Eleanna Varangis, PhD

Dr. Eleanna Varangis is an assistant professor of Movement Science in the Michigan Concussion Center and the School of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan. She received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Economics from Barnard College of Columbia University. She completed her master’s degree and PhD in Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where her dissertation research focused on the long-term effects of football-related concussions on cognitive performance, white matter integrity, and functional connectivity during an episodic memory task in middle-adulthood. Her postdoctoral research with Dr. Yaakov Stern at Columbia University’s Taub Institute explored similar relationships among cognitive performance and functional connectivity during both rest and task periods in healthy adults across the adult lifespan.

Now, her research utilizes cognitive assessments and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) both at rest as well as during a cognitive task in order to probe ways in which mTBI affects neurocognitive function across both short- and long-term timescales. Her training in the analysis of functional and structural MRI in both former athletes and healthy adults informs much of her approach to exploring the effects of mTBI on neurocognitive health in the context of aging. The overall goal of her research is to characterize the ways in which mTBI affects brain health and cognitive function across the lifespan, and to identify individual factors that may protect against or exacerbate deviations from a healthy brain aging trajectory.

Dr. Eleanna Varangis, director of the ATHINA Lab, is seeking a postdoctoral research fellow to begin as early as Summer 2023. Details: myumi.ch/ezXp2. Posting on U-M Jobs site: myumi.ch/JpRbV.

Dr. Seagly is a licensed psychologist, and a clinical neuropsychologist, as well as a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She is the Director of the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Rehabilitation Program. She received her Ph.D. from the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology. She completed her clinical internship at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University and her APPCN neuropsychology fellowship at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan. She trained for three years in TBI Model Systems prior to accepting a TBI-focused faculty position in the Division of Rehabilitation Psychology and Neuropsychology (RPN) in 2017. Since joining the University of Michigan, she has started an RPN adult concussion program incorporating both brief assessment and intervention, and has been collaborating with Brain Injury Medicine physicians on further development of the inpatient TBI program, incorporating the Learning Health System for improving patient care and research on TBI outcomes. Her research interests are primarily in the areas of psychosocial, cognitive and quality of life outcomes following TBI, concussion outcomes, performance validity tests, and improving collaborative rehabilitation treatment.

Dr. David Millward, the athletic medical director/head team physician for U-M Athletics, completed his medical school education at the University of Ottawa. He completed a Master of Science in Epidemiology at Michigan State University. His research is focused on vitamin D and bone health in student-athletes, exercise-induced bronchospasm, asthma in athletes, and concussions. His goal is to help patients understand their injuries so they may choose from the best possible treatments to allow full recovery and expeditious return to sport.

Dr. Millward serves on the Concussion Center’s Faculty Council and the Clinical Data and Populations Committee.

Interested in getting to know Dr. Millward better? Check out our Member Spotlight.

Dr. Veliz is a Research Associate Professor at the School of Nursing’s Applied Biostatistics Laboratory and Associate Director of the Sport, Health, and Activity Research and Policy Center. Dr. Veliz’s research primarily involves examining large-scale secondary data sets to assess adolescent substance use, health, and participation in organized sports. As a data analyst, Dr. Veliz has published extensively using data sets like the Monitoring the Future, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, and Office of Civil Rights Data Collection and continues to work with new and existing secondary data sources that focus on substance use and health. Dr. Veliz is currently co-investigator on several NIH funded projects assessing prescription drug use, cigarette, and e-cigarette use using data from the Monitoring the Future and National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III.

Xuming He received his PhD in Statistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989. He joined the University of Michigan as H. C. Carver Collegiate Professor in 2011. His prior appointments include faculty positions at the National University of Singapore and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research interests include broad areas of statistical inference, including quantile regression and subgroup analysis. His interdisciplinary research aims to promote the better use of statistics in biosciences, climate studies, concussion research, and social-economic studies.

Dr. Douglas Noll’s group develops magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology for mapping the functional organization the human brain performing specific tasks (known as functional MRI or fMRI). The group’s research is in two main areas: 1) understanding the neurovascular physiology associated with brain activity and quantifying the biophysical connection to the MR images and 2) development of image acquisition, image reconstruction, signal processing, and hardware approaches to provide the high-speed and robust measurement of function over the entire brain. As part of the Functional MRI Laboratory, this group collaborates with a broad range of neuroscientists to develop an understanding of the organization and functioning of the normal brain and to apply technological advances to quantitative imaging of brain function in a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Dr. Noll serves on the Concussion Center’s Faculty Council, providing intellectual guidance and strategic recommendations to the center’s leadership.

Dr. Jacob R. Joseph is a neurosurgeon specializing in the treatment and management of traumatic brain and spine injuries. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he graduated with Highest Honors. He then earned M.D. degree from Baylor College of Medicine. He went on to complete a seven-year neurosurgical residency at the University of Michigan. Dr. Joseph then completed additional training in Neurotrauma and Complex Spinal Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh under the tutelage of Dr. David Okonkwo. His research focuses on the biomechanics, diagnosis, and management of brain and spine injuries.