BREATHE Trainers

	Researcher/Clinician Name	Title	Department	Specialties
	Alison Barnard, DPT, PhD	Assistant Professor	Department of Physical Therapy	Pathophysiology in Muscular Dystrophy
	Elisabeth Barton, PhD	Professor & Associate Dean	Department of Applied Physiology & Kinesiology	Muscular dystrophy and respiratory muscle function
	Jennifer Bizon, PhD	Professor & Chair; Director	Department of Neuroscience; McKnight Brain Institute	Therapeutic intermittent hypoxia and cognitive function in rodent models
	Donald Bolser, PhD	Professor	Department of Physiological Sciences	Respiratory control, mechanisms of cough, and airway defense
	Barry Byrne, MD, PhD	Professor & Associate Chair; Director	Department of Pediatrics; Gene Powell Center	Pompe disease, gene therapy
	Erica Dale, PhD	Assistant Professor	Department of Physiology & Aging	Spinal stimulation induced phrenic motor plasticity; neurostimulation and functional recovery of breathing capacity after spinal injury
	Daryl Fields, PhD	Assistant Professor; Surgeon	Department of Neurosurgery	Validation of early molecular biomarkers to facilitate diagnosis, prognostication, and acute management for humans with SCI; application of neuro-modulation technology to restore respiratory motor control in humans
	Emily Fox, PT, DPT, PhD, NCS	Associate Professor; Director; Clinical Associate Director	Department of Physical Therapy; Brooks-PHHP Research Collaboration & Brooks Neuromuscular Research; BREATHE Center	Phrenic/diaphragm pacing as rehabilitative tool; therapeutic intermittent hypoxia and spinal injury
	David Fuller, PhD	Professor; Associate Director; Associate Director for Research	Department of Physical Therapy; BREATHE Center; College of Public Health & Health Professions	Spinal stimulation and recovery of breathing activity with opiate-induced respiratory depression and spinal injury; Regulation of airway muscles; hyperbaric oxygenation, intermittent hypoxia and respiratory plasticity, Pompe disease
	Matthew Gentry, PhD	Professor & Chair; Co-Director	Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Center for Spatial Biomolecule Research	How glycogen metabolism impacts physiology and how perturbations drive disease; how insights from rare neurological glycogen storage diseases can reveal actionable biology in more common disorders
	Elisa Gonzalez-Rothi, DPT, PhD	Research Assistant Professor	Department of Physical Therapy	Respiratory plasticity induced by neurostimulation and intermittent hypoxia; spinal cord injury; sleep apnea & pathogenic intermittent hypoxia after SCI
	Karen Hegland, PhD, CCC-SLP	Professor; Director	Department of Speech, Language, & Hearing Sciences; Master's of Arts Degree in Communication Sciences & Disorders Program	Cough and respiratory sensation in Parkinson's Disease
	Russell Hepple, PhD	Professor	Department of Physical Therapy	Aging and toxicology of respiratory muscle
	Andrew Judge, PhD	Associate Professor	Department of Physical Therapy	Sepsis, cachexia and respiratory muscles
	Sarah Judge, PhD	Research Assistant Professor	Department of Physical Therapy	Skeletal muscle biology and cancer cachexia
	Christopher Kaufmann, PhD, MHS	Assistant Professor	Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics	Sleep disorders and neurodegeneration
	Orlando Laitano, PhD	Assistant Professor	Department of Applied Physiology & Kinesiology	Mechanisms underlying sepsis-induced myopathy with disuse in aging and on the pathophysiology of exertional heat stroke.
	Carolina Maciel, MD, MSCR	Associate Professor; Director of Research	Department of Neurology; NCC	Cognitive function after cardiac arrest/recovery; neurocritical care, TBI
	Alexandria Marciante, PhD	Assistant Professor	Department of Neuroscience	How specific factors-particularly APOE4 and acquired neural injuries (TBI & SCI)- promote breathing dysfunction and undermine respiratory motor plasticity
	Borna Mehrad, MD	Chief & Ethel Smith Research Professor	Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine	Lung disease
	Matthew Merritt, PhD	Professor	Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Effects of hypoxia on cerebral metabolism; using isotopic tracers to quantitatively measure metabolic turnover
	Michela Mir, PhD, CCC-SLP	Assistant Professor	Department of Speech, Language, & Hearing Sciences	Advance understanding of upper airway function to improve diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for persons living with neurological conditions
	Gordon Mitchell, PhD	Preeminence Professor; Director; Deputy Director	Department of Physical Therapy; BREATHE Center; McKnight Brain Institute	Intermittent hypoxia induced respiratory plasticity, therapeutic intermittent hypoxia in spinal injury and ALS
	Nicholas Napoli, PhD	Assistant Professor	Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering	Hyperbaric oxygenation
	Aline Oliveira, PhD	Assistant Professor	Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics	Neuroimmune axis contribution to pulmonary hypertension; neuroinflammation and neuroplasticity
	Laura Ranum, PhD	Professor; Director	Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology; Center for Neurogenetics	Genetics of neurodegenerative neuromuscular disease: myotonic dystrophy and ALS
	Leah Reznikov, PhD	Assistant Professor	Department of Physiological Sciences	Neural innervation of the airways, cystic fibrosis
	Christine Schmidt, PhD	Distinguished Professor & Chair	Department of Biomedical Engineering	Neuroregeneration after peripheral or spinal cord injury
	Barry Setlow, PhD	Professor	Department of Psychiatry	Uses rodent models to address a range of questions concerning neural and behavioral mechanisms of learning, memory, decision making, and motivated behavior
	Barbara Smith, PT, PhD	Research Assistant Professor	Department of Physical Therapy	Pompe disease, diaphragm pacing; therapeutic intermittent hypoxia in ALS patients
	Ashley Smuder, PhD	Assistant Professor	Department of Applied Physiology & Kinesiology	Diaphragm atrophy; response to therapeutics; HBO and diaphragm muscle inflammation in Pompe and SCI
	Ramon Sun, PhD	Associate Professor; Co-Director	Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Center for Spatial Biomolecule Research	Cellular metabolism, signaling, and physiology; disease etiology of neurological disorders
	Krista Vandenborne, PT, PhD	Distinguished Professor & Chair	Department of Physical Therapy	Respiratory failure in human DMD
	Adrienn Varga, PhD	Assistant Professor	Department of Neuroscience	How the brain controls breathing and breathing-related behaviors in health and disease
	Alicia Vose, PhD, CCC-SLP	Assistant Professor	Department of Neurology (UF Health -Jacksonville)	Acute intermittent hypoxia and respiratory strength training to enhance breathing and swallowing in people with chronic spinal cord injury; effects of diaphragm stimulation on respiratory neural drive and function
	Glenn Walter, PhD	Professor & Vice Chair	Department of Physiology & Aging	MRI imaging of respiratory muscles & their plasticity
	Lan Wei-LaPierre, PhD	Assistant Professor	Department of Applied Physiology & Kinesiology	Calcium regulation in skeletal muscle, in particular, excitation-contraction coupling, ryanodine receptor function, store-operated Calcium entry (SOCE), reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial functionality, and how disturbances in Ca2+ homeostasis and ROS affect muscle function and contribute to muscle disease
	Daniel Wesson, PhD	Professor & Chair; Interim Director	Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics; Florida Chemical Senses Institute	Defining the neuropharmacological mechanisms whereby TuS neurons form circuits with neurons in connected brain regions to support sensory-guided motivated behaviors in both health and disease, including the transition from breathing for the purpose of blood oxygenation to the active sampling behavior of sniffing
	James Wymer, MD, FAAN	Professor & Division Chief	Department of Neurology	Diagnosis and management of neuromuscular diseases, including ALS, muscle diseases and peripheral neuropathies