Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute
Our Mission
The Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute (OMNI), whose mission is to advance the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of musculoskeletal and neurological disorders, serves as an interdisciplinary catalyst for cutting-edge research. There are two research “centers” nested under the OMNI umbrella: 1) OMNI’s Center for Healthy Aging, and 2) OMNI’s Injury and Pain Research Center. The research across these centers has an overarching aim of developing interventions that enhance physical function and well-being, and ultimately reducing disability and pain-related suffering.
OMNI investigators direct many pre-clinical and clinical research-based OMNI-affiliated laboratories. The pre-clinical laboratories include, but are not limited to:
- Osteoarthritis Research Laboratory (Director: Shouan Zhu, PhD)
- Skeletal Muscle Function and Physiology Laboratory (Director: Cory Baumann, PhD)
- Bone and Experimental Pathology Laboratory (Director: Thomas Rosol, DVM, PhD)
- Functional Neuromuscular Genomics Laboratory (Director: Nathanial Szewczyk, PhD)
- Biomaterials and Additive Manufacturing Laboratory (Director: Andrew Weems, PhD)
- Skeletal Muscle Metabolism Laboratory (Director: Leslie Consitt, PhD)
- Functional Morphology, Biomechanics and Physiology of Feeding Laboratory (Director Susan Williams, PhD)
The clinical research laboratories include, but are not limited to:
- Neuromuscular Biomechanics and Health Assessment Laboratory (Directors: Dustin Grooms, PhD and Janet Simon, PhD)
- Neuromusculoskeletal Research Laboratory (Director: Brian Clark, PhD)
- Clinical Psychophysiology Laboratory (Director: Christopher France, PhD)
- BRAIN Lab (Director: Julie Suhr, PhD)
- Social Neuroscience and Pain Laboratory (Director: Dominik Mischowski, PhD)
- Musculoskeletal and Neuroimaging Research Laboratory (Directors: Brian Clark, PhD and Dustin Grooms, PhD).
OMNI is consistently striving towards development of innovative, integrated, and interdisciplinary team-based science that has the potential for bench-to-bedside-to-community impact. OMNI’s active extramural research grants enterprise exceeds $20-30 million. Ten of OMNI’s scientists’ work has been cited more than 2,000 times, and five of OMNI scientists’ have received more than 10,000 citations. Seven OMNI scientists have been ranked in the top 2% of their field based on career long citation (Ioannidis et al., PLoS Biology, 2020). OMNI trainees also have an outstanding record of accomplishments. With many of our trainees having secured many training grants from highly prestigious agencies (e.g., NIH, American Heart Association, etc.), and landing high sought after faculty positions at R1 institutions.
Our Team
Our multidisciplinary research team draws widely on expertise in many fields, including neuroscience, skeletal muscle physiology, gerontology, musculoskeletal disease, functional biomechanics, health psychology and behavioral medicine.
