, PT, PhD). Her primary interests include arm swing and how this may be incorporated into locomotor training to promote activity dependent plasticity and enhance walking recovery. Additionally, she conducts reflex testing that is used to identify anatomical substrates underlying the recovery of walking function in individuals with spinal cord injury. She hopes her experiences in both the basic and clinical laboratories will begin to bridge neuroscientists and clinical scientists to drive forward our understanding of motor control, plasticity, and recovery following neurological injury. Read about Nicole's research grant award from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation here. |
