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.jpg "Karen J. Nolan, PhD photo")
Associate Director
Kessler Foundation
West Orange, New Jersey, United States
Dr. Karen J. Nolan is the Associate Director for the Center for Mobility and Rehabilitation Engineering at Kessler Foundation, Professor of PM&R at Rutgers NJMS, Adjunct Professor of BME at Rutgers, and Affiliated Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Dr. Nolan is a recognized leader in the field of biomechanics and motor rehabilitation. Her research focuses on improving neurophysiological and functional motor recovery through robotic, orthotic and clinical interventions, and to begin to understand how the CNS recovers after acute and chronic brain injury. Dr. Nolan is currently leading multiple randomized clinical trials to investigate the impact of rehabilitation robotics for recovery of walking function post brain injury (stroke and TBI) through the National Institutes of Health (NIH R01); National Institute on Disability Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) and industry-sponsored funding. Dr. Nolan is also MPI of two (NIH R01) clinical trials investigating the functional and neurophysiological benefits of exoskeleton gait training post stroke and for efficacy of haptic robots and virtual reality for recovery of hand function post stroke. Dr. Nolan has extensive experience in leading the design and implementation of biomechanical research and strong expertise in balance, gait, rehabilitation robotics, and peripheral motor control. She serves as a grant reviewer for NIH, NIDILRR, NSF, VA, and is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, and Wearable Robotics Association.