Research Areas

The goals of the Brain Health and Human Performance (BHHP) component of the Center for Sports Medicine Health & Human Performance are to promote and support inter-campus collaborations, enhance existing resources, and increase faculty expertise in targeted areas related to health promotion, human performance, injury prevention and care, and sports medicine.


Nervous System Injury and Neuroscience

Understanding the how the nervous system responds to injury, promoting recovery and limiting risk will be a primary research focus within the Clinical and Translational Research Building in the Cole Field House renovation. The goal is to promote complementary inter-campus research partnerships relating to brain injury, plasticity, regeneration and neuroscience.


Other Initial Collaborative Research Projects Include:

Biomechanics, Robotics/Exoskeletons and Orthopeadic Restoration

Research activities will include a basic science component focusing on muscle physiology and biochemistry, as well as mechanisms of injury and repair, and a translational component focusing on the development of effective interventions and surgical and non-surgical therapies for sports injuries and others at all levels.


Human Performance

Collaborations involving exercise physiology, sport psychology, biomechanics, neuroscience, academic physicians, and engineering will allow for the development of new and mobile technologies to study human performance in real-world settings such as the field of play in regards to both brain processes and physical performance.


Health Promotion and Occupational Health Services

Collaboration across the campuses will allow for powerful investigation of the benefits of exercise and nutrition to physical and mental health, and enhancement of worker health and performance. Injury screening and prevention strategies across the human lifespan will also be investigated.