Erin Vasudevan, PhD

Photo Credit: Jeanne Neville

Erin Vasudevan, PhD

Assistant Professor
Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Neuroscience

Office: Suite 120, RRAMP Lab, Building 17, Research and Development Park
Phone: (631)638-1567
Email: erin.vasudevan@stonybrook.edu

Curriculum vitae
Research interests:Motor learning, gait rehabilitation, motor development, stroke, traumatic brain injury

Biography

Dr. Erin Vasudevan is a neuroscientist who studies how the brain and spinal cord control walking. Walking is often taken for granted by people without motor disabilities. However, efficient and safe walking around the real world is quite complex. It requires one to navigate obstacles (e.g., stepping on a curb), pay attention to approaching objects (e.g., cars), adjust to changes in the terrain (e.g., a slippery floor), and adjust to changes in one's own body (e.g., after injury). My research goal is to study how people without neurological damage successfully navigate real-world environments and how they adjust to changes in these environments. I also study how neurological damage such as stroke or brain injury affects the ability to walk and I develop gait retraining techniques and devices to improve rehabilitation outcomes.

 

Educational Background

  • BSc (Hon), Physiology, University of Alberta, Canada
  • PhD, Neuroscience, University of Alberta, Canada
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Funded Grant Activity

American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant, 12SDG12200001
07/01/12-06/01/17
Optimizing Locomotor Adaptation for Rehabilitation Post-Stroke
The projects in this grant test several methods which we hypothesize will improve the retention and generalization of learned gait patterns in people who have had a stroke.
Role: Principal Investigator
 
Pennsylvania Department of Health
01/01/13-06/30/14
Home Based Mirror Therapy for Lower-Limb Rehabilitation Post-Stroke
Mirror therapy (MT) is a relatively new therapeutic intervention that has been shown to improve the range of motion, speed, and accuracy of hemiparetic upper limb movements. MT uses a mirror to create an illusion where movements of the unimpaired limb appear as if they are being made by the impaired limb. This study investigated whether a home-based form of MT is an effective treatment for lower limb hemiparesis.
Role: Principal Investigator
 
NIH, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke,  5F32NS063642
08/15/08-07/15/10
Optimizing Locomotor Adaptation
The goal of this project was to test new ways to facilitate the transfer of a learned locomotor pattern to everyday walking activities.
Role: Principal Investigator

 

Selected Publications

1. Hamzey RJ, Kirk EM, Vasudevan EV. Gait speed influences aftereffect size following locomotor adaptation, but only in certain environments. Exp Brain Res. 2016 Jan 20;PubMed PMID: 26790424.

2. Vasudevan EV, Patrick SK, Yang JF. Gait Transitions in Human Infants: Coping with Extremes of Treadmill Speed. PLoS One. 2016;11(2):e0148124. PubMed PMID: 26828941.

3. Vasudevan EV, Glass RN, Packel AT. Effects of traumatic brain injury on locomotor adaptation. J Neurol Phys Ther. 2014 Jul;38(3):172-82. PubMed PMID: 24892766.

4. Vasudevan EV, Kirk EM. Improving interlimb coordination following stroke: how can we change how people walk (and why should we)?. In W. Jenson, O. Andersen, M. Akay (Eds.) Replace, Repair, Restore, Relieve – Bridging Clinical and Engineering Solutions in Neurorehabilitation. 2014. Springer International Press. Pg 195-202. 

Full publications list