Behdad Tahayori, PT, PhD

Born and raised in Iran, Dr. Tahayori studied physical therapy at Master’s level at Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. He did his PhD in Kinesiology and Neuroscience at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) examining spinal plasticity and its mechanisms in CNS diseases. At IUB, he did some basic science studies to better understand the inhibitory mechanisms in spinal cord and their role in regulating human movement. Using noninvasive electrophysiological techniques, he was able to induce plastic changes in the spinal cord of patients with CNS disease with the aim of improving motor function. He did a Post-Doctoral Training program at City University of New York, working on a project concerning regaining reciprocal lower extremity activation in patients with partial spinal cord injury. He did a second post-doctoral training at Florida International University, Department of Biomedical Engineering. At FIU, he was involved in animal models of spinal cord plasticity and had the opportunity to use invasive techniques for changing spinal pathways input/output relations. The results of such studies will enable researchers and clinicians to come up with new methods of treatment for many patients who suffer from devastating CNS disease such as spinal cord injury.

As a Licensed physical therapist who is directly involved in patient care, Dr. Tahayori focuses on studies which bridge between experimental settings and clinical needs. An example of these efforts is his patent on training individuals with cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) with methods which have long been used for experimental and basic neuroscience studies. Dr. Tahayori has published more than 10 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He is the recipient of a prestigious Fellowship from American Heart Association. His research focus is on neuromechanics of movement with emphasis on spinal control of movement in human.