PT Faculty Honored with New Grants

Several faculty in the department of Physical Therapy & Athletic Training were honored with prestigious grants from Boston University this semester.

Lou Awad, PT, DPT, PhD

Assistant Professor Lou Awad was awarded an Integrated Pilot Grant from the Boston University Clinical and Translational Science Institute for his research on “Integrating Computer Vision with Wearable Sensors to Advance Targeted Locomotor Retraining.” Awad is examining the feasibility of merging two sensing modalities—computer vision and body-worn inertial sensors—to advance post-stroke gait rehabilitation. He is collaborating with co-PI Assistant Professor Roberto Tron from BU’s department of Mechanical Engineering.

Awad is also an associate faculty member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and a research faculty member at Harvard University’s Stroke Research and Recovery Institute at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. He is the director of Boston University’s Neuromotor Recovery Laboratory. 

Julie Keysor, PhD, PT

Associate Professor and Director of BU Center for Enhancing Activity and Participation among Persons with Arthritis (ENACT) Julie Keysor received an award from the Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research on BU’s Medical Campus.

Keysor’s grant will help fund her work at the new Mobile and Electronic Health Affinity Research Collaborative (ARC), where she serves as co-director. This ARC is an inter-disciplinary collaboration that seeks to conduct state-of-the art research and training in mobile and electronic health to improve the health of underserved populations across the lifespan. Keysor’s project brings together researchers from across Boston University—including ARC co-directors Assistant Professor Lisa Quintiliani at the School of Medicine, Professor Belinda Borrelli at the School of Dental Medicine, and colleagues from the College of Engineering—to advance mHealth and eHealth initiatives.

Keysor is also the PI for one of three pilot projects to build effective mHealth and eHealth applications. Keysor’s project, “Development of a Novel e-Health App for Knee OA Exercise Adherence,” will explore user preferences to develop features of a mobile application to support adherence to physical activity programs among people with OA. Based on this feedback, investigators will develop a prototype and intervention program followed by user testing.

Deepak Kumar, PT, PhD, OCS

Assistant Professor Deepak Kumar received an Integrated Pilot Grant from the Boston University Clinical and Translational Science Institute for his project “Quantitative Tool for Assessment of Varus Thrust in Knee Osteoarthritis.” Kumar is developing a clinical tool for identification and quantification of varus thrust in people with knee osteoarthritis, ultimately using this tool to identify interventions to reduce varus thrust in this population.

Kumar is collaborating with co-investigators Dr. David Felson and Dr. Ali Guermazi from the BU School of Medicine, Dr. Michael LaValley from BU School of Public Health, and Professor Jim Richards at the University of Central Lancashire.

Kumar holds a joint appointment as assistant professor at the BU School of Medicine and is the director of BU’s Movement & Applied Imaging Lab.