About the Cerebrovascular Research Laboratory
Recent biotechnological advances have resulted in an exponential increase in the amount of data that can be generated. Though this overwhelming amount of data can provide tremendous insight, it also requires that physiologic and clinical research to adapt. A truly integrative research requires not only knowledge of interrelated functions of studied systems, but also an ability to apply well-informed computational as well as experimental tools and to utilize a multi-disciplinary approach.
The Cerebrovascular Research Laboratory is uniquely positioned to meet these requirements and sits at the translational intersection of integrative cerebral and cardiovascular physiology with computational sciences. The primary research area of the laboratory is integrated human cerebral vascular control in health and disease. Primary tools in this research include neurophysiologic, ultrasonographic and tomographic imaging techniques for measurements, physical exercise as an intervention, and mathematical and statistical models to provide a framework for understanding physiologic interrelations. The integrative aspects of human physiology are foremost in this work, and the Cerebrovascular Research Laboratory strives to tailor its research to rehabilitation medicine and the populations it serves. Ongoing research is focused on neurorecovery and neurorehabilitation after spinal cord injury, concussion and traumatic brain injuries, and stroke.
The Cerebrovascular Research Laboratory collaborates with other research laboratories across a multitude of disciplines, including neurology, radiology, and sports medicine. The diversity of these collaborations, evident in the publication record of the Cerebrovascular Research Laboratory, highlights the breadth of its members’ approach to medical research at the translational intersection of experimental and computational methods. Ongoing research at the laboratory is supported by philanthropic, foundation, and federal funding sources.
About Dr. Tan
Dr. Tan obtained his Baccalaureate (2000) and Master’s (2002) degrees in biology and computational biology. In 2004, he joined Boston University’s Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems, where he pursued his doctoral research on neurotransmitter interactions in the brain. Subsequently, after obtaining his PhD degree in 2007, Dr. Tan joined Cardiovascular Research Laboratory at Harvard Medical School and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, first as a post-doctoral researcher, and then as an Instructor in 2011. Throughout his post-graduate research, Dr. Tan was focused on human autonomic physiology, peripheral and cerebral neurovascular function, and on analytical and statistical approaches to data analysis. This allowed him to pursue a productive and translational research path that intersects application of state-of-the-art analytic approaches with integrated human physiology and clinical sciences.
In 2015, Dr. Tan was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Medical School, and as the Director of Cerebrovascular Research Laboratory at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. He also holds a secondary appointment at the Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to research, Dr. Tan is actively engaged in institutional and public service as a member of the Institutional Review Board at MGH, as a member of the Science Committee of the American Autonomic Society, and as a grant reviewer for national and international grant makers.
