Scholars@Duke
Yuchao Wang

Overview

I'm a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering through the Cognitive Neuroscience Admitting Program (CNAP). I'm interested in understanding cortico-subcortical neural dynamics to develop individualized treatments for neurologic disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, dystonia, and stroke. My advisors are Dr. Nanthia Suthana and Dr. Greg Cogan. 

Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), MGH Institute of Health Professions, 2021-2024
B.A. (summa cum laude) in Cognitive Science, Haverford College, 2016-2019

Current Duke Appointments & Affiliations

Recent Scholarly Works

"Tapping" into neural inhibition in focal hand dystonia: an evaluation of a finger-tapping task using TMS and fMRI.

Journal article Journal of neurology · January 2026 BackgroundFocal hand dystonia (FHD) is a task-specific movement disorder characterized by involuntary muscle contractions during skilled hand use. Impaired intracortical inhibition is a core feature of FHD, yet its relationship to functional brain ... Full text Cite

Understanding the mechanisms of lateral parietal memory modulation in Mild Cognitive Impairment

Preprint · 2026 The application of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to lateral parietal cortex has shown promise in improving episodic memory in older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Previous work has suggested that such improvements are achieved by ac ... Full text Cite

Somato-Cognitive Action Network in Focal Dystonia.

Journal article Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · November 2025 BackgroundThe central pathology causing idiopathic focal dystonia remains unclear. The recently identified somato-cognitive action network (SCAN) has been implicated.ObjectiveWe tested whether the effector-agnostic SCAN may constitute a c ... Full text Cite
View All Scholarly Works

External Links

Google Scholar Personal Page