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Associate Professor, Director of Research
University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Health Professions, Birmingham VA Health Care
Keith McGregor is an Associate Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences. His work currently investigates aging-related declines in motor control and its implications to stroke rehabilitation. His current projects employ multimodal imaging and neurophysiological techniques (TMS, rTMS, tDCS, fMRI and DTI) to investigate brain function. Dr. McGregor's work has shown that aging is associated with decreased levels of cortical inhibition, which affects motor control including motor learning. A major facet of this aging related phenomenon, however, is that individual differences in physical activity level appear to mitigate changes in cortical communication. Dr. McGregor's research has shown that lifestyle interventions can lessen or even reverse aging-related declines in behavioral performance in motor and cognitive domains. These findings have great relevance to rehabilitation programs which may be augmented by the incorporation of increased levels of physical activity.