Our Research Team
Rachel K. Spooner, PhD
Principal Investigator
rachel.spooner@boystown.org
Rachel K. Spooner, PhD, is the Director of the Translational Motor Imaging Laboratory in the Institute for Human Neuroscience. Dr. Spooner is a clinical translational neuroscientist interested in fusing systems biology and neuroscience techniques to comprehensively characterize the neurobiological underpinnings of cognitive-motor dysfunction across the lifespan.
She received her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2021. She completed her postdoctoral training from 2021-2024 at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, which focused on neurophysiology and neuromodulation in movement disorders. Her work emphasizes examining multiple levels of biology to answer her research questions, including multimodal neuroimaging using emerging MEG and MRI, as well as invasive and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, quantitative biological assays, and comprehensive behavioral and clinical testing.
She has authored numerous publications in broad audience and field-specific outlets including PNAS, Brain Behavior and Immunity, npj Parkinson's Disease and Brain Stimulation and has received numerous competitive external fellowships and research supplements from NASA, NIH, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung/Foundation and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (i.e., German Research Foundation).
