Brain Injury Awareness Month Faculty Experts

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Newswise March is national Brain Injury Awareness Month. The University of South Carolina has many distinguished neuroscience researchers who study brain injury resulting from stroke, sports and physical injury and cognitive and movement disorders. The researchers below conduct their research through the universitys McCausland Center for Brain Imaging and the Institute for Mind and Brain. To interview one of the faculty members below, contact Peggy Binette or Jeff Stensland in the Office of Media Relations at 803-777-7704, peggy@mailbox.sc.edu; or 803-777-3686, stenslan@mailbox.sc.edu

Chris Rorden is a SmartState Chair and Professor of Neuroimaging and co-director of the McCausland Center for Brain Imaging. Rorden, one of the universitys top neuroscience researchers, is an expert in brain injury and can discuss the difficulties with speech and perception that can result from stroke, epilepsy and other neurological disorders. He also can discuss the benefits of recently developed non-invasive techniques for observing and stimulating the brain, which he uses in his research. Rorden teaches graduate and higher level courses including ones on traumatic brain injury, sensation and perception and functional brain imaging.

Rutvik Desai is an associate professor of psychology with a background in computer and cognitive sciences. As a researcher he studies how the meanings of words and sentences are stored in the brain and whether the conceptual (thinking) system of the brain is separate from the perceptual (seeing, hearing, acting) systems of the brain. His research compares these processes in healthy people and people who have been affected by brain injury, such as stroke or movement disorders such as Parkinsons disease. Desai conducts his research through the universitys McCausland Center for Brain Imaging, where he uses functional MRI, transcranial magnetic stimulation and observational study.

Julius Fridriksson is a Health Sciences Distinguished Professor in the Arnold School of Public Healths Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and is one of the world's leading researchers on stroke and aphasia. He is co-director of the McCausland Center for Brain Imaging and director of the Aphasia Laboratory, where he seeks to clarify the relationship between brain damage and speech/language impediments. His areas of research include neurogenic communication disorders, neuroimaging in aphasia and treatment of aphasia. He can discuss in-depth the challenges and opportunities in helping stroke victims recover their ability to communicate.

Troy Herter is a professor in the Department of Exercise Science at the Arnold School of Public Health. His research focuses on using robotic technology to develop innovative assessments tools for measuring sensory, motor and cognitive function in adults, children and patient populations. He is also developing novel approaches using non-invasive brain imaging and brain stimulation techniques to improve prognosis and rehabilitation following brain injury.

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Brain Injury Awareness Month Faculty Experts