People

The Team

Researchers, engineers, neuroscientists, and clinicians unified by a single goal: better technology for people who need it most.

Leadership

Research Directors

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Dr. Sarah L. Chen

Director of Prosthetics Research

Dr. Chen leads the Foundation's upper and lower limb prosthetics programs, with 18 years of experience in myoelectric control systems and human-machine interfaces. She is the principal investigator on the BF-7 bionic arm Phase II trial.

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Dr. James O. Okafor

Director of Mobility Research

Dr. Okafor directs the Foundation's exoskeleton and gait assistance programs. A biomedical engineer and clinician with deep experience in SCI rehabilitation, he led the BF-EX3 pilot program and oversees the post-stroke gait recovery initiative.

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Dr. Elena R. Torres

Director of Spinal Neuroscience

Dr. Torres is a neuroscientist and physician specializing in spinal cord stimulation and neural circuit reactivation. She designed the Foundation's targeted epidural stimulation protocol and leads all spinal research programs.

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Dr. Marcus P. Williams

Director of AI & Neural Interface Systems

Dr. Williams leads the Foundation's technology platform, including the neural interface program (FDA Breakthrough Device recipient) and adaptive AI control systems. A computational neuroscientist by training, he has pioneered the Foundation's federated learning approach for bionic devices.

Research Staff

Researchers & Engineers

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Dr. Kenji Nakamura
Senior Researcher, Prosthetics
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Dr. Ana Fischer
Senior Researcher, Mobility
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Dr. Carlos Reyes
Senior Researcher, Spinal Systems
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Dr. Alexei Petrov
Senior Researcher, AI Control
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Dr. Priya Sharma
Researcher, Neural Interface
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Dr. Fatima Al-Hassan
Researcher, Gait Systems
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Dr. Lucas Fernandez
Researcher, Prosthetics Engineering
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Dr. Ingrid Svensson
Researcher, Spinal Stimulation
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Dr. Omar Hassan
Researcher, Exoskeleton Engineering
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Dr. Yuki Tanaka
Researcher, Myoelectric Control
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Dr. Rebecca Moore
Clinical Research Lead
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Dr. David Park
Researcher, Adaptive Robotics

Join the Team

We are growing our research and engineering teams across all four program areas. If you work in bionics, neural interfaces, adaptive robotics, or clinical research, we'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch →
An initiative of the Odegard Foundation · Founded 2016 by Philip Odegard