Research Health Scientist
Edward Hines Jr VA Hospital
My career focus is on neurorehabilitation that maximizes functional outcomes for people living with Parkinson’s disease with specific interest in advancing non-pharmacological and non-invasive approaches. My early training was in pre-clinical neuroscience. For the past 12 years I trained in the VA, with a focus primarily on cognitive rehabilitation in Veterans with Parkinson’s. This VA training includes a VA HSR&D and a Polytrauma/TBI fellowship, a VA RR&D Career Development Award, Level-1 (CDA-1) and a CDA2. The RR&D CDA2 is examining if repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) will safely improve cognitive function in Veterans with Parkinson’s and mild cognitive impairment. I completed a VA RR&D SPiRE from 2019-2022 to examine feasibility of an at-home cognitive rehabilitation program that incorporates both prospective memory implementation strategies with an existing web-based executive function focused computerized cognitive training program for Veterans with Parkinson’s and mild cognitive impairment. In collaboration with clinicians at the Edward Hines Jr VA, my research portfolio has expanded to studying the use of non-invasive cervical vagal nerve stimulation to improve gait and balance in Veterans with Parkinson’s (VA RR&D funded pilot ), as well as studying intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells as a biomarker for Parkinson’s (pilot study funded by the Edward Hines VA Serwa Research Center on Aging).
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