Penn PM&R principal investigators

Chair, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Chief Medical Officer and Physiatrist-in-Chief, Good Shepherd Penn Partners; William J. Erdman, II, Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

The Penn Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Gait and Biomechanics Laboratory focuses on motion and gait analysis for both patient care and research in order to better diagnose, treat, and understand movement and gait disorders. The lab features an eight camera Vicon motion analysis system with force plate and an eight channel EMG monitor. The primary research focus for the lab has been with Dr. Dillingham and his team. They have been continuously funded by the NIH, NCMRR and NIA for the past six years through the STTR funding mechanism to design, engineer, test, and commercialize a new prosthetic system for persons with transtibial and transfemoral amputations. This system is injection molded and mass produced through a highly successful collaboration with Advanced Design Concepts, their engineering partner for all engineering and manufacture of these prostheses. This prosthetic device is adjustable to the size and shape of the residual limb and can be fit and aligned in a single session. Such a device holds promise in addressing the high costs of conventional prosthetic manufacture and the need for such devices internationally. This research team recently completed a feasibility trial with 10 subjects and measured the socket pressures, biomechanics of gait, and the self-reported use and comfort of the device. The preliminary results suggest that such an adjustable immediately fit device is feasible and safe.

Dr. Dillingham in June 2017, received continued funding from the NIA for three more years to fully develop a transfemoral immediate fit, injection molded, adjustable prosthetic system.

Penn Gait and Biomechanics Laboratory

Associate Director, Clinical Neurosciences Track

Director, Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation

Associate Professor of Neurology; Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

The central aim of the Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation (LCNS) is to use noninvasive neuromodulation techniques to develop novel interventions to rehabilitate intellectual abilities in patients suffering from neurologic diseases that affect cognition. Our lab primarily uses non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to influence a range of mental abilities including language, executive function, spatial reasoning, and sensory-motor interactions. Current active protocols are investigating 1) the effects of TMS on speech production in post-stroke aphasia, 2) the effectiveness of tDCS combined with speech therapy on improving language functioning in Primary Progressive Aphasia, and 3) the use of virtual reality as a therapeutic tool to alleviate pain associated with phantom limb. The LCNS is located in the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, but also has a second lab site at the Penn Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine. The lab is under the direction of Dr. Roy Hamilton, and Associate Professor of Neurology and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. Please visit our website for more information and ways to participate: Laboratory for cognition and neural stimulation.

Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Fulbright Scholar

Under the direction of Dr. Michelle Johnson, the Rehabilitation Robotics Laboratory, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, focuses on technology-assisted rehabilitation for persons with disabilities. The laboratory investigates brain plasticity and motor function after non-traumatic brain injury — such as stroke and cerebral palsy — by combining rehabilitation robotics and neuroscience. The Laboratory’s ultimate goal is to translate research findings into the development of affordable therapeutic robots that can provide globally effective neurorehabilitation solutions. Our aim and motto is to “develop innovative technologies that transform lives.”

In May 2020, Dr. Johnson was awarded a Fulbright Scholar Award for her project "Towards increasing access to rehabilitation in Botswana: Feasibility of using an affordable robot to study motor and cognitive impairment after HIV and Stroke.”

Rehabilitation Robotics Laboratory

Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Randel Swanson's lab is interested in the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration following acquired brain injury. His current research is centered around the pathophysiological role of brain-reactive autoantibodies in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). To this end, the lab is actively pursuing research to elucidate the underlying mechanistic link between TBI and secondary neurodegeneration, and examining the utility of brain-reactive autoantibodies to serve as novel biomarkers for advanced TBI diagnostic and prognostic testing. The Swanson Lab is housed within the Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration, and Restoration at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center.

Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Neurology

Smit Scholar

Dr. Vitale research focuses on applying innovations in nanomaterial and nanofabrication to develop novel bioelectronic devices for recording and neuromodulation in the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves, with the aim of understanding and treating diseases such as Parkinson's, epilepsy, chronic pain, neural injury. Dr. Vitale develops soft, high resolution bidirectional microelectrodes for simultaneous recording and stimulation at the resolution of individual neurons, microfluidic-based strategies for minimally invasive implantation of these soft microelectrodes, and flexible, conformal 2D microarrays for high-density mapping of neural and muscular activation. Dr. Vitale research combines methods from nanomaterial processing and characterization, device fabrication, neuroscience and translational neuroengineering with the ultimate goal of improving patients health by translating research findings into therapeutic neuroprosthetic devices. In September 2019, Dr. Vitale was awarded the Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Engineering Research Career Development Program, a special NIH K12 program dedicated to train engineers in rehabilitation sciences. Additional information regarding her research can be found here: http://cnt.upenn.edu/flavia-vitale

Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Core Investigator, VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center

Dr. Waddell’s research broadly explores how to improve the long-term health outcomes of adults with neurologic disease by leveraging insights from behavioral economics. Specifically, she focuses on applying behavioral economic principles to 1) help improve physical activity and disease self-management for adults with neurologic disease and 2) improve the translation of in-clinic improvements to daily life for adults receiving rehabilitation services. This work includes wearable devices and remote monitoring technologies. She also has a growing interest in using administrative data to better understand post-stroke recovery, disability, and identifying patient populations who may benefit from remote monitoring interventions to improve overall health.

Dr. Waddell received her PhD in Movement Science and her Master’s degree in Clinical Investigation from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. She received her Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Yejia Zhang is a dedicated physician-scientist interested in intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration and repair. Back pain related to IVD degeneration is an important cause of morbidity among Veterans, with limited therapeutic options. Her research on IVD repair has been supported with a K08-award by the NIH. There is a nice synergy between her clinical work caring for patients with spine-related pain and research focused on the mechanisms of intervertebral disc degeneration and repair. She currently devotes 50% of time to spine-related research, and 50% effort to patient care and teaching. With a doctoral training focusing on collagen gene regulation and clinical experience of back pain management, she is well suited to bringing findings at the lab bench to patient care. In addition, she is the first Physiatrist in the Philadelphia VA Medical Center and Department of Rehabilitation at Penn to pursue wet lab research. This endeavor may encourage other Physiatrists to follow, thus forming a critical mass for evidence-based medicine in the field of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

In particular, her team was initially interested in fibronectin fragments because they were potent initiators of IVD degeneration. Subsequently, they identified ADAM8 as a fibronectin-cleaving enzyme, and have shown that fibronectin N-terminal fragments increase with IVD degeneration in human tissues. These experiments establish the clinical relevance of ADAM8. Further experiments in the mouse, especially in the novel ADAM8-inactivation mouse, will delineate molecular mechanisms of ADAM8 action. This project has strengthened her existing collaborations with Motomi Enomoto-Iwamato because both ADAM8 and fibronectin interact with integrin, a long time interest of Dr. Iwamoto's. Dr. Iwamoto has reagents and established techniques to examine molecular interactions between integrin and ADAM8. Dr. Iwamoto has generously shared her resources including reagents and methodology used in tendon, joint and bone, resulting in cross fertilization of the intervertebral disc field.

Since Dr. Zhang returned to Penn four years ago, she has also formed new collaborations with Robert Mauck, PhD. Their teams currently occupy a shared laboratory within the Translational Musculoskeletal Research Center (TRMC) at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center (VAMC). His background in engineering and Dr. Zhang's training in biology and clinical experience generate synergies: they are examining bone-disc-bone motion segments biomechanical properties in mice with various molecular modifications. Together the will work towards a common goal: to understand the mechanism of disc degeneration and help patients with back problems.