News & Insights
CBR Researchers Present at the Clinical Aphasiology Conference 2025
This past May, four researchers from the BU Center for Brain Recovery attended and presented at the 2025 Clinical Aphasiology Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At the conference, CBR Assistant Scientific Director, Maria Varkanitsa, presented the research “Theory of mind deficits in people with post-stroke aphasia: Prevalence and links to aphasia... More
Theory of Mind Deficits in People with Post-Stroke Aphasia
Acknowledgements This work was conducted as part of a larger NIH-funded project titled “Functional reorganization of the language and domain-general multiple demand systems in aphasia” (NIDCD Grant 1R01DC016950, PIs: Swathi Kiran and Evelina Fedorenko). It reflects a collaborative effort from current and former researchers at the Boston University Center for Brain... More
Faculty Feature: Archana Venkataraman
Dr. Venkataraman is an Associate Professor at Boston University, a Core Faculty member for the Center for Brain Recovery, and the Principal Investigator for the BU Neural Systems Analysis Laboratory. Q&A with Archana Venkataraman What is your current research focus, and how does it align with the Center for Brain Recovery's mission? My... More
Neurology Today: Can Large Language Models Eliminate Biases in Health Care?
Vijaya Kolachalama, CBR Core Faculty member, was quoted by Neurology Today in their article exploring research into implementation of large language models (LLMs) in healthcare. Read the full article
Yahoo News: How AI Could Change the Way Doctors Diagnose and Treat Dementia
CBR Core Faculty member, Vijaya Kolachalama, was quoted by Yahoo News in an article discussing the potential benefits of leveraging AI for dementia diagnoses. Read the full article
Daniel Marcelo’s Story
In honor of National Stroke Awareness Month, we would like to highlight the story of Daniel Marcelo, a stroke survivor who started language therapy with the BU Center for Brain Recovery in 2022 as part of a randomized, controlled clinical trial entitled “Predicting Rehabilitation Outcomes using Computational Modeling (PROCoM)”. If you... More
American Heart Association: Speaking more than one language can add layers to stroke recovery
Dr. Swathi Kiran, Director of the Center for Brain Recovery, was recently featured as an expert on bilingual aphasia in the American Heart Association’s article, “Speaking more than one language can add layers to stroke recovery”. Read the full article
CBR Seminar Series: Sigfus Kristinsson
Behavioral speech-language therapy (SLT) is the most effective and widely used approach for treating post-stroke aphasia. While effective on average, individual variability in treated recovery continues to be problematic for the development of personalized treatment protocols. Recent research shows that many individuals show a selective response to one treatment paradigm over another, highlighting the need to consider individual and treatment-specific factors—and their interaction—as guides in personalized treatment planning. However, prognostic factors for treatment success remain elusive and understudied. More
Care Onward Panel
On April 28th, 2025, the Center for Brain Recovery co-hosted the Care Onward Panel in collaboration with Stroke Onward. The panel gathered stroke survivors, neurologists, rehabilitation clinicians, researchers, and caregivers to discuss topics of transition care and psychosocial support for stroke and aphasia patients. The list of panelists included numerous accomplished... More
CBR Seminar Series: Preeti Sunderaraman
CBR Seminar Series: Preeti Sunderaraman, May 12, 2025 Title: Innovations in Financial Management Assessment – Preliminary Evidence from a simulated technology task Abstract: Early identification of financial mismanagement is critical, especially in populations vulnerable to impaired cognition. Such populations are known to experience substantial and, at times, recurring financial loss. Despite having tremendous clinical... More
The Brink: Aphasia Robs Millions of Communication. Boston University Is Helping Them Regain Their Voice
On April 7th, The Brink published the article “Aphasia Robs Millions of Communication. Boston University Is Helping Them Regain Their Voice”, highlighting how Boston University’s Aphasia Resource Center (ARC) and Center for Brain Recovery (CBR) have been supporting people affected by aphasia. Read the full article
Faculty Feature: Elizabeth Hoover
Dr. Hoover is a Clinical Professor at Boston University, a Core Faculty member for the Center for Brain Recovery, and the Clinical Director of the BU Aphasia Resource Center. Q&A with Elizabeth Hoover What is your current research focus, and how does it align with the Center for Brain Recovery's mission? Our research... More
CBR Seminar Series: Michael Alosco
CBR Seminar Series: Michael Alosco, February 24, 2025 Title: Beyond Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: Long-Term White Matter and Vascular Consequences of Repetitive TBIs Abstract: Exposure to repetitive traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) from contact and collision sports and other sources have been identified as a risk factor for the neurodegenerative tauopathy chronic traumatic encephalopathy... More
History of the Center for Brain Recovery
Our History The Center for Brain Recovery (CBR) was first established at Boston University in 2009 as the “Aphasia Research Laboratory” with the primary goal of understanding language processing and communication following brain damage. Following the initiation of the Aphasia Research Laboratory, the lab received its first PhD student in 2010. Since... More
The CBR Internship Program
Interview with Scientific Director Maria Varkanitsa and Intern Isabel Yu The Undergraduate Internship Experience Isabel Yu, is an undergraduate neuroscience student at Boston University and has been a member of the Center for Brain Recovery (CBR) internship program since the fall. Through working with Manuel Marte on his “Naturalistic Neuroimaging for Presurgical... More