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Dr. Palmer is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Physical Therapy on the tenure-track. She has a DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) and PhD in Biomechanics and Movement Sciences from the University of Delaware. She performed her postdoctoral training at Emory University and the University of Kansas Medical Center in stroke and aging neurophysiology. Dr. Palmer is currently leading an NIH-sponsored project that is using an innovative, systems-based neuroscience approach to study balance and walking control at the intersection of brain vascular health and neural function.
The general focus of work in Dr. Palmer’s laboratory aims to understand the link between cerebrovascular brain health, brain function, and the brain’s adaptive, neuroplastic capacity for learning and behavior. Dr. Palmer’s team uses multimodal, dynamic neuroimaging approaches (e.g. TMS-EEG, EEG-transcranial ultrasound), biomechanical analyses, and noninvasive brain stimulation (e.g. TMS) to identify and modulate brain networks involved in balance and walking. The long-term goal of this research is to develop and optimize treatments that preserve and improve brain function across domains of cognition and mobility over the course of aging and in the presence of age-related neuropathology such as stroke and dementia.
2026 Eugene Michels New Investigator award, American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)
2026-2028 McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, University of Minnesota
2025-2030 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (DP2), NIH Common Fund
2023-2025 NIH Loan Repayment Program Award Renewal, NICHD
2024 Training in Grantsmanship for Rehabilitation Research (TIGRR) Travel Award, ASNR
2023 ADRC Selected REC Scholar, University of Kansas Medical Center
2022-2027 NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00), NIA
2021 New Investigator Scholarship Award, The Society for the Neural Control of Movement Annual Meeting (international)
2009-2021 NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32), NICHD
2019-2021 Loan Repayment Program Award, National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
2018-2019 Postdoctoral fellowship award, American Heart Association
2016-2018 Postdoctoral fellowship award, American Heart Association
NIH New Innovator Award (DP2AG101104)
Role: PI
Title: Neuroplasticity and cerebral blood flow as key resilience mechanisms in the brains of fast-moving SuperAgers
Project Dates: 09/2025 – 09/2030
NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99 R00AG075255)
Role: PI
Title: Investigating cerebrovascular regulation during exercise as a factor influencing cortical resource engagement for balance control with aging
Project Dates: 03/2024 – 03/2027
NIH Exploratory/Developmental Grant (R21 1951822)
Role: PI
Title: Cerebello-cortical connectivity as an adaptive mechanism for balance control with aging
Project Dates: 09/2026 – 08/2028