Christopher K. Thompson

Biography

Dr. Christopher K. Thompson earned his DPT and PhD at the University of Illinois at Chicago. During this time, Dr. Thompson examined mechanisms and functional implications of acute increases in maximal torque generation in individuals with chronic spinal cord injuries using biomechanical, electromyographic, pharmacological approaches at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Though a Craig H. Nelisen Foundation postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Thompson has investigated motor unit discharge patterns using the in vivo cat preparation at Northwestern University. This work focused on changes in spinal interneurons following acute chronic incomplete spinal cord injury. During the subsequent T32 fellowship, Dr. Thompson expanded his human work, quantifying motor unit discharge patterns in stroke survivors and individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Thompson has published multiple manuscripts, given numerous presentations at local, national, and international conferences, and received awards from the National Institutes of Health, American Physical Therapy Association, and American College of Sports Medicine. Dr. Thompson is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Temple University. His Spinal Neuromotor Laboratory is located within the Neuromotor Rehabilitation and Virtual Environments Laboratories and contains equipment necessary for contemporary motor unit and kinetic assessments of the human motor system. His laboratory strives to conduct highly collaborative research with the goal of developing life changing therapies for individuals with neurological injury through parallel animal and human investigations of the motor system.

Research Interest

His research interests include Biostatistics, Neurological Disorders, Neuromuscular Conditions, Neuropharmacology, Parkinson's Disease and Physical Activity.