The OHSU Parkinson Center and the VA Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education, and Clinical Center (PADRECC) work in close collaboration to serve people whose lives are impacted by a movement disorder. Both organizations are internationally recognized for research capabilities and contributions from basic science to the latest clinical interventions. OHSU is currently designated as a Center of Excellence with the Parkinson’s Foundation, the Lewy Body Dementia Association, the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, and the CurePSP organization.
The Balance Disorders Laboratory examines how motor signals sent to muscles and sensory information about body position interact to maintain a person's balance while standing or walking. Diseases or injuries that damage the motor (e.g. Parkinson's disease) or sensory (e.g., vestibular injury, multiple sclerosis, mTBI) pathways can disrupt balance and gait. The laboratory is utilizing a multitude of technologies to measure gait (inertial sensors, pressure-sensitive walkways), balance (force platforms, inertial sensors), brain activity (fNIRS, EEG), and much more. This summer internship will involve project(s) that address both gait assessment and gait rehabilitation in people with Parkinson's disease. Researchers work directly with patients in the laboratory and have several ways to measure multiple aspects of walking biomechanics.
The selected intern will help with have two main roles in the laboratory:
- The student will assist with patient research visits across multiple NIH-funded grants. They will be working with researchers in the lab to prepare the laboratory space and capture data during the visits. Additionally, they will assist in data verification to ensure accuracy. This will give the intern a good introduction to clinical research.
- The student will also work on their own project that they will present to the research group, gaining skills in data management, analysis, and illustration.
Over the summer, the student will learn about how the nervous system controls balance and walking, become familiar with our laboratory assessments of gait and balance and have a general understanding of preparing and presenting data. This is a full-time, in-person internship, with the expectation that the intern will work at least 300 hours over the course of the summer.
The mentor's lab includes many post-doctoral researchers and full-time researchers who all share in the process of mentoring summer students. Their philosophy is to provide guidance as needed, but let students primarily learn through experiencing patient encounters and research studies.
To learn more, visit https://www.ohsu.edu/school-of-medicine/neurology/balance-disorders-laboratory.
Students must be minimum age specified by June 15. These age requirements are strictly enforced by the mentoring organization, and there are no exceptions. Applicants should be aware that on-site parking may be limited and/or unavailable throughout the summer; interns may be required to rely on public transit or alternative transportation.
We strongly encourage students to apply who are from one or more systemically and historically excluded group, including but not limited to, non-cis-gendered students, girls, BIPOC, first-generation college-bound students, low-income/low-resourced students, students with disabilities, students who are neurodivergent, and those who speak a primary language other than English.
If you have any questions about the application, website technical issues and/or this position description, please contact Saturday Academy at ase@saturdayacademy.org. Do not contact the mentor directly. Contacting the mentor directly is grounds for disqualification of your ASE application.