Research
Research is an integral part of the mission-driven work of the Doisy College of Health Sciences. Students and faculty work together to make important contributions to research in the health sciences. Through inquiry, synthesis and dissemination, new knowledge and cutting-edge findings are applied to clinical settings and patient care. Our research targets and promotes cura personalis, care for the whole person.
At Doisy College, research is incorporated into our courses, lab experiences, research assistantships and thesis work. Building on the legacy of Edward A. Doisy, health sciences research and scholarship promote and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration to better the human condition.
Faculty and students alike at the Doisy College of Health Sciences advance health science scholarship through both basic and applied research projects. Research in the Doisy College of Health Sciences is mission-driven, hands-on and leverages student-centered experiences to design and implement novel, integrative methods for understanding health and disease, and for improving healthcare in diverse settings across the lifespan.
Areas of Research
Neuroimaging and Behavior Lab
Principal investigator: Jason Longhurst, Ph.D., D.P.T.
The mission of the Neuroimaging and Behavior (NIB) Lab is to improve the health and quality of life of individuals living with neurodegenerative diseases (with a focus on Parkinson's disease) by 1) increasing our understanding of the mechanisms and factors that contribute to complex behaviors and; 2) developing targeted mechanistic and behavioral interventions. The NIB Lab studies the interaction between gait, postural control, and cognition, particularly in the context of Parkinson’s disease. The NIB Lab uses a range of techniques to study these interactions, including measuring cortical activation during movement and conducting biomechanical assessments. This work has led to several key areas of research focus, including:
- Fear of falling and activity restriction
- Community engagement and participation
- Early identification of disease and syndromes
Affiliated faculty: Jennifer Anderson, D.P.T., and Annie Zinselmeier, D.P.T.
Learn more about the Neuroimaging and Behavior Lab
Translational Injury Prevention Lab
Principal investigator: Olu Owoeye, Ph.D.
The Translational Injury Prevention Lab is committed to advancing sports and exercise injury prevention and musculoskeletal health through high-quality knowledge translation research and practical solutions that enhance the safety and well-being of athletes and active individuals worldwide. The TIP lab conducts multidisciplinary research aimed at evaluating the relationship between load and lower-limb injuries and proffering pragmatic solutions for load management and resilience in collegiate soccer and basketball student-athletes. Owoeye and the TIP Lab strive to contribute generalizable knowledge toward reducing sport and exercise injuries and associated chronic health consequences.
Musculoskeletal Movement Science
Principal investigator: Gretchen Salsich, Ph.D.
Salsich's research focuses on identifying biomechanical and movement factors that contribute to lower extremity musculoskeletal pain and pathology conditions, and testing the effects of rehabilitation strategies based on this knowledge. Disability related to chronic pain is prevalent and costly; understanding mechanisms of and developing interventions for chronic pain will improve health outcomes and ultimately lower the societal cost. The Salsich lab develops partnerships to broaden the scope and impact of their research by incorporating the social-ecological model to include real-time measures of pain, physical activity, and the built environment. Salsich's research uses 3D motion analysis (joint angles and forces), digital video, electromyography (muscle activation), clinical measures of muscle strength and joint mobility, and self-reported measures of pain and function.
Intersections of Athletic Training and Public Health
Principal investigator: Katie Sniffen, Ph.D.
Sniffen’s research aims to demonstrate the value of athletic training services on the health of populations through the application of health outcomes research. Her work explores the public health advantage of access to athletic training services by investigating downstream factors, including health service utilization, quality outcomes and injury risk mitigation. Additionally, Sniffen contributes to research at the intersections of athletic training and public health, including injury surveillance, youth sport safety and policy/program implementation.
Intrinsic Foot Muscle Training
Principal investigator: Kitty Newsham, Ph.D.
Intrinsic foot muscle (IFM) training can improve foot posture and single-leg balance. Blood flow restriction (BFR) can accelerate muscle gains during submaximal exercise. IFM training is submaximal exercise, making the addition of BFR a simple process with interesting potential. Newsham's research assesses the benefit of adding BFR to traditional training methods on foot posture, dynamic balance, and muscle morphology.
How Policies Impact the Delivery of Health Services
Principal investigator: Mike Markee, Ph.D., D.P.T.
Markee's research focuses on how policy affects the delivery of health services. Specifically, he focuses on disparities in healthcare, social determinants of health, and the impact of payment models on quality care. His current funded research investigates the relationship between socioeconomic status and clinical outcomes following orthopedic surgery.
Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema
Principal investigator: Kim Levenhagen, D.P.T.
Breast cancer-related lymphedema is a common adverse event following treatment that can negatively impact an individual's quality of life. As a member of the American Physical Therapy Association's Academy of Oncologic Physical Therapy guideline development group, the Levenhagen lab develops clinical practice guidelines to aid rehabilitation clinicians in diagnosing breast cancer-related lymphedema and identifying evidence-based interventions for individuals with the condition.
Occupation-Based Practice
Principal investigator: Wendy Stav, Ph.D.
The Occupation-Based Practice Project aims to promote and enhance the use of occupation-based practice. The therapeutic use of occupation is unique to the profession of occupational therapy and distinguishes practice from that of other health and rehabilitation disciplines. The Occupation-Based Practice Project is grounded in the Dynamic Model of Occupation-Based Practice, a theoretical perspective that conceptualizes the constructs and influences on occupation-based practice.
Learn more about Occupation-Based Practice
The Virginia Gore NeuroOccupation Lab
Principal investigator: S. Omar Ahmad, O.T.D., Ph.D.
The Virginia Gore NeuroOccupation Lab (VGNOL) provides sterological services for university, pharmacy, foundation, and governmental grants and contracts. The lab performs stereology, neuroanalysis, neuron quantification, study design assistance, grant quotes, and more. The VGNOL conducts research in the areas of public health, oxidative stress disorders, exercise and its effects on degenerative diseases, and corrections officer health and education. All VGNOL research is guided by the Model of NeuroOccupation, which braids neuroscience and occupational performance.
Speech Communication Lab
Principal investigator: Yi-Fang Chiu, Ph.D.
The Speech Communication Lab addresses the communication breakdowns that Parkinson's patients face in everyday noisy environments and aims to develop new strategies to facilitate communication success in such challenging situations. The lab also works closely with physical therapy, neuropsychology, and neurology to expand the interdisciplinary work that will identify early signs of motor and non-motor symptom development in an attempt to prolong independence.
SPEAK OUT!® Therapy Program in Parkinson's Disease
Principal Investigator: Andrea Vaughn
Vaughn's research examines the impact of the SPEAK OUT!® Therapy Program in improving speech, voice, and swallowing outcomes for individuals with Parkinson's disease. Current projects investigate changes in swallowing function before and after therapy using a specialized swallowing examination called Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES); comparing patients' perceptions of their swallowing abilities with objective swallowing findings from FEES; examining whether age or disease duration is more strongly associated with swallowing difficulties; and exploring how home practice influences communication outcomes during therapy. By identifying factors that contribute to successful treatment and improving our understanding of communication and swallowing changes in Parkinson's disease, this research aims to optimize clinical care and enhance quality of life for people living with the disease.
Metacognition and Aphasia Research Lab
Principal Investigator: Amanda Wadams, Ph.D.
The mission of the Metacognition and Aphasia Research Lab (MARL) is to improve the lives of people with aphasia by developing assessment and treatment approaches that enhance communication, independence, and quality of life after stroke. Research in the MARL focuses on metacognition, or "thinking about thinking," and how self-awareness, problem solving, and other cognitive skills interact with language to support successful communication.
Current projects examine how language and cognition work together during everyday communication, how the brain changes during recovery, and how treatment can improve communication in real-world settings. Using behavioral, conversational, and neurophysiological (EEG) methods, MARL researchers aim to develop evidence-based approaches that help people with aphasia communicate more effectively with their families, friends, and communities.
The SLU Phonology in Emergent Readers Lab
Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Roepke, Ph.D.
The Saint Louis University Phonology in Emergent Readers (SLUPER) lab aims to evaluate assessment and treatment approaches for phonological processing skills in children who need additional support for reading, including children with speech or language disorders and bilingual children. Research techniques in the SLUPER lab include standardized speech and language assessments, eye-tracking to quantify speech perception and verbal processing ability, and single case design research for treatment studies.
Childhood Language and Literacy Disorders
Principal investigator: Sara Steele, Ph.D.
The Child Language and Literacy Disorders research team seeks to positively impact the lives of school-age children with developmental language disorder and related disorders. Employing a whole-person perspective that honors children's cultural backgrounds, preferences, and lived experiences and autonomy, the Child Language and Literacy Disorders Lab pursues clinically meaningful research related to assessment and intervention practices.
Yes/No Protocol Using Neurodiverse Teaching
Principal investigator: Mitzi Brammer, Ph.D.
The goal of Brammer's research is to determine the effect of a yes/no protocol using neurodiverse teaching techniques compared to a teaching methodology based on behavioral principles.
Low-Cost Diagnostics and Sickle Cell Disease
Principal investigator: Tim R. Randolph, Ph.D.
The foci of the Randolph lab is to develop diagnostic lab testing methods for developing countries, evaluate anti-sickling properties of plant extracts and phytochemicals for low-cost treatment of sickle cell disease, identify biomarkers to risk-stratify people with sickle cell trait, develop clinically useful algorithms and low-cost instruments for CBC analysis, and characterize the clinical laboratory workforce in Missouri.
Antibiotic Resistance
Principal investigator: Rita Heuertz, Ph.D.
The Heuertz lab focuses on antimicrobial resistance and bacterial biofilms. Their research involves the identification of antibacterial agents, such as natural products, phytochemicals, and innate immune response involvement; as well as the development of assays for antibiotic resistance, such as disk diffusion, microplate inhibition, biofilm inhibition and eradication, and quorum sensing assessment.
Cell Research
Principal investigator: Uthayashanker Ezekiel, Ph.D.
The Ezekiel Lab focuses on translational regenerative medicine research. The lab's work includes reprogramming adult cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), elucidating stem-cell differentiation into diverse tissue types, and investigating these processes using molecular and biochemical approaches. Currently, the lab’s primary focus is to understand how a missense mutation in the transcriptional co-repressor C-terminal binding protein 1 (CtBP1) leads to a rare neurodevelopmental syndrome that causes Hypotonia, Ataxia, Developmental Delay, and Tooth-Enamel Defects (HADDTS).
Social, Cultural, and Environmental Determinants of Dietary Quality
Principal investigator: María José Romo-Palafox, Ph.D.
Romo-Palafox's research focuses on the cultural, political, and environmental factors that shape the food preferences/eating habits of parents and their young children. Her lab studies the dynamic influences of cultural and environmental factors influencing material-child health. Additionally, Romo-Palafox's research focuses on social aspects involved in the prevention and treatment of impaired metabolic health, chronic disease, and comorbidities. Her research agenda is informed by immigration patterns, public policy, and food marketing and their influence on population health.
Nutrition, Exercise, and Metabolic Health Lab
Principal Investigator: Hossein Rafiei, Ph.D.
Rafiei’s Nutrition, Exercise, and Metabolic Health (NUTRIX) lab investigates how nutrition and exercise interventions can improve metabolic health in individuals with overweight or obesity, prediabetes, and diabetes. The NUTRIX lab’s human clinical studies examine strategies such as intermittent fasting, functional foods, dietary flavonoids, and brief “exercise snacks” designed to interrupt prolonged sitting. These studies evaluate effects on postprandial glucose and lipid responses, oxidative stress, inflammation, and hormones involved in metabolic regulation, using tools such as continuous glucose monitoring. The NUTRIX lab also investigates how dietary and sports supplements influence physical performance and recovery. The lab's overarching goal is to identify practical, evidence-based strategies that can be incorporated into everyday life and help reduce the burden of metabolic disease. In complementary cell-culture studies, the lab uses models of metabolic diseases, including metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), to examine how food-derived bioactive compounds influence disease-related molecular pathways.
The Transgender Health Collaborative
DCHS Faculty Collaborators: Whitney Linsenmeyer, Ph.D. and Rabia Rahman, Ph.D.
The Transgender Health Collaborative is a network of researchers and clinicians working with the transgender community throughout Saint Louis University and partner organizations. The collaborative was established to promote the health of the transgender and genderqueer community through clinical services, research, and clinical education. The Transgender Health Collaborative includes faculty across a variety of disciplines.
Learn more about the Transgender Health Collaborative
Interprofessional Education and University Core Curriculum
Principal Investigator: Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D.
SLU's IPE team is engaged in a collaborative process aligning undergraduate IPE courses with the University Core Curriculum. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research team is assessing outcomes associated with individual courses, which include university undergraduate core attributes. Aligning IPE with the University Core Curriculum has strengthened the IPE courses and enhanced their value for the health professions and across the University.