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College of Public Health & Health Professions University of Florida
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Students and scholars convene for 21st annual Neuromuscular Plasticity Symposium

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A man with short gray hair and red-framed glasses on his head points to a poster hung on a wall (no visible text or images on the poster, pictured from the side). He stands between a woman with short brown hair and a white cardigan and a woman with curly brown hair and a black jumpsuit with sunglasses on her head.
Department of Physical Therapy faculty members Mark Bishop, Ph.D., and Dorian Rose, Ph.D., talk with a student about their research poster at the 21st annual Neuromuscular Plasticity Training Program Symposium on March 13, 2026. Photo by Ashleigh Lucas

By Erin Jester

Current and former students, faculty and leading researchers in rehabilitation science came together March 12 and 13 for the University of Florida’s 21st annual Neuromuscular Plasticity Training Program symposium.

The symposium is both a showcase of groundbreaking research and a chance for students and scientists to connect and learn from each other.

“This event brings world-class scientists studying rehabilitation and neuromuscular plasticity to our campus, gives us an opportunity to hear about their work and allows our Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows to interact with these scientists,” said David Fuller, Ph.D., associate dean for research at the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions. “It’s a time to bring this particular scientific community together, and when you bring communities together, good things happen,”

First funded by a T32 grant through NIH’s National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research in 2003, the training program prepares UF doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows to become future leaders and innovators in rehabilitation science. Krista Vandenborne, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Physical Therapy, originated the grant, and Fuller took over as principal investigator in 2017.  

A person with short brown hair, wearing a light blue oxford shirt under a navy blue blazer, stands at a lectern with a blue University of Florida sign and points to a projector screen showing scientific graphs in the background. In the foreground, a few onlookers watch the screen.
Clive Svendsen, Ph.D. Photo by Ashleigh Lucas

The NMPT Symposium is also sponsored in part by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute-funded Breathing Research and Therapeutics (BREATHE) T32 Training Program founded in 2017 by Gordon Mitchell, Ph.D., a neuroscience professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and deputy director of the McKnight Brain Institute. The two training programs collaborate closely.

The symposium kicked off Thursday with a reception and short research presentations by the 16 current NMPT trainees, who are doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows from four UF colleges. Friday featured plenary talks from two experts and 61 student poster presentations.

This year’s keynote speakers were Clive Svendsen, Ph.D., professor of biomedical sciences and executive and founding director of the Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars-Sinai; and Kerri Winters-Stone, Ph.D., Penny and Phil Knight endowed professor of cancer innovation research at Oregon Health & Science University.

A person wearing a dark gray sleeveless dress with a brown pixie cut stands at a lectern with a blue University of Florida sign. The person is mid-speech, with left hand raised to eye height, and there is a projector screen with illegible text.
Kerri Winters-Stone, Ph.D. Photo by Ashleigh Lucas

Svedsen is internationally renowned for his pioneering research into cell replacement therapy for neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and amytrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. He was the sponsor of the first-ever clinical trial delivering stem cells to ALS patients, completed recently at Cedars-Sinai.

Winters-Stone’s research examines the combined effects of cancer treatment and aging on musculoskeletal health, and the potential for exercise to improve health outcomes and longevity in people living with cancer. Her work takes an innovative approach, including intimate partners in resistance exercise to help maintain the health of relationships between cancer patients and caretakers as well as optimizing cardiometabolic and musculoskeletal health in cancer survivors.

Mitchell was a keynote speaker in 2011, discussing his own trailblazing research in breathing rehabilitation after neuromuscular injury, which ultimately contributed to his arrival at UF in 2015.  

“I would not be at UF if I had not been one of the featured guests in 2011,” he said. “The symposium gave me a great impression and left me open to being recruited here.”

The symposium closed with awards for the top-ranked poster presentations based on scoring by faculty judges. Judges also recognized the three highest-ranked graphical abstracts submitted by the T32 students to describe their research.

Ph.D. student poster presentation awards

Alexander Bartkowiak, College of Medicine, “Establishing a Mouse Working Heart–Brainstem Model of Opioid and α2-Agonist-Induced Respiratory Depression”

Allison Campbell, T32 trainee, College of Engineering, “SCI Recovery Reinvented: Targeting Inflammation Through Fused Enzyme Indoleamine-2,3-Dioxygenase and Galectin3 with Pro-Regenerative Hydrogel Delivery”

Kiara Fierman, T32 trainee, College of Medicine, “The Role of Hedgehog Signaling in Neuromuscular Damage”

Martin Schonk, College of Medicine, “C5aR1 Signaling Mediates Pancreatic Cancer-Induced Muscle Pathologies”

Postdoctoral student poster presentation awards

Mehdi Ahmadian, College of Public Health and Health Professions, “Acute Isovolemic Hemodilution Worsens Spinal Tissue Oxygenation During Hypoxemia in Anesthetized Rats”

Alysha Bogard, College of Public Health and Health Professions, “At-Home Sleep Monitoring Can Stratify Responsiveness to Hypoxia-Based Neuromodulation After Spinal Cord Injury”

Graphical abstract awards

Jaewon Choi, College of Health and Human Performance, “A Translational PAD Model Incorporating CKD and Dyslipidemia Reveals Severe Deficits in Perfusion Recovery and Muscle Function”

Allison Campbell, T32 trainee, College of Engineering, “SCI Recovery Reinvented: Targeting Inflammation Through Fused Enzyme Indoleamine-2,3-Dioxygenase and Galectin3 with Pro-Regenerative Hydrogel Delivery”

Kiara Fierman, T32 trainee, College of Medicine, “The Role of Hedgehog Signaling in Neuromuscular Damage”

A person with short brown hair wearing a teal polo shirt and a nametag on a lanyard gestures, mid-speech, to two people examining a poster tacked to a wall behind the speaker. The poster is mostly text in orange and blue boxes and discusses the effect of spinal cord injury on the vascular system.
A person with short brown hair, wearing a light gray dress shirt and khaki pants, gestures to a research poster with his right hand as a woman with short brown hair and a black leather jacket looks on. The poster depicts orange and blue bar graphs and scatter plots, and the title reads "Quantifying bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease."
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A man with short brown hair, wearing a light blue oxford shirt with sleeves rolled up and dark blue pants, stands at a lectern and gestures with his hands as he speaks. There is a blue University of Florida sign on the lectern and part of a projector screen is visible in the background.
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A woman with long brown hair wearing a black sleeveless jumpsuit gestures with her hands while talking. Three people in casual clothing face the wall behind her, where a black and blue poster hangs. The poster is titled "APOE4 Alters Daily Rhythm of Genes Associated with Circadian Function and Sleep-Wake Regulation in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus."
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