Congratulations to Erika Pliner, Ph.D., for receiving the prestigious F32 NIH Individual Postdoctoral Research Award for her proposal, Efficacy of balance training with intermittent sensory perturbations.

Pliner studies aging and mobility in the HNL by quantifying the efficacy of balance training paradigms from neuromechanical and biomechanical responses under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Ferris.

Pliner’s research will investigate the neuromechanical components (i.e., sensory integration, computational processes, motor output response) that lead to improvements in balance training. Specifically, she will be quantifying the efficacy of a balance training paradigm on neuromechanical components by manipulating sensory information and measuring electrocortical and biomechanical responses. This work will reveal critical knowledge on balance training efficacy for the aging, falls, and neuromechanics fields and is essential to designing interventions of high efficacy to reduce fall injuries in older adults.