Assistant Professor

Joyce Chen

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

BSc, PhD

Research Interests
Movement Science
Accepting
MSc, PhD

Dr. Chen is the director of the laboratory for Promoting Upper Limb Stroke rEcovery (PULSE). She received her undergraduate degree in Physical Therapy, and doctorate in Neurological Sciences from McGill University. This was followed by post-doctoral training at Oxford University and Harvard Medical School.

The PULSE lab aims to develop and validate novel therapeutic interventions that facilitate the recovery of arm and hand movements after stroke. One area of research aims to understand how non-invasive brain stimulation can augment recovery of movements. A second area of research aims to understand how we can harness aspects of music to enhance stroke recovery. We use techniques such as behavioural testing, magnetic resonance imaging, and non-invasive brain stimulation. These approaches allow us to better understand how the stroke has affected the brain’s capacity for recovery, to determine biomarkers that may predict recovery, and to elucidate the neural mechanisms that may underlie recovery.