W. Geoffrey Wright

W. Geoffrey Wright

  • College of Public Health

    Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

    Professor

    Graduate Program Director

    Programs
    • Physical Therapy
Office Location

1800 North Broad Street

Direct

215-204-5152

Department

215-204-9066

Biography

After receiving a BS in aerospace engineering from Virginia Tech, Dr. Wright spent four years as an officer in the USAF doing satellite engineering and operations. He then redirected his interests from hardware-in-space to humans-in-space in graduate school. His master's research (experimental psychology, Northeastern University) and PhD research (cognitive neuroscience, Brandeis University) focused on human perception of spatial orientation with support from NASA and the DoD. During his postdoctoral training in Munich, Germany, and at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, OR, he began working with various patient populations, including stroke, Parkinson's disease, vestibular loss, and neuropathy. He has investigated motor control, gait and balance, and perceptuo-motor disorders in both healthy and neurologically impaired individuals.

Dr. Wright's research goals at Temple are to continue studying the central nervous system in individuals with impairment to motor control, balance and gait, with the intention of applying knowledge about sensorimotor integration to shaping rehabilitation therapy. He is currently funded by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (US Army Rapid Innovation Fund) to validate a device his team designed for assessing postural deficits in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) using virtual environments (VE) to manipulate visual input. He is also continuing research that has been funded by the Veterans Administration to investigate the neuromuscular origins of hypertonia in Parkinson's Disease using postural control and functional MRI prodecures.

Education

  • PhD, Cognitive Neuroscience, Brandeis University
  • MA, Experimental Psychology, Northeastern University
  • BS, Aerospace Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Curriculum Vitae 

Google Scholar: W. Geoffrey Wright's Google Scholar profile

Labs: MAP Lab

Courses Taught

Number

Name

Level

PHTH 8116

Motor Control and Learning

Graduate

PHTH 8137

Evidence Based Practice II

Graduate

PHTH 8151

Evidence Based Practice III

Graduate

Selected Publications

  • Ma, L., Marshall, P.J., & Wright, W.G. (2023). The order of attentional focus instructions affects how postural control processes compensate for multisensory mismatch: a crossover study. Exp Brain Res, 241(5), pp. 1393-1409. Germany. doi: 10.1007/s00221-023-06610-z

  • Ma, L., Marshall, P.J., & Wright, W.G. (2022). The impact of external and internal focus of attention on visual dependence and EEG alpha oscillations during postural control. J Neuroeng Rehabil, 19(1), p. 81. England. doi: 10.1186/s12984-022-01059-7

  • Wright, W.G., Handy, J.D., Haskell, A., Servatius, L., & Servatius, R.J. (2022). History of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Affects Static Balance under Complex Multisensory Manipulations. J Neurotrauma, 39(11-12), pp. 821-828. United States. doi: 10.1089/neu.2020.7600

  • Cheever, K., McDevit, J., Wright, W.G., & Tierney, R. (2021). Differences in cervical kinesthesia between amateur athletes with and without a history of contact sport participation. Brain Inj, 35(4), pp. 404-410. England. doi: 10.1080/02699052.2021.1878551

  • Almajid, R., Tucker, C., Keshner, E., Vasudevan, E., & Wright, W.G. (2021). Effects of wearing a head-mounted display during a standard clinical test of dynamic balance. Gait Posture, 85, pp. 78-83. England. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2021.01.020

  • Cheever, K.M., Wright, W.G., McDevitt, J., Sitler, M., & Tierney, R.T. (2021). Exploring the relationship between musculoskeletal injury and clinical outcome measures of cervical sensorimotor function. International Journal of Athletic Therapy and Training, 26(5), pp. 262-268. doi: 10.1123/ijatt.2020-0033

  • Krasovsky, T., Lubetzky, A.V., Archambault, P.S., & Wright, W.G. (2020). Will virtual rehabilitation replace clinicians: a contemporary debate about technological versus human obsolescence. J Neuroeng Rehabil, 17(1), p. 163. England. doi: 10.1186/s12984-020-00769-0

  • Ojha, H.A., Fritz, J.M., Malitsky, A.L., Wu, J., Weiner, M.G., Brandi, J.A., Rhon, D.I., Mobo, B.H.P., Fleming, K.M., Beidleman, R.R., & Wright, W.G. (2020). Comparison of Physical Therapy and Physician Pathways for Employees with Recent Onset Musculoskeletal Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial. PM R, 12(11), pp. 1071-1080. United States. doi: 10.1002/pmrj.12382

  • Almajid, R., Tucker, C., Wright, W.G., Vasudevan, E., & Keshner, E. (2020). Visual dependence affects the motor behavior of older adults during the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. Arch Gerontol Geriatr, 87, p. 104004. Netherlands. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2019.104004

  • Handy, J.D., Wright, W.G., Haskell, A., Servatius, L., & Servatius, R.J. (2020). Enhanced Acquisition and Retention of Conditioned Eyeblink Responses in Veterans Expressing PTSD Symptoms: Modulation by Lifetime History of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. Front Behav Neurosci, 14, p. 595007. Switzerland. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2020.595007

  • Marchetto, J. & Wright, W.G. (2019). The Validity of an Oculus Rift to Assess Postural Changes During Balance Tasks. Hum Factors, 61(8), pp. 1340-1352. United States. doi: 10.1177/0018720819835088

  • Appiah-Kubi, K.O. & Wright, W.G. (2019). Vestibular training promotes adaptation of multisensory integration in postural control. Gait Posture, 73, pp. 215-220. England. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2019.07.197

  • Ma, L., Tornetta, F., Egan, W., & Wright, W.G. (2019). Virtual reality therapy as adjunct to traditional physical therapy for a TBI patient who suffered a gunshot wound to the head: Case report. International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation, ICVR, 2019-July. doi: 10.1109/ICVR46560.2019.8994509