Tay Gavin Erickson Lecture Series—Dr. Wolf's current research focuses on restoration of upper extremity function following stroke. His research team is conducting an NIH-funded randomized national clinical trial (EXCITE, the Extremity Constraint-Induced Therapy Evaluation) to explore the effect of constraint-induced movement therapy of the hemiplegic upper extremity on recovery of movement function among patients who have sustained a stroke.

Further areas of Dr. Wolf's research include: biomechanical changes in upper extremity motor control following stroke; the effects of direct motor cortical stimulation and intense upper extremity therapy on functional improvement among patients with stroke; the mechanisms underlying possible massed practice cortical reorganization using constraint-induced therapy; changes in behavior among patients and their caregivers when exposed to functionally-based therapeutic interventions; and the effects of robotic assistance on procurement of upper extremity function among patients with stroke.

This lecture is sponsored by the Center for Research on Families’ Tay Gavin Erickson Lecture Series. The Center for Research on Families (CRF) is an endowed interdisciplinary research center in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and College of Natural Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The Tay Gavin Erickson Lecture Series brings internationally recognized speakers with expertise in family research to campus each year. The lecture series began in 1999 through an endowment established in memory of Tay Gavin Erickson.