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Brooke Slavens, PhD

  • Co-Director of Research Center, Rehabilitation Research Design & Disability Center

Dr. Slavens is currently investigating the prevention of secondary conditions of the shoulder in manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury across the lifespan. She is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), and the VA Rehabilitation Research & Development Service (RR&D). She is also the Director of the Mobility Lab at the Innovation Campus Accelerator Building. The lab is cross affiliated with the College of Health Sciences, Department of Occupational Science & Technology and the College of Engineering & Applied Science Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Education

  • NIDRR ARRT Postdoctoral Training Pediatric Mobility Marquette University 2010
  • PhD, Biomedical Engineering, Marquette University, 2007
  • MS, Biomedical Engineering, Marquette University, 2004
  • BS, Biomedical Engineering, University of Iowa, 2001

Research Interests

  • Dynamics of human movement
  • Musculoskeletal modeling
  • MRI and ultrasound musculoskeletal imaging
  • Rehabilitation engineering
  • Orthopaedic biomechanics

New interests in human motion analysis have directed research to the area of upper extremity. To quantify the upper extremity, the Movement Analysis for Biomedical Innovation & Technology (Mobility) Lab has developed a validated 3D inverse dynamics model for assessment of pediatric mobility. The model can be used to characterize shoulder, elbow and wrist joint forces and moments. It is being applied to subjects with myelomeningocele, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury and osteogenesis imperfecta to characterize crutch, walker and wheelchair mobility to better understand joint load demands. Due to long-term assistive device usage, these mobility device users may be at an increased risk for developing upper extremity pain or pathologies.

Further research interests include musculoskeletal and finite element modeling to investigate the tissue level effects of long-term joint loading from assistive device usage. Research may improve clinical intervention strategies, therapeutic gait planning and offer insight to long-term joint loading effects.