Scientific Advisory Board
Victhom’s Scientific Advisory Board’s mandate is to provide input on scientific and technical aspects of our discoveries, designs, findings and hypotheses. In addition, the Scientific Advisory Board may be asked to provide validation and guidance on hypotheses and conclusions we have reached.
Click on the name to see their biography.
Andy Hoffer, Ph.D.
Professor, Faculty of Applied Sciences
Associate Member, School of Engineering Science
Professor, School of Kinesiology
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia
Joaquín Andrés Hoffer is professor of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, director of the Neurokinesiology Laboratory and director of the Centre for Disability Independence Research and Education at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, British Columbia. Dr. Hoffer received a Ph.D. in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University for his pioneering design of nerve cuffs used for recording peripheral nerve activity during movement. He subsequently developed and tested nerve cuff sensing and stimulation applications at Alberta, NIH, Calgary and Simon Fraser, for which he obtained several patents. In 1997 he founded Neurostream Technologies, an SFU spin-off R&D Company that designed the Neurostep®, the first fully implanted assistive system for walking in patients with foot drop. In 2004, this technology was acquired by Victhom Human Bionics and Dr. Hoffer has continued to serve as expert scientific advisor to Victhom. Recently, he also worked on 3D MRI imaging of peripheral nerves, development of a wearable Biomechanical Energy Harvester, and a new, minimally invasive, transvascular nerve stimulation approach. Dr. Hoffer is a founding member of the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society and currently serves on the IFESS board of directors. His current projects and main publications are listed in www.neurokin.sfu.ca.
Gerald Loeb, M.D.
Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurology
Director, Medical Device Development Facility
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
President, Biomed Concepts Inc.
CEO, SynTouch LLC
Gerald Loeb (M’98) received a B.A. (’69) and M.D. (’72) from Johns Hopkins University and did one year of surgical residency at the University of Arizona before joining the Laboratory of Neural Control at the National Institutes of Health (1973-1988). He was Professor of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada (1988-1999) and is now Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurology and Director of the Medical Device Development Facility at the University of Southern California. Dr. Loeb was one of the original developers of the cochlear implant to restore hearing to the deaf and was Chief Scientist for Advanced Bionics Corp. (1994-1999), manufacturers of the Clarion cochlear implant. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, holder of 55 issued U.S. patents and author of over 200 scientific papers.
Most of Dr. Loeb’s current research is directed toward sensorimotor control of paralyzed and prosthetic limbs. His research team developed BION™ injectable neuromuscular stimulators and has been conducting several pilot clinical trials. Other current technologies include biomimetic tactile sensors, inferential extraction of commands from residual shoulder motion and spinal-like regulators for coordination of multiactuator systems. These projects build on Dr. Loeb’s long-standing basic research into the properties and natural activities of muscles, motoneurons, proprioceptors and spinal reflexes. They constitute one of the testbeds in the NSF Engineering Research Center on Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems, for which Dr. Loeb is deputy director.
Douglas B. McCreery, Ph.D.
Director, Neural Engineering Program
Huntington Medical Research Institutes
Pasadena, CA
Douglas B. McCreery received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering and the Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1966, 1970, and 1975, respectively. He lives in Pasadena, California where he is director of the Neural Engineering Program at Huntington Medical Research Institutes. His research interests include the development of neuroprostheses and devices for neuromodulation for the central nervous system, and the physiological and histological effects of electrical stimulation of the central and peripheral nervous systems.
J. Thomas Mortimer, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Case School of Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH
Dr. Mortimer has a thirty-three year record of research in electrically activating the nervous system. This work has been documented in over ninety publications and seventeen patents. In July of 2002 Dr. Mortimer became Professor Emeritus at Case Western Reserve University, where he maintains an office and continues to be very active in teaching. Dr. Mortimer is the president of Axon Engineering, Inc., a company that has commercialized devices stemming from sponsored research carried out under his direction. The bulk of the intellectual property at Axon Engineering, Inc. was licensed to a very large biomedical company in 2001; Axon no longer maintains a manufacturing facility.
Dr. Mortimer is most pleased to have been able to participate in the development of a number of graduate students who trained in his lab. These individuals hold major positions in academic institutions and corporations and have individually made major technical and monetary contributions to the U.S. nation and society.
Dr. Mortimer’s research efforts have involved the development of electrodes for neural prostheses and instruments to implant them. Devices that he has developed include devices used in pain management, restoration of upper and lower extremity function, respiratory pacing, visual prosthesis, bowel and bladder assist and scoliosis correction.
Milos R. Popovic, Ph.D.
Toronto Rehab Chair in Spinal Cord Research
Associate Professor, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering
University of Toronto
Senior Scientist and Activity Team Leader at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
Toronto, Canada
Milos R. Popovic received the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada in 1996, and the Electrical Engineer degree from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1990.
Dr. Popovic is Toronto Rehab Chair in Spinal Cord Injury Research. He is also an Associate Professor at the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto, and Senior Scientist and the Activity Team Leader at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, both institutions located in Toronto, Canada.
Dr. Popovic joined the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering and the Toronto Rehab in 2001. From 1997 until 2001 he was leading the Rehabilitation Engineering Team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and the Paraplegic Center of the University Hospital Balgrist, both in Zurich, Switzerland. From 1996 until 1997, he worked for AlliedSignal Aerospace Canada Inc. in Toronto, Canada.
Dr. Popovic’s fields of expertise are Functional Electrical Stimulation, neuro-rehabilitation, modeling and control of linear and non-linear dynamic systems, robotics, power systems, signal processing and safety analysis. His interests are in the areas of neuro-rehabilitation, physiological control systems, assistive technology and brain machine interfaces.
In 1997, together with Dr. Thierry Keller, he received the Swiss National Science Foundation Technology Transfer Award - 1st place. In 2008, Dr. Popovic received the Research and Development Award from the Professional Engineers of Ontario and Ontario Society of Professional Engineers. He is also one of the co-founders of the Canadian National Spinal Cord Injury Conference established in 2004.
Doug Weber, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Department of Bioengineering
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. Weber is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. Dr. Weber received a B.S. ('94) degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and M.S. ('00) and Ph.D. ('01) degrees in Bioengineering from Arizona State University. He was a postdoctoral fellow ('01-03') and Assistant Professor ('03-'05) in the Centre for Neuroscience at the University of Alberta before joining the University of Pittsburgh. His primary research area is Neural Engineering, including studies of motor learning and control of walking and reaching with particular emphasis on applications to rehabilitation technologies and practice. Specific research interests include Functional Electrical Stimulation, activity-based neuromotor rehabilitation, neural coding, and neural control of prosthetic devices. Currently, his research is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS), and the U.S. Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC). The results of his research have been published extensively in reputed journals and conference proceedings. Dr. Weber is currently serving as a peer reviewer for grants submitted to the NIH study section on Emerging Technologies and Training in Neurosciences IRG.
Dr. Weber is a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society, IEEE and IEEE EMBS, and the Society for Neuroscience. Dr. Weber regularly serves these and other professional societies as a peer reviewer for several journals in bioengineering, neuroscience, biomechanics, and rehabilitation medicine. His honors include an IA Rader Presidential Scholarship, Milwaukee School of Engineering, a Flinn Foundation Predoctoral Training Fellowship, a Predoctoral USPHS (NIH) Fellowship, an Achievement Reward for College Scientists Fellowship (Arizona State University), and post-doctoral fellowships from the Alberta Paraplegic Foundation and the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research.