Brain Injury and Behavioral Outcomes Laboratory

Anthony Lequerica, PhD, directs the Brain Injury and Behavioral Outcomes Laboratory, part of the Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Research at Kessler Foundation. The lab’s areas of research focus on the study of sleep/wake abnormalities after brain injury as well as the interplay between culture and brain injury rehabilitation outcomes. The lab’s sleep studies observe the enhancing effect of sleep on motor learning after brain injury. Research on health disparities concentrates on outcomes among people with brain injury from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds. The team examines the multifaceted social factors that perpetuate disparities including healthcare access and quality, education, economic stability, neighborhood characteristics, and social/community and cultural factors such as language barriers, beliefs about healthcare, and mistrust in the system. Research among Spanish-speaking individuals from Spain, Latin America, and the U.S. has provided sound preliminary evidence for validated Spanish-language tools to assess brain injury exposure for greater inclusion of Spanish-speakers in future studies.