Sensorimotor control and learning, clinical studies and behavioral interventions for stroke and cerebral palsy, disability and neurorehabilitation.
Dr. Daofen Chen joined NINDS as a Program Director in 2001, and is responsible for a portfolios of motor systems research, focusing on basic, translational, and clinical sciences of sensorimotor control and learning, neurorehabilitation, and related neurotechnologies. He serves on numerous NIH working groups and HHS interagency committees, including the Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR), Trans-NIH Medical Rehabilitation Coordinating Committee, and NIH-Wide Non-Human Primate Resource Planning WG. Dr. Chen began his graduate training in neurophysiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, studied subsequently at University of Fribourg as an IBRO fellow, and completed his Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics at the National Primate Research Center at the University of Washington. He was an NIH NRSA postdoctoral fellow at the Northwestern University Medical School and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, where he also completed his clinical training in movement/rehabilitation science. Prior to joining NINDS, Dr. Chen served on the faculty at the University of Kansas Medical Center. His research career focused on areas of spinal and cortical control of movement and associated neural circuit properties and plasticity.