Manuel Hernandez is an associate professor for health & kinesiology at the University of Illinois. He also holds affiliate faculty positions in Bioengineering, the Beckman Institute, Health & Kinesiology, and the Neuroscience Program. His research interests lie in aging, movement disorders, and systems neuroscience, with a particular focus on understanding the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying postural dysfunction in older adults. Dr. Hernandez’s work aims to identify risk factors for injury or disability during goal-directed movements in older adults, especially those with neurological disorders.
In this interview, Manuel Hernandez discusses his work as the director of the Mobility and Fall Prevention research lab. He highlights his ongoing research on using multimodal virtual reality for real-time evaluation of anxiety and mobility, and the collaborative nature of his work across multiple disciplines, including neuroscience, medicine, and engineering.
What are your main research interests?
As the director of the Mobility and Fall Prevention research lab since 2014, research interests have been focused on balance, gait, aging, and movement disorders using tools at the intersection of biomechanics and neuroscience. In particular, my research group has been working on several fronts: the development of multimodal virtual reality testbeds for real-time evaluation of state anxiety in older adults; age-related changes on the cognitive control of balance and gait; and the effects of concurrent aging and neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, on control of mobility.
How do you see your work connecting with others for collaboration?
By nature, my work is collaborative. It brings together social and behavioral sciences, medicine, psychology, neuroscience, information science, and engineering, by focusing on use of technology to monitor changes in physical and mental health in chronic and degenerative conditions across the lifespan.
What is something you’re passionate about outside of work?
Outside of work, I am a faculty advisor for the Latinx in Biomechanix organization, which brings together students, faculty, and professionals across movement sciences to foster community and promote cultural awareness of Latinx people in movement science.
What are you most excited about in your research this year?
This year, we are most excited to report findings from our ongoing study examining the generalization of objective markers of anxiety to different conditions, individuals, and from controlled conditions to real-world environments.