After completing by B.Sc. Biology/Chemistry degree at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, I have started graduate training at the University of Manitoba. The research I have started at the Spinal Cord Research Centre on the function of spinal neural networks in motor control have led to a Ph.D. degree in 2006 then to a postdoctoral training period at Goteborg University in Sweden with Dr. E. Jankowska, who is one of the best electrophysiologist of the world specializing in spinal interneuron studies to decipher their supraspinal and pharmacological control.
Following that, by the support of the EU-FP6 framework program, I have started as a Marie Curie Fellow in 2007 at the Copenhagen Neuronal Control of Movement Research Group. This is a very special place in the world, as there are animal and human research labs working parallel in order to enhance our understanding on the neuronal control of movement. In the laboratory of Drs. Hultborn and Nielsen, I have gained experience in multiple research methods while being part of a dynamic, international group.
Subsequent support from the Danish Agency of Independent Research (2010 – 2014) and of Dr. L. Jordan at the University of Manitoba has helped me to establish the mouse in vivo preparation for brain stimulation-evoked fictive locomotion. Since my appointment as an Assitant Professor at the University of Manitoba, I have been using this in vivo mouse preparation for research by the support of the NSERC (since 2015) and currently my colleague, Dr. Kristine Cowley and I are working on establishing a human research stream to study how spinal neural contribution to rehabilitation of motor function after spinal cord injury can be maximized.