Dr. Pinata Sessoms has Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University, and her Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University. Dr. Sessoms is the senior research biomedical engineer at the Naval Health Research Center and director of the Physical and Cognitive Operational Research Environment (PhyCORE) Lab. Dr. Sessoms’ expertise is in biomechanics, postural stability, and objective testing for injury prevention and rehabilitation assessments. She has over 10 years’ experience working with injured warfighters (e.g. persons with amputation, traumatic brain injury, and vestibular dysfunction) from Naval Medical Center San Diego, Camp Pendleton, and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, as well as operators from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and special operations communities.
Dr. Silder obtained her undergraduate degree in Biosystems Engineering from Michigan State University and her Master’s and Doctorate in Biomedical Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Silder is a Research Engineer in the PhyCORE Lab at Naval Health Research Center as well as an Assistant Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Uniformed Services University. The primary focus of Dr. Silder’s research is in the areas of musculoskeletal injury and recovery, experimental design and data analysis, wearable sensors, and computer modeling of human movement. Dr. Silder’s research typically involves utilizing advanced technologies in other engineering or medical fields and applying them to better understand musculoskeletal injury and disease.
Located aboard Naval Base Point Loma, Naval Health Research Center is the Department of Defense’s designated Deployment Health Research Center and the only military medical research center on the West Coast. Drs. Sessoms and Silder will discuss some of the research being done by the Physical and Cognitive Operational Research Environment (PhyCORE) Lab at NHRC. The lab’s mission is to enhance Warfighter readiness by improving rehabilitation of wounded warriors and resilience of healthy Warfighters through operationally relevant training and testing. Topics covered in the seminar will include human motion analysis applications and methods; discussion of the Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN) and its use in research and rehabilitation; utilization of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) for training and rehabilitation; strength and body composition testing; how and why brain computer interfaces and EEG measurements can be integrated with other assessment technologies; and the importance of a multidisciplinary research environment.