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Francisco Valero-Cuevas

Dr. Francisco Valero-Cuevas, PhD, is Associate Professor of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at USC. His primary research interest is the biomechanics, neuromuscular control, and clinical rehabilitation of complex neuromuscular systems such as the human hand. Dr. Valero-Cuevas has served as PI on numerous research projects, including most recently the NIH-funded R01 studies Structure and Function of the Fingers' Tendinous Apparatus and Control of Finger Movement and Force for Precision Pinch.

Positions & Honors

Positions
2007-present Associate Professor, Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy and Department of Biomechanical Engineering, University of Southern California
2006-2007 Associate Professor of Applied Biomechanics, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Weill Medical College, Cornell University
2005-2007 Associate Scientist, Research Division, The Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY
2005-2007 Associate Professor, Sibley School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University
1999-2005 Assistant Professor, Sibley School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University
1999-2005 Assistant Scientist, Dept. of Biomechanics and Biomaterials, Hospital for Special Surgery
1997-1999 Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering Dept., Stanford University
1997-1999 Research Associate, Biomechanical Engineering Division, Mechanical Engineering Dept., Stanford University
1991-1999 Biomedical Engineer, Neuromuscular Systems Section Rehabilitation Research and Development Center, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA

Selected Honors & Awards
2005-2007 Member, Motor Function, Speech and Rehabilitation Study Section, NIH Center for Scientific Review.
2005 Program-Chair Elect, 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics
2005 First Place Award. 3rd Annual Bioengineering Expo, Institute for Biological Engineering, Cornell.
2005 Boeing Company Best Paper Award. International Conference on Advanced Robotics, ICAR.
2005-2006 Humboldt Research Fellowship to work at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Munich.
2004-present Elected Sloan Faculty, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Minority Ph.D. Program at Cornell University
2003 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program CAREER award
2003 Post-Doctoral Young Scientist Award, American Society of Biomechanics

Education

Stanford University Ph.D. 1997 Mechanical Engineering/ Biomechanics
Queen's University, Kingston, Canada M.S. Eng. 1991 Mechanical Engineering/ Biomechanics
Swarthmore College B.S. 1988 Engineering

Current Research Support

NIH R01 AR-052345
(Valero-Cuevas, PI) 2005-2009
Structure and Function of the Fingers' Tendinous Apparatus
Description: To characterize the biomechanical coupling within and across fingers due to the tendinous anatomy
Role: Principal Investigator

NIH K23 AR050607
(Mandl L, PI) 2004-2009
An RCT for Treating Carpometacarpal Osteoarthritis
Research: To establish the optimal medical treatment for carpometacarpal osteoarthritis, and evaluate accurate outcome measures of hand impairment for carpometacarpal joint dysfunction.
Role: Mentor; Member of Advisory Panel

Selected Publications

  1. Valero-Cuevas FJ, Venkadesan M, and Todorov E. Structured variability of muscle activations supports the minimal intervention principle of motor control. J Neurophysiol. 2009 Apr 15. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19369362
  2. Santos VJ, Bustamante CD, and Valero-Cuevas FJ. Improving the fitness of high-dimensional biomechanical models via data-driven stochastic exploration. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2009 Mar;56(3):552-64.
  3. Valero-Cuevas FJ. A mathematical approach to the mechanical capabilities of limbs and fingers. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2009;629:619-33.
  4. Venkadesan M and Valero-Cuevas FJ. Effects of neuromuscular lags on controlling contact transitions. Philos Transact A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2009 Mar 28;367(1891):1163-79.
  5. Keenan KG and Valero-Cuevas FJ. Epoch length to accurately estimate the amplitude of interference EMG is likely the result of unavoidable amplitude cancellation. Biomed Signal Process Control. 2008 Apr;3(2):154-162.
  6. Clewley RH, Guckenheimer JM, and Valero-Cuevas FJ.Estimating effective degrees of freedom in motor systems. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2008 Feb;55(2 Pt 1):430-42.
  7. Venkadesan M and Valero-Cuevas FJ. Neural control of motion-to-force transitions with the fingertip. J Neurosci. 2008 Feb 6;28(6):1366-73.
  8. Valero-Cuevas FJ, Anand VV, Saxena A, and Lipson H. Beyond parameter estimation: Extending biomechanical modeling by the explicit exploration of model topology. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2007 Nov;54(11):1951-64.
  9. Keenan KG and Valero-Cuevas FJ. Experimentally valid predictions of muscle force and EMG in models of motor-unit function are most sensitive to neural properties. J Neurophysiol. 2007 Sep;98(3):1581-90.
  10. Valero-Cuevas FJ, Yi JW, Brown D, McNamara RV 3rd, Paul C, Lipson H. The tendon network of the fingers performs anatomical computation at a macroscopic scale. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2007 Jun;54(6 Pt 2):1161-6.