Biography
After receiving a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech, Dr. Wright spent 4 years as an officer in the USAF doing satellite engineering and operations. He then redirected his interests from hardware-in-space to humans-in-space in graduate school. His masters research (Experimental Psychology, Northeastern University) and Ph.D. research (Cognitive Neuroscience, Brandeis University) focused on human perception of spatial orientation with support from NASA and the DoD. During his post-doctoral training in Munich, Germany and at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, OR, he began working with various patient populations, including stroke, Parkinson's disease, vestibular loss, and neuropathy. He has investigated motor control, gait and balance, and perceptuo-motor disorders in both healthy and neurologically impaired individuals.
Dr. Wright's research goals at Temple are to continue studying the central nervous system in individuals with impairment to motor control, balance, and gait, with the intention of applying knowledge about sensorimotor integration to shaping rehabilitation therapy. He is currently funded by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (US Army Rapid Innovation Fund) to validate a device his team designed for assessing postural deficits in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) using virtual environments (VE) to manipulate visual input. He is also continuing research that has been funded by the Veterans Administration to investigate the neuromuscular origins of hypertonia in Parkinson's Disease using postural control and functional MRI prodecures.
Education
- PhD, Cognitive Neuroscience, Brandeis University
- MA, Experimental Psychology, Northeastern University
- BS, Aerospace Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Google Scholar: W. Geoffrey Wright's Google Scholar profile
Labs: MAP Lab
Courses Taught
Number | Name | Level |
|---|---|---|
HRPR 5999 | Research Experience in Health Professions | Graduate |
NMS 9622 | Neuromotor Science: Instrumentation | Graduate |
NMS 9627 | Neuromotor Science 3: Cognition and Learning | Graduate |
NMS 9654 | Neuromotor Science: Laboratory Rotation and Seminar | Graduate |
PHTH 8114 | Neuroscience | Graduate |
PHTH 8116 | Motor Control and Learning | Graduate |
PHTH 8151 | Evidence Based Practice III | Graduate |
Selected Publications
Recent
Almajid, R., Tucker, C., Keshner, E., Vasudevan, E., & Wright, W. (2021). Effects of wearing a head-mounted display during a standard clinical test of dynamic balance. Gait and Posture, 85, 78-83. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2021.01.020.
Cheever, K., McDevit, J., Wright, W., & Tierney, R. (2021). Differences in cervical kinesthesia between amateur athletes with and without a history of contact sport participation. Brain Injury, 35(4), 404-410. doi: 10.1080/02699052.2021.1878551.
Cheever, K., Wright, W., McDevitt, J., Sitler, M., & Tierney, R. (2021). Exploring the relationship between musculoskeletal injury and clinical outcome measures of cervical sensorimotor function. International Journal of Athletic Therapy and Training, 26(5), 262-268. doi: 10.1123/ijatt.2020-0033.
Handy, J., Wright, W., Haskell, A., Servatius, L., & Servatius, R. (2020). Enhanced Acquisition and Retention of Conditioned Eyeblink Responses in Veterans Expressing PTSD Symptoms: Modulation by Lifetime History of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 14. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2020.595007.
Krasovsky, T., Lubetzky, A., Archambault, P., & Wright, W. (2020). Will virtual rehabilitation replace clinicians: a contemporary debate about technological versus human obsolescence. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 17(1). doi: 10.1186/s12984-020-00769-0.
Ojha, H., Fritz, J., Malitsky, A., Wu, J., Weiner, M., Brandi, J., Rhon, D., Mobo, B., Fleming, K., Beidleman, R., & Wright, W. (2020). Comparison of Physical Therapy and Physician Pathways for Employees with Recent Onset Musculoskeletal Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial. PM and R, 12(11), 1071-1080. doi: 10.1002/pmrj.12382.
Almajid, R., Tucker, C., Wright, W., Vasudevan, E., & Keshner, E. (2020). Visual dependence affects the motor behavior of older adults during the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 87. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2019.104004.
Marchetto, J. & Wright, W. (2019). The Validity of an Oculus Rift to Assess Postural Changes During Balance Tasks. Human Factors, 61(8), 1340-1352. doi: 10.1177/0018720819835088.
Appiah-Kubi, K. & Wright, W. (2019). Vestibular training promotes adaptation of multisensory integration in postural control. Gait and Posture, 73, 215-220. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2019.07.197.
Ma, L., Tornetta, F., Egan, W., & Wright, W. (2019). Virtual reality therapy as adjunct to traditional physical therapy for a TBI patient who suffered a gunshot wound to the head: Case report. International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation, ICVR, 2019-July. doi: 10.1109/ICVR46560.2019.8994509.
Agresta, C., Ward, C., Wright, W., & Tucker, C. (2018). The effect of unilateral arm swing motion on lower extremity running mechanics associated with injury risk. Sports Biomechanics, 17(2), 206-215. doi: 10.1080/14763141.2016.1269186.
Wright, W., Handy, J., Avcu, P., Ortiz, A., Haran, F., Doria, M., & Servatius, R. (2018). Healthy Active Duty Military with Lifetime Experience of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Exhibits Subtle Deficits in Sensory Reactivity and Sensory Integration during Static Balance. Military Medicine, 183, 313-320. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usx182.
Kuznetsov, N., Robins, R., Long, B., Jakiela, J., Haran, F., Ross, S., Wright, W., & Rhea, C. (2018). Validity and reliability of smartphone orientation measurement to quantify dynamic balance function. Physiological Measurement, 39(2). doi: 10.1088/1361-6579/aaa3c2.
Cheever, K., McDevitt, J., Tierney, R., & Wright, W. (2018). Concussion Recovery Phase Affects Vestibular and Oculomotor Symptom Provocation. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 39(2), 141-147. doi: 10.1055/s-0043-118339.
Rhea, C., Kuznetsov, N., Wright, W., Haran, F., Ross, S., & Duckworth, J. (2018). Assessments for quantifying neuromotor functioning after repetitive blast exposure. In Neuromethods, 139 (pp. 283-305). doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8564-7_18.
Thompson, E., Agada, P., Wright, W., Reimann, H., & Jeka, J. (2017). Spatiotemporal gait changes with use of an arm swing cueing device in people with Parkinson's disease. Gait and Posture, 58, 46-51. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2017.07.001.
Robins, R., Teodoro, G., & Wright, W. (2017). Head and neck position sense using a memory-driven joint position matching study. International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation, ICVR, 2017-June. doi: 10.1109/ICVR.2017.8007503.
Almajid, R., Keshner, E., Wright, W., Tucker, C., & Vasudevan, E. (2017). Effect of visual dependence and task loads on the TUG sub-components in old and young adults. International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation, ICVR, 2017-June. doi: 10.1109/ICVR.2017.8007531.
Wright, W., McDevitt, J., Tierney, R., Haran, F., Appiah-Kubi, K., & Dumont, A. (2017). Assessing subacute mild traumatic brain injury with a portable virtual reality balance device. Disability and Rehabilitation, 39(15), 1564-1572. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2016.1226432.
Dale, M., Horak, F., Wright, W., Schoneburg, B., Nutt, J., & Mancini, M. (2017). Impaired perception of surface tilt in progressive supranuclear palsy. PLoS ONE, 12(3). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173351.
Rhea, C., Kuznetsov, N., Ross, S., Long, B., Jakiela, J., Bailie, J., Yanagi, M., Haran, L., Wright, W., Robins, R., Sargent, P., & Duckworth, J. (2017). Development of a portable tool for screening neuromotor sequelae from repetitive low-level blast exposure. Military Medicine, 182, 147-154. doi: 10.7205/MILMED-D-16-00140.
Wright, W., Tierney, R., & McDevitt, J. (2017). Visual-vestibular processing deficits in mild traumatic brain injury. Journal of Vestibular Research: Equilibrium and Orientation, 27(1), 27-37. doi: 10.3233/VES-170607.