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Jessie Mann's Dissertation Defense (11/30/2020): Tele-Neurorehabilitation: Potential for Treatment and Assessment

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Jessie Mann

Dissertation Defense: Tele-Neurorehabilitation: Potential for Treatment and Assessment

Jessie Mann

Graduate Student, Virginia Tech Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health
Graduate Research Assistant, DeLuca Lab, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Nov. 30, 2020 at 1:00 p.m.
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About this Dissertation

Neurorehabilitation is the clinical effort to repair brain injuries. Telehealth, or telemedicine, is the use of digital technologies to assist in the delivery of healthcare. Telehealth can take many forms - you can do a teleconference with your doctor, you can access your medical records online, or you can use a fitbit to promote preventative healthcare. One form is telerehabilitation, examples include video conferencing with your physical therapist, using video game based rehabilitation systems, or the use of digital cameras and programs to capture and analyze your movements. This document explores some of the ways tele-neurorehabilitation can use digital technologies to help promote neurological repair and recovery. The first chapter is a review of the literature on the use of avatars, or digital placeholders such as animated characters or virtual representations of the patient, in neurorehabilitation and how their use has the potential to promote neurological repair. The second chapter explores the use of a wearable remote control device for the promotion of enjoyability and intensity (high repetitions of desired movements) in the pediatric neurorehabilitation context. The third chapter pilot tests a video-based assessment methodology and explores the telehealth potential of such an assessment methodology and the final chapter demonstrates how this assessment methodology can be used in pediatric neurorehabilitation in a case study on the treatment of Kernicterus, a pediatric disorder that results from bilirubin toxicity. Collectively these works provide a review of the potential for telehealth approaches in neurorehabilitation and preliminary data on how these approaches might be implemented in the field of pediatric neurorehabilitation.

More About the Candidate and Project

Education

Virginia Tech Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health, Ph.D. Candidate

Washington & Lee University, B.S., Psychology

 

Training

Graduate Research Assistant, DeLuca Lab, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC

 

Mentor

Stephanie DeLuca, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Co-Director, Neuromotor Research Clinic, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC

Committee Members

  • Konark Mukherjee, Ph.D., Assitant Professor, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
  • Martha Ann Bell, Ph.D., University Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Science
  • Michael Fox, Ph.D., Professor, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and Director, School of Neuroscience, College of Science
  • Daniela Corbetta, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tennessee

Ex Officio Committee Members

  • Michael J. Friedlander, Ph.D., Executive Director, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and Virginia Tech Vice President for Health Sciences and Technology
  • Michelle Theus, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
  • Steven Poelzing, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and Co-Director, Translational Biology, Medicine and Health Graduate Program.

Honors

  • Roanoke Graduate Student Association, Special Delegate to Graduate Student Association, 2018-2019. Vice President (2017) and President (2018) Iota Delta Rho: Interdisciplinary Research Honor Society, Virginia Tech
  • Mann, J., No, J., Polys, N. Isomorphic Avatar Based Therapy. 3rd place Faculty Choice Research Award, Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, 2016.
  • Mann, J., Polys, N., Diana, R., Ananth, M., Herald, B., Patel, S. Virginia Tech’s Study Hall: A Virtual Method of Loci Mnemotechnic Study using a Neurologically-Based, MechanismDriven, Approach to Immersive Learning Research. 2nd Place Student’s Choice Award, Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health, Student Research Presentations, Roanoke, Virginia, 2017. 

Presentations

Presentation: Mann, J., Jones, T., Ampatzi, V. Art and Neuroscience: Memory Bank. SECAC, Chattanooga, October, 2019.

Poster: Mann, J., Wallace, D., Mukherjee, K., DeLuca, S. Using Intensive Pediatric Neurorehabilitation for Children with Microcephaly Secondary to CASK Mutation. AACPDM Annual Meeting, California, 2019.

Poster: Mann,J., Wallace, D., DeLuca, S. Case Study on the use of Intensive Pediatric Neurorehabilitation in the Treatment of Kernicterus. AACPDM Annual Meeting, California, 2019.

Poster: Mann, J., Polys, N., Diana, R., Ananth, M., Herald, B., Patel, S. . Virginia Tech’s Study Hall: A Virtual Method of Loci Mnemotechnic Study using a Neurologically-Based, Mechanism-Driven, Approach to Immersive Learning Research. IEEE VR, Los Angeles, March, 2017.

Poster: Mann, J., Polys, N., Diana, R., Ananth, M., Herald, B., Patel, S. . Virginia Tech’s Study Hall: A Virtual Method of Loci Mnemotechnic Study using a Neurologically-Based, Mechanism-Driven, Approach to Immersive Learning Research. Virginia Tech Graduate Student Research Symposium, Blacksburg, March, 2017. 

Publications

Mann, Jessie. (2020). Pilot study on the use of a video-based metric goal attainment assessment. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, In press.

Mann, Jessie. (2020). The medical avatar and its role in neurorehabilitation and neuroplasticity: A review. NeuroRehabilitation, 46(4), 467–482. https://doi.org/10.3233/NRE-203063

Mann, J., Wallace, D. A., & Deluca, S. (2020). Case Study on the use of Intensive Pediatric Neurorehabilitation in the Treatment of Kernicterus. Journal of Clinical Movement Disorders, 7(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40734-020- 0084-z

Mann, J., Polys, N., Diana, R., Ananth, M., Herald, B., & Platel, S. (2017). Virginia tech’s study hall: A virtual method of loci mnemotechnic study using a neurologically-based, mechanism-driven, approach to immersive learning research. 2017 IEEE Virtual Reality (VR), 383–384. https://doi.org/10.1109/VR.2017.7892337

Mann, J. (2018) The Philosophy of Art and Technology in Pitt, J. & Shew, A. (Eds.) Spaces of the Future: A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology. Routledge Philosophy Companions.