Jane Kent
Department of Kinesiology, UMass Amherst
Dr. Kent is a muscle physiologist and Distinguished Professor Emerita in the Kinesiology Department at UMass Amherst, where she directs the Muscle Physiology Lab. Professor Kent has been using advanced magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging methods to study human skeletal muscle biochemistry and structure in vivo since her introduction to these powerful techniques at the University of Pennsylvania 40 years ago. Building on her experience with clinical populations at the University of San Francisco, she has developed and applied a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of bioenergetics and fatigue as they pertain to mobility function in older adults. Professor Kent was a Founding Co-Director of the UMass Amherst Human Magnetic Resonance Center and currently has three NIH projects underway in that core facility.
Katherine Boyer
Department of Kinesiology, UMass Amherst
Katherine Boyer is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Orthopedics and Physical Medical at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. Prof. Boyer received her PhD from the University of Calgary and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at both the VA Palo Alto and Stanford University. Her research program focuses on quantifying mechanisms of mobility declines in aging and with injury and is funded by both the NIH and industry partners. Prof. Boyer is the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Applied Biomechanics.
Mark Miller
Department of Kinesiology, UMass Amherst
My research career has focused on understanding the underlying mechanisms of muscle contraction using model systems and humans. A major focus of my career has been the examination of myofilament mechanical properties, including myosin-actin cross-bridge kinetics, and how these effect cellular, whole muscle and whole-body function. Collectively, my studies show that aging, disease, and exercise each effect cellular and molecular contractile performance differently, sometimes in a sex-specific manner, leading to a variety of changes in whole muscle performance. My work has advanced the field by linking molecular and cellular mechanisms to whole muscle function under several conditions, thus providing knowledge on specific adaptations that may be needed to improve public health. During my post-doctoral work, I examined the indirect flight muscle from Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) and in cardiac muscle from mice. Using my knowledge gained from these and other studies, I designed equipment specifically for human tissue which led to work on the effects of aging, heart failure, cancer, disuse and resistance exercise training. Recently I have been examining the hypothesis that contractile performance is affected by different exercise training approaches in a sex-dependent manner. As part of this work, we are the first laboratory to successfully perform single fiber contractile function experiments in humans at body temperature, 37°C, which is an important methodological advance as temperature significantly affects contractile properties. My recent skeletal muscle work has also focused on the effects of chronic kidney disease using mouse models, as well as lipid content and fatigue in humans.
Dominika Pindus
Department of Kinesiology, UMass Amherst
Dr. Dominika Pindus earned her PhD in Physical Activity and Public Health from Loughborough University in 2015. She completed postdoctoral training within the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge and in Psychology at Northeastern University. In 2018, she was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Most recently, she joined the University of Massachusetts Amherst as an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and the Institute of Applied Life Science (from September 2025). Dr. Pindus has published extensively in leading peer-reviewed journals spanning exercise science, sports medicine, psychology, cognitive neuroscience, obesity, and aging. Her research focuses on the effects of sedentary behavior on executive functions and related brain processes. Her goal is to develop interventions that reduce sedentary time and counteract age-related cognitive decline. She has developed novel physical activity interventions targeting sedentary behavior and tested their effects on neurofunctional markers using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in middle-aged and older adults. Additionally, her cross-sectional work has demonstrated associations between sedentary time and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity with the functional connectivity of intrinsic brain networks that support executive functions, measured using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Her ongoing goal is to integrate these two neuroimaging modalities into her intervention work to gain a comprehensive understanding of the neural mechanisms through which physical activity and sedentary behaviors influence brain health.
Dr. Pindus's work is supported by the National Institute on Aging, reflecting her commitment to advancing brain health research through multidisciplinary approaches.
Arpan Mohanty
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston University
Arpan Mohanty, MD, MSc is a hepatologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, where she serves as Director of Clinical Research in the Section of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at Boston Medical Center. Her clinical and research expertise focuses on metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), obesity-related liver disease, and advanced chronic liver disease. She is board certified in gastroenterology, transplant hepatology, obesity medicine and internal medicine.
Dr. Mohanty leads multiple investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored clinical trials, including phase 2 and phase 3 studies in MASLD/MASH, alcoholic liver disease, and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, positioning her program as one of the most active liver clinical trial sites in the region. In parallel, her health services and implementation science research develops innovative models of care to improve early detection and equitable management of liver disease in safety-net and community settings.
Her work has been supported by the Robert A. Winn Career Development Award, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the Radiological Society of North America, and industry partners. She is also active nationally through AASLD, where she contributes to guideline development and education.
Gottfried Schlaug
Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and Baystate Health Medical Center
Dr. Gottfried Schlaug is a Professor of Neurology at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and Baystate Health Medical Center. In addition, he is also an adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering and belongs to the Institute of Applied Life Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He directs a combined neuroimaging/neurostimulation/stroke recovery laboratory that conducts research into the use of 1) non-invasive brain-stimulation to facilitate recovery from brain injuries and neurological disorders, 2) the use of neuroimaging methods to induce and detect brain plasticity in patients recovering from a stroke and developmental disorders, and 3) innovative behavioral techniques to enhance speech and motor functions in patients after a stroke and in children with developmental disorders. Dr. Schlaug has published over 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts, and his group’s research work has been supported by grants from the NIH, NSF, Autism Speaks, the Grammy Foundation, other private foundations, and grateful patients.
Ravi Teja Seethamraju
Collaborations Lead, Siemens Medical Solutions, USA Inc.
Ravi Teja Seethamraju is PET/MR Collaborations Lead for Siemens Medical Solutions, USA Inc. Ravi is a Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology. He had previously been a faculty at University of Minnesota and Harvard University before joining Siemens Medical Solutions, USA Ravi has been an imaging scientist and product strategist with 25+ years at the intersection of clinical innovation, advanced MR technologies, and translational research. Ravi has proven expertise in bridging clinical needs with scalable imaging solutions, leading cross-disciplinary teams, and delivering patented innovations across academia and industry with a focus on product development, user adoption, and workflow optimization specializing in Interventional MR, 7T and PET/MR.
Kristin Granlund
MRI Applications Scientist, Bruker BioSpin
Dr. Kristin Granlund is an MRI Applications Scientist at Bruker, based in Billerica, MA. Prior to joining Bruker, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center developing methods for imaging in vivo cancer metabolism in patients using hyperpolarized pyruvate and a graduate student at Stanford University optimizing diffusion-weighted imaging and water/fat separation for clinical breast imaging.
Rebecca Spencer
Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, UMass Amherst
Dr. Rebecca Spencer is a professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She received her PhD in Neuroscience from Purdue University followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley’s Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. Dr. Spencer’s research is on sleep measurement and function. This work has focused on how developmental changes in sleep are related to brain and memory development and relations between declines in sleep and memory in older age. This work has been continuously funded by NIH for over 20 years.
Kelsey Canada
Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, UMass Amherst
Dr. Kelsey Canada is an Assistant Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research aims to characterize individual differences in brain and memory development to gain insights into mechanisms of development and sources of modifiable risk and protective factors. Dr. Canada’s work focuses on development of episodic memory and the hippocampus, and the factors that modify this development within and between individuals. As a developmental cognitive neuroscientist, she uses behavioral and neuroimaging methods in tandem with advanced statistical methods to test critical developmental questions. Dr. Canada completed her graduate training at the University of Maryland, College Park and her postdoctoral research at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan where she was supported by a NICHD F32 fellowship.
Lauren Aulet
Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, UMass Amherst
Lauren S. Aulet is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with primary affiliation in Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience and secondary affiliations in Developmental Science and the Neuroscience & Behavior Program. She completed a President's Postdoctoral Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University with Dr. Jessica Cantlon and received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Emory University in 2021, where she worked with Dr. Stella Lourenco. Dr. Aulet's research uses behavioral methods and functional neuroimaging to investigate the cognitive and neural foundations of numerical and spatial cognition across development. Dr. Aulet's research program aims to understand how basic perceptual and cognitive mechanisms support the development of complex mathematical thinking in children.
Özgür Yılmazel
Center for Data Science, UMass Amherst
Prof. Dr. Özgür Yılmazel is Co-Director of Data Core and Director of Applied AI Research and Engagement at the Center for Data Science (CDS) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he leads research and industry collaborations in machine learning, natural language processing, information retrieval, and generative AI.
Yilmazel has over twenty-five years of experience spanning academia and industry. Before joining UMass Amherst, he was a professor at Anadolu University, where he taught courses in big data analytics, information management, and cybersecurity, advised graduate students, and led AI and data science research initiatives. He also served as Director of the Computer Applications and Research Center, overseeing large-scale digital transformation projects.
In addition to his academic roles, Yilmazel co-founded Dilisim Ltd., a pioneering big data and AI company in Turkey. As CEO, he established strategic partnerships, led the development of large-scale AI and analytics solutions, and grew the company into a leading provider of big data technologies. He was also a founding contributor to Apache Mahout, an open-source machine learning framework.
Yilmazel holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University, where he conducted research in natural language processing and information extraction. His current work focuses on retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), enterprise AI, scalable AI systems, and AI-driven decision support. As Co-Director of Data Core, he leads efforts to bridge academic research with real-world AI applications, working closely with industry partners to develop innovative, high-impact AI solutions. He also consults for technology and financial firms on AI deployment in regulated environments.