Charalambos Costas Charalambous

Since October 2023, I have been a Medical Instructor in the Division of Stroke and Vascular Neurology, Department of Neurology at the Duke University School of Medicine. I hold a BS and MS in Kinesiology from the California State University Northridge, an MS in Biokinesiology from the University of Southern California, and a PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences from the Medical University of South Carolina. Before my current academic position, I completed three postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Delaware in Movement Science and Behavioral Neuroscience (1/2016-1/2018), the New York University Grossman School of Medicine in TMS Neurophysiology and Post-Stroke Motor Recovery (2/2018-12/20019), and University of Nicosia Medical School in Neuroscience (12/2019-9/2023). I am a motor neuroscientist with an emphasis on the neuro-physio-biomechanical and behavioral mechanisms of motor recovery and rehabilitation. The overarching aim of my research is to understand the plasticity of the descending motor pathways as it relates to the sensorimotor function of walking and how to harness that plasticity to promote walking recovery in neurological cohorts. My research vision is to seek fundamental knowledge on the role of the central nervous system (e.g., brain-muscle connection via the motor descending tracts) in human walking and subsequently to use this knowledge to progress and develop mechanism-driven strategies for reducing the walking burden and restoring walking function in individuals with neurological disorders (e.g., stroke) for living longer and healthier lives. My two current lines of research are to systematically examine (1) how descending motor pathways contribute to sensorimotor control in both neurotypical adults and clinical cohorts, and (2) how non-invasive brain stimulation strategies can modulate these pathways to improve the sensorimotor control after stroke.