Noam Harel, MD, PhD

Our goal is simple yet challenging - to improve conscious control over movement of neurologically weakened parts of the body. Our main approach to this challenge uses spinal and brain stimulation. These strategies use the principle of ‘Fire Together, Wire Together’: When nearby nerves fire together repeatedly, connections between those nerves strengthen. We have multiple ongoing clinical studies below. For more information, please contact Jaclyn.Wecht@va.gov; 718-584-9000 x3128 Cervical Electrical Stimulation for ALS – Preliminary study testing different combinations of magnetic and electrical brain and spinal cord stimulation to better understand how different nerve circuits interact with each other in ALS, and also to see if we can improve hand function by activating spared nerve connections. https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03411863 Non-invasive Cervical Electrical Stimulation for SCI - Preliminary study testing different combinations of magnetic and electrical brain and spinal cord stimulation to better understand how different nerve circuits interact with each other in SCI, and also to see if we can improve hand function by activating spared nerve connections. https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03414424 Activity-Dependent Transspinal Stimulation in SCI – Clinical trial comparing effects of robotic gait training alone to robotic gait training combined with either low-frequency or high-frequency non-invasive transspinal electrical stimulation over the lumbar spine. https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03669302 Effects of Remote Ischemic Conditioning on Hand Use in Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury – Clinical trial measuring the effects of transiently restricting blood flow to a 'remote' limb to increase hand motor pathway excitability through a combination of systemic increases in plasticity-promoting factors and inhibition of inflammatory factors. https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03851302 MEET OUR RESEARCH TEAM Yu-Kuang Wu, PT, PhD Assistant Professor in Rehabilitation Medicine Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Ola Alsalman, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow Matthew T. Maher, MS Lead Coordinator for Cardiovascular-Autonomic Program Jaclyn R. Wecht, BS Lead Coordinator for Neurorehabilitation Program Grace Fatade-Famodimu, MS Research Coordinator Eric Bailey, BS Research Assistant LINKS/WEBSITES www.scirc.org https://www.facebook.com/pg/Neurorehabva