Faculty Interests
Rita Ayyangar, M.D.
Research interests: Neuropharmacologic management of cognitive disorders in brain injury; cognitive effects of intrathecal and oral baclofen; effects of early treadmill intervention in high-risk infants on ambulation and spasticity outcome; development of an adaptive cognition testing lab.
Steven Britton, Ph.D.
Research interests: Evolution and disease; oxygen metabolism.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Resource for rat genetic models of aerobic capacity (NIH)
- Aerobic running-capacity quantitative trait loci and cardiac performance (NIH)
- Submitted:
- Rat genetic models of cardiovascular risk factors (NIH)
- Genomic analysis of exercise training in a rat model of the metabolic syndrome (NIH; with Dr. Hornyak)
Tony Chiodo, M.D.
Research interests: Efficacy of interventional spine therapy; spine pain in dental health professionals; lumbosacral plexopathies in hip and pelvic fractures; wellness issues in persons with SCI; pulmonary function in persons with SCI.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Follow-up of the Wellness with SCI Study (MI PVA, U-M Office of the Vice President for Research; with Dr. Tate and Dr. Zemper)
- Assessment of osteopathic manual medicine in preventing respiratory complications in persons with SCI: A preliminary study (U-M OVPR, MSU COM; with Dr. Zemper)
- Comparison of transforaminal epidural steroid injections performed at the level of disc herniation vs. at the level of the affected nerve (with Dr. Schultz and Dr. Smuck)
- Effect of combined transforaminal epidural steroid injection and facet block vs.
transforaminal epidural steroid injection only in the treatment of spondylitic lumbar stenosis (with Dr. Schultz and Dr. Smuck) - Submitted:
- Osteopathic manual medicine and SCI respiratory function (NIH, NIDRR;
with Dr. Zemper) - Non-funded clinical research:
- Saphenous nerve conduction study: Comparing two techniques
Miles Colwell Jr., M.D.
Research interests: Biomechanics of the musculoskeletal system; pulmonary function in persons with SCI.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Assessment of osteopathic manual medicine in preventing respiratory
complications in persons with SCI: A preliminary study (U-M OVPR,
MSU COM; with Dr. Zemper) - Submitted:
- Osteopathic manual medicine and SCI respiratory function (NIH, NIDRR;
with Dr. Zemper)
Lisa DiPonio, M.D.
Research interests: Effect of backpacks on pain and posture in children; hand function in tetraplegics.
Jeffery Evans, Ph.D.
Research interests: Scientific basis for the use of expressive arts in health care; assessment of executive mental functioning in adult rehabilitation inpatients
Research skills: Qualitative research methods.
Michael Geisser, Ph.D.
Research interests: Mechanisms associated with the development and maintenance of back pain; influence of psychosocial factors on the experience of pain; treatment and prevention of chronic pain syndrome.
Research skills: Statistics and research design; research ethics and compliance
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Cooperative agreement for studying chronic multi-symptom illnesses
- Efficacy of centrally acting analgesics for the treatment of chronic low back
pain - Medical rehabilitation research training program (NIDRR; with Dr. Tate and
Dr. Hurvitz) - Acute post-operative pain management using massage as adjuvant therapy
- Submitted:
- Neural substrates of cognitive factors and chronic pain
- Paraspinal denervation in low back pain (with Dr. Haig)
- Mechanisms of hyperalgesia in fibromyalgia and chronic low back pain
- Palliative pain control with adjuvant massage to restore function
- Interventions for chronic low back pain and disability
Andrew Haig, M.D.
Research interests: Paraspinal EMG and spinal stenosis; multidisciplinary assessments; PM&R in developing countries; industrial rehabilitation.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Lumbar spinal stenosis study
Anne Hartigan, M.D.
Research interests: Ergonomics; low back pain in workers; relationship of physical examination findings to medical office visits for back pain; injury prevention in industrial settings; return to work issues; work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
Current research activities:
- Unfunded:
- Self-Assessment of Work Capability
Joseph Hornyak, M.D., Ph.D.
Research interests: Genetics of exercise; exercise in people with disabilities.
Current research activities:
- Submitted:
- Genomic analysis of exercise training in a rat model of the metabolic syndrome (NIH; with Dr. Britton)
Jane Huggins, Ph.D.
Research interests: Brain-computer interfaces; augmentive and alternative communication; brain plasticity after impairment.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Direct brain interface based on event detection in ECoG (with Dr. Levine)
Edward Hurvitz, M.D.
Research interests: Fitness, activity, exercise and obesity in cerebral palsy; adults with cerebral palsy. Motor control in children and adolescents with cerebral injury; spasticity; pediatric stroke.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Medical rehabilitation research training program (NIDRR; with Dr. Tate)
- Sensorimotor Training and Assessment in Adults with
Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy: The ULTrA Program (NIDRR; with Dr. Brown) - Submitted
- Fitness, Activity, and Health in Cerebral Palsy (NIDRR; with Dr. Hornyak, Dr. Green and Dr. Lewis)
Claire Kalpakjian, Ph.D.
Research interests: Psychosocial aspects of aging in women with disabilities.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Psychosocial and physiological aspects of menopause in women with SCI (NIDRR)
Brian Kelly, D.O.
Research interests: Orthotics and prosthetics; medical education.
Ned Kirsch, Ph.D.
Research interests: Cognitive rehabilitation; development of assistive technology systems for neurocognitive and neurobehavioral symptoms; outcomes after mild TBI.
Research skills: Single case methodologies.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Projects in the listed interest areas currently funded by NIH, NIDRR, CDC
Lauren Koch, Ph.D.
Research interests: Exercise, aging, behavior and other measures of physical capacity.
James Leonard , M.D.
Research interests: Prosthetics and orthotics.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Development of an educational program for surgeons about amputation, prosthetics and rehabilitation
Simon Levine, Ph.D.
Research interests: Rehabilitation engineering and assistive technologies; direct brain interface for control of assistive technologies; ergonomic factors in the use of assistive technologies.
Sonya Miller, M.D.
Research interests: Quality of life outcomes in minority and aging populations; medical education.
Virginia Nelson, M.D., M.P.H.
Research interests: Pediatric rehabilitation; SCI rehabilitation; rehabilitation of ventilator assisted children and adolescents; pediatric brain injury.
Percival Pangilinan Jr., M.D.
Research interests: General rehabilitation; musculoskeletal rehabilitation, stroke.
James Richardson, M.D.
Research interests: Peripheral nerve dysfunction and its association with falls in the elderly; athletic injuries in the young; low back disorders; electrodiagnostic medicine.
Randy Roth, Ph.D.
Research interests: Psychological factors and treatment outcomes in chronic pain management; myofascial pain disorders; psychological predictors of surgical outcome for chronic pain disorders.
James Rowan, Ph.D.
Research interests: Traumatic brain injury.
Steven Schultz, M.D.
Research interests: Athletic nerve injuries; interventional spine; interventional spine outcomes.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Comparison of transforaminal epidural steroid injections performed at the
level of disc herniation vs. at the level of the affected nerve (with Dr. Chiodo and Dr. Smuck) - Effect of combined transforaminal epidural steroid injection and facet block vs. transforaminal epidural steroid injection only in the treatment of spondylitic lumbar stenosis (with Dr. Chiodo and Dr. Smuck)
Matthew Smuck, M.D.
Research interests: Spine injection techniques; spine injection efficacy; spine injection training; new minimally invasive spine technologies.
Research skills: Research design; clinical based research.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Study of percutaneous intradiscal nucleoplasty efficacy - A prospective, randomized, multi-center clinical study
- Combined lumbar transforaminal epidural injection and adjacent facet joint injection for treatment of radicular back pain from spondylitic foraminal stenosis (with Dr. Chiodo and Dr. Schultz)
- Evaluation of Spine Intervention Competency in Medical Trainees (with Dr. Chiodo)
- A comparison of transforaminal epidural injection at the site of disc injury vs. the level of the affected nerve; a prospective randomized, controlled, double-blind study (with Dr. Chiodo and Dr. Schultz)
- Submitted:
- Prospective, double blind, randomized controlled trial comparing
fluoroscopically guided transforaminal epidural steroid injections with oral steroids in the treatment of radiculopathy from herniated nucleus pulposus - Non-funded clinical research:
- Incidence of mixed intravascular and epidural injection during lumbosacral transforaminal epidural steroid injections.
- Incidence of mixed intravascular and epidural injection during cervical transforaminal epidural steroid injections
- What does the patient want, and does this correspond with physician assumptions about treatment? A survey of physicians and of their patients with low back pain
- Single insertion for multiple injections (SIMI), a technique to reduce pain, procedure time and radiation exposure during spine injections
- Vascular causes of radiculopathy: A literature review
- Prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled trial comparing fluoroscopically guided transforaminal epidural steroid injections with oral steroids in the treatment of radiculopathy from herniated nucleus pulposus
- Percutaneous plasma discectomy for treatment of symptomatic lumbar intervertebral discs
- Cutaneous administration of local anesthetic for spine injection procedures: What is the best technique?
- Percutaneous aspiration of facet synovial cysts by a transforaminal approach
- Localizing low back bony landmarks with palpation
Catherine Spires, M.D.
Research interests: Multiple trauma and burn rehabilitation; lower limb prosthetics and rehabilitation; electrodiagnostic medicine; medical education.
Current research activity:
- Funded:
- Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Program (NIDRR; with Dr. Tate)
Denise Tate, Ph.D.
Research interests: Quality of life and outcomes research; health behaviors and wellness; SCI and post-polio adjustment; community integration following SCI.
Research skills: Research design; grant-writing.
Current research activity:
- Funded:
- Medical rehabilitation research training program (NIH; with Dr. Hurvitz)
- Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Program (NIDRR; with Dr. Spires)
- U-M Model Spinal Cord Injury Care System (NIDRR; with Dr. Gater)
- Health and quality of life in persons with long-term mechanical ventilation (Model Systems)
- Stress and coping across the lifespan in women with SCI (NIDRR)
- Follow-up of the Wellness with SCI Study (MI PVA, U-M OVPR; with Dr. Zemper and Dr. Chiodo)
Seth Warschausky, Ph.D.
Research interests: Neuropsychology of neurodevelopmental conditions; neuropsychology of pediatric TBI; adapted neuropsychological assessment techniques; social competence in neurodevelopmental conditions.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- ACSESS Project – adapted neuropsychological assessment
- AFSIS Project – social integration of children with disabilities
- Health and quality of life in persons with long-term mechanical ventilation (Model Systems; with Dr. Tate)
- Submitted:
- Pediatric TBI: ADHS, attention and neuroanatomical networks (NIH)
- Mentored assertiveness training for children with disabilities (NIDRR)
- Adapted neuropsychological assessment in children with cerebral palsy (NIH)
Robert Werner, M.D.
Research interests: Evaluating natural history of carpal tunnel syndrome among active workers; effective treatments for CTS; influence of intracarpal pressure on treatment outcomes in CTS.
Recent research activity:
- Ergonomic solutions for employment (NIDRR)
- Rehabilitation of upper extremity cumulative trauma disorder (UAW-GM)
John Yarjanian, D.O.
Current research activities:
- Lumbar spinal stenosis in relation to lumbar paraspinal atrophy (with Dr. Haig)
Eric D. Zemper, Ph.D.
Research interests: Epidemiology; epidemiology of sports injuries; epidemiology of concussion/mild TBI; health and wellness issues for people with SCI; physical activity and exercise for people with SCI; medical education.
Research skills: Research design; database design and management; survey instrument design; research in medical education.
Current research activities:
- Funded:
- Follow-up of the Wellness with SCI Study (MI PVA, U-M OVPR; with Dr. Tate and Dr. Chiodo)
- Assessment of osteopathic manual medicine in preventing respiratory complications in persons with SCI: A preliminary study (U-M OVPR, MSU COM; with Dr. Chiodo)
- Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Program (NIDRR; with Dr. Tate and Dr. Spires)
- Submitted:
- Osteopathic manual medicine and SCI respiratory function (NIH, NIDRR)
Mark Ziadeh, M.D.
Research interests: Rehabilitation outcomes; residency education.
Research Fellows
Anthony Lequerica, Ph.D.
Research interests: Psychometrics – testing and measurement of rehabilitation outcomes; neuropsychological functioning in people with TBI; stress and coping in people with SCI.
Research skills: database design and management; statistical analysis.
Colleen Lewis, Ph.D.
Research interests: Proprioception and coordination of the upper limbs in children and adults with hemiplegia; change in the aging process for persons with pediatric onset disabilities; task-based sensorimotor training using both the affected hand and less affected hand in children and adults with pediatric onset disabilities; tele-rehabilitation for the upper limbs in children and adults with hemiplegia; physical activity as a means for improving and maintaining functional use of the upper limbs.
