Dr. Thomas, director of the Motor Control Lab at VCU, has been a licensed physical therapist for 32 years with over 15 years of clinical experience specializing in orthopedics and lower back pain. Over the past 17 years, he has melded his clinical experiences and knowledge with his training in neuroscience to advance knowledge on trunk control and low back pain. Dr. Thomas takes a multi-track approach understanding trunk control.
This approach includes:
1) The development of novel virtual reality assessment and treatment tools for a variety of orthopedic and neurologic impairments
2) Developing techniques to elucidate neural control of trunk movement
3) Using randomized clinical trials to assess the effectiveness of classic and novel treatments for low back pain.
Education:
University of Illinois at Chicago - 2000, Ph.D. Kinesiology
University of Illinois at Chicago - 1997, M.S. Kinesiology
Saint Louis University - 1985, B.S. Physical Therapy
Courses Taught: Multivariate Statistics, Differential Diagnosis, Bioinstrumentation, Physical Agents, Functional Anatomy, Advance Case Study, Management of Ageing
Dr. van der Veen is a licensed physical therapist with clinical experience specializing in mobility in the elderly population with neurological and orthopedic disabilities. During her master’s degree and doctorate studies, the primary research focus has been on motor control and factors that affect foot placement accuracy. This determined how important balance is for safe gait and gait adaptability.
Since January 2018 she has been working with Dr. Thomas on various VR projects and is responsible for running the VIGOR study (Phase II RCT examining the effectiveness of virtual dodgeball to reduce pain in and disability in chronic low back pain). Further, she has worked with our lead programmer to develop a series VR tools for balance assessment and treatment.
Education:
Salford University, Salford, United Kingdom - 2018, Ph.D. Health Science
Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands - 2014, M.S. Human Movement Science
Hoge school van Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands - 2010, B.S. Physical Therapy
ResearchGate Profile
Tiffany is a highly competent Research Coordinator with a background in Traumatic Brain Injury research, in the Veteran population. She is experienced in preforming and scoring qEEG recordings, preforming Computerized Posturography tests and administering and scoring neuropsychological tests. Tiffany is currently a Research Coordinator with CERSE and helps with grant applications, regulatory submissions, and study coordination.
Education:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - 2003, B.S. Psychology
Cameron Krainock is a Lab Technician at the VCU Motor Control Lab.
Elsie Baker is a Research Assistant at the VCU Motor Control Lab.
Nada Youssef is a Research Assistant at the VCU Motor Control Lab.
Jason is a software developer specializing in virtual reality and standalone game development in Unity Engine and C#. He also has experience building computer applications using Java.
Since joining the MCL team in February 2021, he has worked to maintain working order of the VIGOR study VR game suite. He continues to work with the MCL team to add new features to both the suite and this website, and continue to support existing features as well. He will also work with the postdoctoral fellows to develops new programs to aid in clinical research.
Education:
George Mason University - 2018, B.F.A. Computer Game Design
LinkedIn Profile