Rate My Professor Susan Brown

Susan Brown, PhD, is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Associate Professor of Movement Science in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she has been on the faculty since 1992. She also directs the Motor Control Laboratory and serves as Graduate Faculty in Movement Science. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Dr. Brown was a research associate at the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Western Ontario, where she earned her PhD in Physiology. An acclaimed educator, she has taught numerous undergraduate and graduate courses in Movement Science and received multiple School of Kinesiology Excellence in Teaching Awards, two nominations for the university-wide Golden Apple Award, and the prestigious Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2001 from the U-M Office of the Provost.

Dr. Brown's research specializes in motor coordination and rehabilitation across the lifespan, particularly in populations affected by aging, stroke, cerebral palsy, and Parkinson's disease. Her work explores sensory cueing to enhance upper limb performance and postural control, the effectiveness of intensive training for upper limb function in children with spasticity, age-related changes in hand function and force control, and the impacts of malnutrition on motor coordination in children and adolescents. The Motor Control Laboratory, under her direction, has secured over $12 million in grant funding from esteemed organizations including the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and the National Parkinson Foundation. Dr. Brown has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed articles published in leading journals such as Experimental Brain Research, the Journal of Neurophysiology, and the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry. She serves on the editorial board of the Motor Control Journal and has contributed as a grant reviewer for Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan. Additionally, she is a committee member for the International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies and holds memberships in the Society for Neuroscience, the International Movement Disorders Society, and the Gerontological Society of America. As a recognized expert, she has delivered invited talks at numerous national and international conferences and symposiums.