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Kimberly J. Hemmerling

Email khemmerling@northwestern.edu

Education

  • Current
    MS/PhD in Biomedical Engineering
    Northwestern University, Evanson, IL
    • Advisor: Dr. Molly Bright
  • 2019
    B.S. in Biomedical Engineering with Honors
    Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
    • cum laude

Experience

  • 2019-Present
    Graduate Research Assistant
    Applied Neuro-Vascular Imaging Lab, Northwestern University
    • Explore complex spinal cord functional MRI data to identify neural and vascular responses that provide insight into human health and pathology.
    • Design multi-component experiments with human subjects using MRI, electromyography, physiological signal monitoring, and clinical interventions.
    • Integrate new experimental findings with existing literature to produce high-quality journal publications.
  • 2018
    Research Scientist Intern
    Hospital for Special Surgery
    • Conducted a study during an 8 week internship to quantify damage to retrieved medical implants.
  • 2017-2019
    Undergraduate Research Scientist
    Donnelly Research Lab, Cornell University
    • Developed an image-based metric to assess material properties for senior honors thesis.

Honors and Awards

  • 2023
    • NIH F31 NRSA Individual Predoctoral Fellowship
      • Probing an increased reliance on reticulospinal motor pathways in chronic hemiparetic stroke with advanced spinal cord functional MRI
    • Biomedical Engineering Research Progress Award
    • International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM): Summa Cum Laude Merit Award
  • 2021
    • T32 Graduate Training Program in Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • 2019
    • Royal E. Cabell Fellowship (Northwestern)

Outreach

  • 2022-Present
    Science Communication Session | Co-Creator & Organizer
    • Organized a session at the annual ISMRM (ismrm.org) meeting (5,000+ attendees) for researchers to interface with a layman audience in London, UK (2022) and Toronto, ON (2023).
    • Assigned researchers (conference attendees) to present and discuss their work with local secondary school students that we invited to attend the conference.

Select Presentations

  • 2024
    Mapping spinal cord vascular reactivity and vascular territories using fMRI in highly sampled individuals
    • Upcoming talk at the ISMRM 2024 Annual Meeting in Singapore
  • 2023
    Spatial distribution of hand-grip motor task activity in spinal cord fMRI
    • Talk at the ISMRM 2023 Annual Meeting in Toronto, ON, Canada
  • 2023
    Mapping functional motor activity in the healthy and post-stroke spinal cord
    • Seminar for the Cognitive Brain Mapping Group at Northwestern University
  • 2021
    Visualization technique for assessment of spinal cord fMRI data quality
    • Talk at the ISMRM 2021 Annual Meeting