Committees
Program Committee
David Magnuson, PhD
Neurobiologist and Biomedical Engineer
Friends for Michael Chair in Spinal Cord Research, Professor, Departments of Neurological Surgery, Anatomical Sciences & Neurobiology, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Louisville Chair, Moving Beyond Isolated Systems Symposium
After completing a BSc degree at the University of Victoria, Dr. Magnuson did postdoctoral research at University College London and at the University of Ottawa. After three years as a faculty member at the University of Manitoba, Dr. Magnuson joined the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Louisville and was a founding member of the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center. In Louisville his research efforts have focused on spinal cord circuitry, the central pattern generator for locomotion, plasticity, rehabilitation and how activity influences functional recovery after SCI. Most recently his laboratory has explored the influence of inactivity & stretching on locomotor recovery and cardiovascular function after incomplete SCI, and the use of synaptic silencing techniques to reverse engineer spinal cord circuitry. Dr. Magnuson is currently a Professor and holds the Friends for Michael Endowed Chair in Spinal Cord Injury Research.
Dana McTigue, PhD
Neuroscience Researcher
Department of Neuroscience Professor and Vice Chair for Research, Belford Center for Spinal Cord Injury; Director of Research, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH Planning Committee Member, Moving Beyond Isolated Systems Symposium
Dr. McTigue is Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Neuroscience at Ohio State University. She received her BS in Biology from Pennsylvania State University and her PhD in Physiology from Ohio State University in 1995 where she studied autonomic control of gastric function. She stayed at OSU for a postdoc and was offered a faculty position in the Department of Neuroscience there in 2003. She has a long track record of studying endogenous repair mechanisms after spinal cord injury (SCI), with a particular emphasis on the role oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in promoting remyelination after SCI. Her lab investigates the influence of extracellular factors such as inflammatory mediators and axon activity, as well as intracellular signalling mechanisms that drive progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation into new oligodendrocytes. She has more recently developed a new research direction focusing on pathological systemic effects of SCI that lead to meta-inflammation and metabolic disease. In particular, her work revealed that the liver undergoes chronic pathological changes after SCI, including long-term inflammation and fat accumulation similar to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). She is currently examining mechanisms mediating post-injury liver dysfunction and pathology and evaluating how these changes contribute to indices of metabolic disease, such as hyperlipidemia, insulin resistance and increased adiposity after SCI.
Jill Wecht, EdD
Autonomic Researcher, Professor
Professor of Human Performance and Rehabilitation Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai; Program Director of the Cardiovascular Autonomic Program within the National Center for the Medical Consequences of SCI at the James J Peters VA Medical Center; Chair of the Autonomic Standards Committee of ASIA and ISCoS; Planning Committee Member, Moving Beyond Isolated Systems Symposium
Dr. Jill Wecht investigates the impact of autonomic cardiovascular impairment on blood pressure regulation and the secondary consequences of hypotension and orthostatic hypotension on cognitive function and quality of life in persons with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). She and her team have established associations between systemic and cerebral hemodynamics and cognitive test performance and suggest premature cognitive aging in the SCI population may be the result of impaired decentralized autonomic cardiovascular control following injury. Recent findings, which describe the use of lumbosacral epidural stimulation to safely and effectively increase and maintain seated blood pressure in persons with chronic SCI are exciting and offer a viable clinical option to target autonomic cardiovascular regulation and restore blood pressure regulation, cerebral blood flow, cognitive function and quality of life.
James Guest, MD, PhD, FACS
Neurosurgeon, Professor
Clinical Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Miami, FL Planning Committee Member, Moving Beyond Isolated Systems Symposium
Dr. James Guest MD, Ph.D. is a Professor of Neurological Surgery at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis in Miami, Florida. He obtained his MD degree from the University of Alberta in 1988 and completed neurosurgical residency training in Vancouver in 1998. He was certified by the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada and the American Board of Neurological Surgeons. During residency, he obtained a Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Miami studying cell transplantation after spinal cord injury (SCI). In Vancouver, during the last years of residency, he collaborated with the nascent ICORD. He then moved to the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona for fellowship training in spinal surgery and research training in the primate motor system. He then returned to the University of Miami. Dr. Guest has a strong interest in translational research and clinical trials in SCI. He has received funding from Spinal Research, the DOD, the NIH, and the Craig Nielsen foundation. Together with colleagues, he translated autologous Schwann cell transplantation for SCI into human subjects through two sequential clinical trials. For these trials, his team also conducted neurophysiological studies to identify recovery of neural circuits. He is the PI in Miami for the North American Clinical Trials Network (NACTN) Registry, the RISCIS study, and co-chairs NACTN. He is an AO Spine knowledge forum member and has served on the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine grants working group for the past 6 years. He has conducted therapeutics studies in large animal models including cell transplantation, the use of biomaterials and pioneered delivery methods that have been patented. Current work includes neuromodulation using deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR) tested in in combination with epidural stimulation after SCI. He is a co-investigator in a small clinical trial testing MLR DBS for freezing-of-gait. His neuromodulation group recently participated in the Up-LIFT transcutaneous study for upper extremity recovery. He is collaborating with researchers from the Bronx VA, Kessler Rehabilitation, and the University of Louisville to assess the mechanisms by which epidural stimulation normalizes blood pressure in cervical injury subjects during epidural stimulation.
Grégoire Courtine, PhD
Professor, Neuroscience Translator
Full Professor of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology EPFL | Ecole Polytechnique Lausanne CHUV | Hopital Universitaire Lausanne Genève Planning Committee Member, Moving Beyond Isolated Systems Symposium
Grégoire Courtine was trained in Physics and Neurosciences. His passion for translational neurosciences has fueled his research in the development of neurotechnologies to improve recovery from neurological disorders. After obtaining the Chancellor Award during his post-doc at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), he established his own laboratory at the University of Zurich in 2008 before joining the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) in 2012. He is now Full Professor of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology in the Center for Neuroprosthetics at EPFL and in the department of Neurosurgery at the University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV). He is also Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of GTX medical, a start-up he founded in 2014 to translate the neurotechnologies developed in his laboratory into clinical treatments.
Peter Grahn, PhD
Technology Engineer, Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Assistant Professor, Department of Neurologic Surgery Senior Engineer, Assistive and Restorative Technology Laboratory Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN Planning Committee Member, Moving Beyond Isolated Systems Symposium
My professional goals are to investigate emerging therapies that hold potential to improve quality of life for individuals suffering from paralysis due to spinal cord injury (SCI). In 2005, I suffered a swimming accident that resulted in a cervical SCI and permanent quadriplegia. Following my injury, I was offered very limited treatment options. Combining these limitations for treating SCI with my curiosity to answer unknown scientific questions steered me toward a career in biomedical research. Following my undergraduate education, I was accepted into the Mayo Clinic Office for Diversity’s post-baccalaureate research experience program (PREP), and was provided an opportunity to work in the regenerative medicine laboratory of Anthony Windebank, M.D. While in Dr. Windebank’s laboratory, I worked on multiple projects using various rodent models of peripheral and central nervous system trauma in order to evaluate the efficacy bioengineered scaffolds seeded with regenerative cells and growth factors implanted into the site of injury to facilitate neural tissue regeneration. Following acceptance into Mayo Graduate School, I began my dissertation project within Dr. Kendall Lee’s Neural Engineering Laboratory. During my PhD studies, I worked with a team consisting of fellows, visiting scientists, neurosurgeons, and engineers to establish a new project within the lab that utilized intraspinal microstimulation (ISMS) for recovery of motor function following SCI. Our initial efforts focused on demonstrating that ISMS could be controlled wirelessly in a rodent model of complete SCI to successfully elicit hind limb motor functions. I also contributed to the establishment of a large animal model for use as a translational model to develop novel ISMS technologies that may be clinically applicable. Employing this translational model, we developed an MRI-guided, stereotactic delivery system for precise implantation of electrodes into spinal cord regions targeted via MRI. Toward the end of my PhD training I facilitated a collaborative project between Mayo Clinic’s Department of Neurologic Surgery, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Dr. Reggie Edgerton’s laboratory at UCLA that is ongoing. Through this collaboration we acquired Mayo IRB approval along with a FDA investigational device exemption to enroll subjects with motor complete lower limb paralysis in a clinical trial investigating the use of epidural electrical stimulation of the lumbosacral spinal cord to enable volitional control of lower limb motor functions. Currently, we have completed our first clinical trial, begun a subsequent clinical trial, and are pursuing funding to expand our spinal stimulation studies. My career goals are to lead a translational academic research laboratory that is focused on pre-clinical animal models of SCI to elucidate mechanisms underlying spinal neuromodulation-enabled volitional control of paralyzed functions and translates these findings from pre-clinical animal investigations to clinical application to improve quality of life for individuals suffering from SCI.
Karen Minassian, PhD
Biomedical Engineer and Neuroscientist
Ap. Professor at the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, Austria; Planning Committee Member, Moving Beyond Isolated Systems Symposium
Karen Minassian is a pioneer of the recent advances in epidural spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in individuals with spinal cord injury. His main interest is the understanding of the neural control of movement with a focus on human spinal cord locomotor circuits. With a background in physics and mathematics, he first used computer simulations to identify the neuronal structures that are electrically activated by epidural SCS. He then extended his approach by using neurophysiological methods and unraveled some of the mechanism underlying the generation of movement in otherwise paralyzed legs under epidural stimulation. His research has paved the way for the recent high profile studies of epidural stimulation. In parallel, he developed transcutaneous SCS, a non-invasive method that can be used as a neuromodulation tool as well as for human neurophysiological studies, a method that has been meanwhile adopted by several groups internationally. From 2016 to 2018 he supervised the research team of Prof. Grégoire Courtine at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), employing next-generation implantable SCS technologies in spinal cord injured individuals. At the Medical University of Vienna, he is currently planning novel approaches to delineate the intrinsic anatomical and physiological properties of the human locomotor networks.
Neuromodulation Committee
Yury Gerasimenko, PhD
Movement Physiologist, Professor
Professor and Head Laboratory of Movement Physiology, Pavlov Institute of Physiology, St.Petersburg, Russia Planning Committee Member, Moving Beyond Isolated Systems Symposium
Yury Gerasimenko received his Ph.D. and later doctor’s degree (D.Sci.) in the Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia. While at the Pavlov Institute of Physiology, he worked as a researcher and later as a director at the Movement Physiology Laboratory. He then moved to Los Angeles, taking a position at UCLA as a researcher with the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology. He is now Professor of Pavlov Institute of Physiology and Corresponding Member of Russian Academy of Sciences. Yury Gerasimenko is an expert in the area of regulation of locomotor behavior in decerebrated and spinal animals, as well as in human subjects with spinal cord injuries. He has performed extensive studies that have led to the development of effective rehabilitative strategies for recovery of the injured spinal cord using a combination of therapies, including epidural and transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation, pharmacological intervention and locomotor training.
Susan Harkema, PhD
Spinal Cord Injury Researcher and Innovator, Professor
Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, Associate Scientific Director, UofL Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center, Director of Research, Frazier Rehab Institute. Director, Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation’s Neurorecovery Network, Rehabilitation Research Director, Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center
Dr. Harkema's research has explored the neural plasticity of spinal networks and recovery of function after spinal cord injury (SCI). She initially focused on locomotion in a model of clinically diagnosed motor complete injury. Over the years, serendipitous discoveries allowed her to unravel mechanisms of the human spinal circuitry that modulate the autonomic nervous system, and her translational research program expanded to include technology development to improve implantable epidural stimulators. Dr. Harkema leads the KSCIRC translational faculty within the Pediatric NeuroRecovery, Adult NeuroRecovery, and Epidural Stimulation Programs. Over the past decade, these programs have collectively been awarded over $72 million to improve motor, cardiovascular and bladder function and the health, and quality of life of adults and children living with paralysis. During that time, she also led six rehabilitation centers and nine community fitness and wellness centers in the translation of scientific knowledge into clinical practice as the Director of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery Network. Dr. Harkema has published more than 110 scholarly manuscripts and book chapters, delivered over 100 worldwide lectures and keynotes and co-authored seven United States patents. Among her honors and awards, she was the 2008 co-recipient of the Reeve-Irvine Research Medal, awarded to individuals who have made critical contributions to promoting repair of the damaged spinal cord and recovery of function. In 2011, she received the Difference Maker Award from the Rick Hansen Foundation, and the Breakthrough Award from Popular Mechanics. In both 2014 and 2019 she was named the Innovator of the Year by Business First. She earned her Bachelor of Science and PhD from Michigan State University and conducted her postdoctoral fellowship in neurophysiology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Peter Grahn, PhD
Technology Engineer, Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Assistant Professor, Department of Neurologic Surgery Senior Engineer, Assistive and Restorative Technology Laboratory Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN Planning Committee Member, Moving Beyond Isolated Systems Symposium
My professional goals are to investigate emerging therapies that hold potential to improve quality of life for individuals suffering from paralysis due to spinal cord injury (SCI). In 2005, I suffered a swimming accident that resulted in a cervical SCI and permanent quadriplegia. Following my injury, I was offered very limited treatment options. Combining these limitations for treating SCI with my curiosity to answer unknown scientific questions steered me toward a career in biomedical research. Following my undergraduate education, I was accepted into the Mayo Clinic Office for Diversity’s post-baccalaureate research experience program (PREP), and was provided an opportunity to work in the regenerative medicine laboratory of Anthony Windebank, M.D. While in Dr. Windebank’s laboratory, I worked on multiple projects using various rodent models of peripheral and central nervous system trauma in order to evaluate the efficacy bioengineered scaffolds seeded with regenerative cells and growth factors implanted into the site of injury to facilitate neural tissue regeneration. Following acceptance into Mayo Graduate School, I began my dissertation project within Dr. Kendall Lee’s Neural Engineering Laboratory. During my PhD studies, I worked with a team consisting of fellows, visiting scientists, neurosurgeons, and engineers to establish a new project within the lab that utilized intraspinal microstimulation (ISMS) for recovery of motor function following SCI. Our initial efforts focused on demonstrating that ISMS could be controlled wirelessly in a rodent model of complete SCI to successfully elicit hind limb motor functions. I also contributed to the establishment of a large animal model for use as a translational model to develop novel ISMS technologies that may be clinically applicable. Employing this translational model, we developed an MRI-guided, stereotactic delivery system for precise implantation of electrodes into spinal cord regions targeted via MRI. Toward the end of my PhD training I facilitated a collaborative project between Mayo Clinic’s Department of Neurologic Surgery, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Dr. Reggie Edgerton’s laboratory at UCLA that is ongoing. Through this collaboration we acquired Mayo IRB approval along with a FDA investigational device exemption to enroll subjects with motor complete lower limb paralysis in a clinical trial investigating the use of epidural electrical stimulation of the lumbosacral spinal cord to enable volitional control of lower limb motor functions. Currently, we have completed our first clinical trial, begun a subsequent clinical trial, and are pursuing funding to expand our spinal stimulation studies. My career goals are to lead a translational academic research laboratory that is focused on pre-clinical animal models of SCI to elucidate mechanisms underlying spinal neuromodulation-enabled volitional control of paralyzed functions and translates these findings from pre-clinical animal investigations to clinical application to improve quality of life for individuals suffering from SCI.
Grégoire Courtine, PhD
Professor, Neuroscience Translator
Full Professor of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology EPFL | Ecole Polytechnique Lausanne CHUV | Hopital Universitaire Lausanne Genève Planning Committee Member, Moving Beyond Isolated Systems Symposium
Grégoire Courtine was trained in Physics and Neurosciences. His passion for translational neurosciences has fueled his research in the development of neurotechnologies to improve recovery from neurological disorders. After obtaining the Chancellor Award during his post-doc at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), he established his own laboratory at the University of Zurich in 2008 before joining the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) in 2012. He is now Full Professor of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology in the Center for Neuroprosthetics at EPFL and in the department of Neurosurgery at the University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV). He is also Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of GTX medical, a start-up he founded in 2014 to translate the neurotechnologies developed in his laboratory into clinical treatments.
Karen Minassian, PhD
Biomedical Engineer and Neuroscientist
Ap. Professor at the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University of Vienna, Austria; Planning Committee Member, Moving Beyond Isolated Systems Symposium
Karen Minassian is a pioneer of the recent advances in epidural spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in individuals with spinal cord injury. His main interest is the understanding of the neural control of movement with a focus on human spinal cord locomotor circuits. With a background in physics and mathematics, he first used computer simulations to identify the neuronal structures that are electrically activated by epidural SCS. He then extended his approach by using neurophysiological methods and unraveled some of the mechanism underlying the generation of movement in otherwise paralyzed legs under epidural stimulation. His research has paved the way for the recent high profile studies of epidural stimulation. In parallel, he developed transcutaneous SCS, a non-invasive method that can be used as a neuromodulation tool as well as for human neurophysiological studies, a method that has been meanwhile adopted by several groups internationally. From 2016 to 2018 he supervised the research team of Prof. Grégoire Courtine at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), employing next-generation implantable SCS technologies in spinal cord injured individuals. At the Medical University of Vienna, he is currently planning novel approaches to delineate the intrinsic anatomical and physiological properties of the human locomotor networks.
Kristin Zhao, PhD
Biomedical Engineer, Professor
Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic, Planning Committee Member, Moving Beyond Isolated Systems Symposium
Kristin Zhao, Ph.D., is the Director of the Assistive and Restorative Technology Laboratory in the Rehabilitation Medicine Research Center at Mayo Clinic, and the Director of the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program. She has a background in physics, biomechanics, and rehabilitation science. Dr. Zhao uses innovative technologies, device fabrication and imaging methods to investigate pathogenesis related to the musculoskeletal system. The long-term goal of Dr. Zhao's research team is to develop and use diagnostic tools to enable earlier diagnosis, prescribe effective interventions for individuals with disabilities and diseases, and assess outcomes. Dr. Zhao's team consists of physicians, nurses, therapists, engineers and administrative staff who collaborate with external and internal investigators. Fields of study represented by this team research include radiology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, physiology and biomedical engineering, and physical medicine and rehabilitation. Dr. Zhao's research focus is on the development of assistive technologies across the lifespan, as well as the integration of novel technologies to address issues such as spinal cord injury, upper limb loss, osteoarthritis, and neuromuscular diseases. Additionally, Dr. Zhao's team is interested in including analyses of sex differences and alleviating health disparities while addressing important translational questions. Dr. Zhao’s research is funded by various organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and the Mayo Foundation.
