Two positions open for post-stroke upper extremity rehabilitation at Medical University of South Carolina

[Na Jin Seo]

Two Positions Open

Position Descriptions: Two positions are available, funded by an NIH R01 (2020-2025) and a VA Merit award (2019-2023). Minimum 2 year commitment is required.

• Position 1: Research Therapist. Primary duties include patient recruitment/scheduling, intervention delivery, administration of assessments, training of blinded raters to ensure high reliability of clinical assessment scoring, clinical data organization/analysis, and research presentations and publications. Licensure in Occupational or Physical Therapy is required. Experience working with patients with stroke is a plus.
• Position 2: Research Engineer. Primary duties include longitudinal assessments of patients using EMG, force sensors, motion capture, EEG, TMS, and MRI, data analysis, and research presentations and publications. Minimum B.S. in engineering or computer science is required. Experience with LabVIEW, MATLAB, or 3D printing is a plus.

Postdoctoral Scholars are welcomed for either of the positions and are expected to develop their own research grant proposals to lay the foundation for their research career. For both positions, abilities to communicate and work well in teams are very important.

Research Focus: Our research is focused on developing new upper-extremity neuro-rehabilitation interventions for patients who had a stroke, particularly in fine motor skills such as grasp/release. We test new interventions in longitudinal, randomized controlled clinical trials. The interventions being tested include peripheral sensory stimulation and 3-dimensional finger force training using visual feedback. We characterize the way intervention changes patients’ upper extremity clinical assessments, muscular coordination (EMG), kinetics/kinematics, and brain dynamics (EEG, TMS, MRI). We also investigate the rehab device translation to clinical practice.

Environment: We have very strong interdisciplinary collaboration with neurology, occupational/physical therapy, engineering, biostatistics, qualitative research, implementation science, and technology transfer.
We provide an excellent training environment to grow one’s research career. We provide individualized training in grant writing, journal clubs, clinical research rounds, and career development workshops, through resources from multiple NIH-funded centers on campus, as detailed below.

1. NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence in Stroke Recovery provides monthly rounds of interdisciplinary meetings for science, collaboration, grant development, and strategic initiatives. The center also provides pilot grants and conference opportunities specific to stroke recovery research. https://chp.musc.edu/research/stroke-recovery
2. NIH Medical Rehabilitation Research Network Center for Neuromodulation for Rehabilitation (NM4R) provides advanced training in neuromodulation techniques such as TMS, EEG, and MRI. The center provides one-on-one mentoring for development of new research ideas, as well as pilot grants. https://chp.musc.edu/research/nc-nm4r
3. South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Institute provide pilot grants and career development sessions including training in team science, mentorship, and grantsmanship. https://research.musc.edu/resources/sctr

Contact: Interested individuals may contact the PI with his/her CV, statement of interest, and a list of 3 references.

PI: Na Jin Seo, PhD (seon@musc.edu)

Associate Professor, Medical University of South Carolina
https://education.musc.edu/MUSCApps/FacultyDirectory/Seo-Na-Jin

Health Research Scientist, Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center