معرفی
Sydney Schaefer is an Associate Professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering at Arizona State University (ASU), with affiliations in the Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center. She earned a B.S. in Sports Medicine from Pepperdine University, a Ph.D. in Kinesiology from Penn State, and completed postdoctoral training in Stroke Rehabilitation at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research focuses on motor-based screening tools for Alzheimer’s disease and improving neurorehabilitation strategies for aging populations, emphasizing how cognitive impairment impacts motor skill learning.
Her work is funded by the NIH, American Heart Association, and non-profit foundations. She co-founded Neurosessments LLC, a startup developing clinical tools for dementia risk assessment. Key research areas include diffusion MRI biomarkers, cortical thickness predictors, and functional motor task analysis for early disease detection. Her studies bridge motor control, neuroimaging, and cognitive neuroscience to address aging-related challenges.
Publications highlight innovations in online motor learning games, reliability of unsupervised assessments, and demographic impacts on screening tools. Collaborations emphasize translational research, with applications in primary care and community-based screening. Ongoing efforts explore dopamine’s role in motor learning for Parkinson’s disease and the feasibility of remote neuropsychological testing.
