Sulzer, James, PhD

My research interests focus on improving walking in people after stroke and projects that better integrate lived experience and represent the needs of the disability community.

INVESTIGATOR BIOGRAPHY

James Sulzer, PhD,  is an Associate Professor and Staff Scientist in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Case Western Reserve University and MetroHealth Hospital in Cleveland, OH. He earned his doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (now Shirley Ryan AbilityLab), where he investigated robotic exoskeletal walking assistance for people with stroke. As an ETH Fellow, Dr. Sulzer conducted postdoctoral research at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, providing the first evidence that humans can self-regulate dopaminergic midbrain activity through real-time guided neurofeedback. During his time there, he founded the international multimodal neurofeedback community, which continues to convene biennially.

Previously on the faculty of UT Austin’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Sulzer established the CARE Initiative, a rehabilitation research consortium. The experience as a caregiver following his young daughter’s severe traumatic brain injury was detailed in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, a paper that has shaped rehabilitation engineering curricula at multiple universities and was recognized by the Journal of Management Inquiry as one of the most impactful works bridging the academic-practitioner divide. This personal experience profoundly reshaped Dr. Sulzer’s research philosophy, motivating a shift toward projects that better integrate lived experience and represent the needs of the disability community, including engaging activities such as a driving simulator for children and real-world community-based rehabilitation in brain injury survivors. His advocacy and work have been featured nationally in The Atlantic, STAT News, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times.