I use theoretical, computer simulation and experimental biomechanical approaches to study the causes of selected unintentional injuries that can cause lifelong problems in the population. If we can find the factors that are responsible, then we may be better able to prevent these injuries in the first place. The injuries include damage to the female pelvic floor during vaginal birth, fall-related injuries in the elderly and certain sports-related injures like concussion and ACL tears. Most of the studies are funded by NIH grants, but some are funded by industry, as well as organizations like the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball. We have found machine learning approaches useful in analyzing magnetic resonance and ultrasound imaging data, as well as data sets resulting from simulations and experiments.
Please describe one or two of your most interesting projects.
By combining our analysis of published Olympic data on the reaction times of ~200 male and ~200 female sprinters at the Olympic Games with our own published biomechanical data on sex differences in the rates of developing ankle muscle strength, we identified a flaw in the way Omega measured the reaction times of female Olympic sprinters at the Summer Olympics. Essentially, the forces females applied to the starting blocks were incorrectly assumed to be the same as males. After we pointed out the problem in our 2011 PLoS One paper (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0026141), Omega changed their algorithm for measuring female sprinters’ reaction times at the 2012 and later Olympic games as we point out in our later PLoS One paper (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198633). It is interesting that we were able to identify the flaw without being given access to the raw force vs time data from the starting blocks (which Omega regarded as proprietary).
How did you end up where you are today? (Your research journey)
Sustaining unintentional injuries during high school and college like ankle sprains and back pain made me curious about why they occurred when no one had collided with you. I took on an engineering design project during my senior year in college with a physician in dermatology. That got me reading about the biomechanics of skin as it applied to treating burns and other injuries. I went on to study biomechanics in graduate engineering school and ended up doing a doctorate on the biochemical (hormonal and biomechanical) causes of curve progression in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. A thought leader in that field hired me as a post-doctoral fellow to work on spine biomechanics and back pain and after three years we were both recruited to the University of Michigan where I have stayed ever since (because of the wonderful collaborative possibilities).
What is the most significant scientific contribution you would like to make?
To prevent the unintentional injuries during vaginal birth that cause pelvic organ prolapse in millions of women causing a great deal of shame and suffering.
What makes you excited about your data science and AI research?
Data science can make a real difference in millions of people’s quality of life.
What are 1-3 interesting facts about yourself?
- I played guitar in a traditional folk music band called the Jackets Green in Newcastle, England during my undergraduate years. We had fun running a weekly folk club above a pub on Thursdays and cutting a 45 rpm vinyl record.
- While doing my doctorate in Oslo I came in ahead of two current U.S. Olympic Cross Country Ski Team members in Norway’s most famous cross country ski race, the 56 km Birkebeiner race. (You have to carry a rucksack weighing 5.5 Kg corresponding to the weight of the baby King who was saved in the year 1205 when he was carried by Royalists over the mountains where the race is held today.)
- I sailed from Jacksonville, FL to Charleston, SC in a 17 ft Catboat and particularly enjoyed spending a night moored on the Moon River near Savannah, GA. The lyrics for the song Moon River were written by Johnny Mercer, who grew up there, and the music was composed by Henry Mancini. I have to say that song was an earworm while I was there!