Meet the CIONIC Scientific Advisory Board

Anne Ellis
CIONIC Blog
Published in
3 min readMay 18, 2022
SAB Members pictured from left to right: Dr. Charles Adler, Dr. Carrolee Barlow, Dr. Alberto Botter, Dr. Kara Flavin, Dr. Richard Zorowitz

Today we announced the formation of the CIONIC Scientific Advisory Board. We are fortunate to have such an incredible group of physicians and scientists join us in our mission to help people with mobility differences live more freely and independently. In the coming weeks, we’ll share deeper profiles of our SAB members individually, but wanted to introduce these amazing individuals who are already adding tremendous value to the CIONIC team.

Charles Adler, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Adler is a world-renowned expert on Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders with the Mayo Clinic. His research is focused on identifying the causes and improving the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, dementia, essential tremor, dystonia and other movement disorders. This research includes his role as co-leader of the Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders.

Before his long tenure at Mayo, Dr Adler was a resident and Movement Disorder Fellow in the department of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is a graduate of NYU School of Medicine for both his medical degree and his PhD in Pharmacology.

Carrolee Barlow, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Barlow is Chief Medical Officer of ESCAPE Bio, a clinical-stage biotech company developing precision medicine therapies for genetic forms of neurodegenerative disease. Prior to ESCAPE Bio, Dr. Barlow served as CEO of the Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center, an independent clinical care and research center for Parkinson’s and related disorders. Dr. Barlow was also acting Chief Medical Officer at Amicus Therapeutics. She also held a faculty position in genetics at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and served as the Director of Molecular Neuroscience and Worldwide Therapeutic Area Head for Stroke and Neurodegeneration at Merck Research Laboratories.

Dr. Barlow received her MD from the University of Utah, completed her residency in internal medicine at The New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and her subspecialty training in endocrinology at NIH. She earned her PhD in molecular and developmental biology at the Karolinska Medical Nobel Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and completed postdoctoral training in human genetics at the NIH.

Alberto Botter, Ph.D.

Dr. Botter is Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy, and head of its Laboratory for Engineering of the Neuromuscular System. He has been a scientific collaborator of CIONIC for two years, and co-author of its peer-reviewed scientific publications. Dr. Botter’s research focuses on neuromuscular electrical stimulation, surface electromyography, electrode technology, and signal processing applied to biomedical signals.

He received his PhD in EE from the Polytechnic of Turin. He is a member of IEEE. He is also the inventor of a grid of electrodes transparent to ultrasound for simultaneous acquisition of HD-EMG and ultrasound images.

Kara Flavin, M.D.

Dr. Flavin is a board-certified physiatrist with subspecialty board certifications in Spinal Cord Injury Medicine and Brain Injury Medicine. As a clinical assistant professor at Stanford University, she collaborated closely with engineers to develop novel rehabilitation devices for stroke patients. She was also an attending physician at the Palo Alto VA Medical Center, managing the rehabilitation and medical care for acute and chronic spinal cord injured veterans.

Dr. Flavin received her medical degree at the University of Virginia and her fellowship at Stanford University and the Palo Alto VA Hospital.

Richard Zorowitz, M.D.

Dr. Zorowitz is a professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Georgetown University Medical Center. His clinical focus is on the rehabilitation of stroke, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury. His research activities focus on stroke rehabilitation, including motor recovery, hemiplegic shoulder pain, dysphagia, spasticity, pseudobulbar affect, and functional outcomes. He is board-certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Spinal Cord Injury Medicine, and Brain Injury Medicine. He was previously a member of the Board of Directors for the National Stroke Association.

He is a graduate of the Tulane University School of Medicine. He completed an internship in internal medicine at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY, and a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University, IL.

--

--