Dr. Daniela Cristina Carvalho de Abreu – Team Scientist

Daniela Cristina Carvalho de Abreu, Physiotherapist, Associate Professor of Physiotherapy Course (full-time/tenured), Department of Health Sciences, Ribeirao Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo (FMRP/USP), Brazil.

Currently a visiting professor at the Western University Ontario, Gait and Brain Lab, coordinated by Dr. Manuel Montero-Odasso (From August 2021 to August 2022).

Coordinator of Laboratory of Assessment and Rehabilitation of Equilibrium (LARE) at FMRP/USP. Coordinator of Balance Outpatient and Physiotherapy Outpatient for cancer survivors, both at Clinical Hospital (FMRP-USP). Member of Core Research in Functional Performance and Rehabilitation in Chronic Degenerative Diseases (NAP-DCD), FMRP-USP. Tutor of the Gerontology Physiotherapy League at FMRP-USP.

My research group focuses on the evaluation, prevention and intervention focused on the balance and functional changes related to the aging process and chronic degenerative diseases, emphasizing solutions that may be applied to and incorporated into the care of patients with chronic non-transmissible diseases and in the older population. Research supervisor of master, doctorate, and postdoctoral students of Rehabilitation and Functional Performance Program (FMRP-USP).

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4681-2613
Profile URL (MyResearcherID): https://publons.com/researcher/1576779/daniela-cristina-de-abreu/


Dr. Susan Muir-Hunter – Team Scientist

Dr. Susan Muir-Hunter is an Assistant Professor in the School of Physical Therapy at the University of Western Ontario. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Physical Therapy in 1990 and PhD from the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Western Ontario in 2009. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship under the supervision of Dr. Montero Odasso in the Gait & Brain Lab.

Her areas of research interest are a natural extension of her clinical experience as a Physical Therapist in the rehabilitative treatment of geriatric patients and their experience of falls, frailty and functional decline. She has a particular interest in the rehabilitation challenges and needs of the cognitively impaired older adult.  Her research has been supported by the CIHR Institute of Aging, Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Physiotherapy Foundation of Canada and Alzheimer Society of Canada Research Program. She has  been the recipient of the AgePlus Prize from CIHR Institute of Aging, the Cowdry Prize from the Canadian Geriatrics Society, the New Investigator Award from the Ontario Research Coalition and the Aging, the Central Nervous System, and Mobility Workshop Travel Grant from the 2013 Gerontological Society of American Annual Scientific Meeting.


Dr. Ryota Sakurai – Team Scientist

Dr. Ryota Sakurai is a senior researcher at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology. He has received his doctoral degree from Tokyo Metropolitan University in March 2014.

He conducted a postdoctoral research under the supervision of Dr. Montero Odasso in the Gait & Brain Lab from 2015 to 2016. His research goal is to reveal the mechanisms in cognition-motor interrelationships. His research focuses on the characteristics of self-estimating physical ability and its relationship to fall risk. He currently focuses on the neural mechanism of the relationship between gait and cognitive functions under the mentorship of Dr. Montero-Odasso. His research has been supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He was awarded the 2015 American Geriatric Society New Investigator Award, Travel Award from the Gerontological Society of America to International Society for Posture and Gait Research, Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging—Canadian Geriatric Society Mobility, Cognition in Aging Poster Session 1st Prize, 2016 Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation Research Encouragement Prize, and 2016 Journal of Epidemiology Best Reviewer Award.


Dr. Robert Bartha – Team Scientist

Read more about Dr. Bartha here.


Dr. G.Y. Zou – Team Scientist

Read more about Dr. Zou here.


Dr. Mark Speechley – Team Scientist

Read more about Dr. Speechley here.


Dr. Luciano Sposato – Team Scientist

 Read more about Dr. Sposato here.


Dr. Tim Doherty – Team Scientist

Read more about Dr. Doherty here.


Dr. Amer Burhan – Team Scientist

Read more about Dr. Burhan here.