University of Utah College of Health

Researchers in the Hans Georg Näder Lab of Bionic Engineering at the University of Utah have developed a powered exoskeleton designed to help stroke survivors walk with greater ease.

The findings of a recent study published in Nature Communications were significant: the exoskeleton reduced hip workload by nearly 30%, translating to an 18% decrease in the overall metabolic cost of walking.

Tommaso Lenzi, associate professor of mechanical engineering and Bo Foreman, a professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training, were lead authors on the study. The research was led by graduate student Kai Pruyn, with contributions from postdoctoral scholar Rosemarie Murray and research scientist Lukas Gabert. Their work highlights the interdisciplinary approach required to address complex rehabilitation needs.

Participants felt the difference immediately. “In the beginning, I couldn’t move my leg,” says Lidia Barrus, one participant. “But with the device, it’s much better now.” Her husband, Marcellus Barrus, added, “The more she used it, the better she was even when she wasn’t wearing it.”

Next steps for the research team focus on ensuring the device is functional and safe for home and community use. This includes refining the mechanics, enhancing the control system to support a broader range of daily activities, and partnering with prosthetics and orthotics experts to translate the prototype into a widely accessible clinical tool.

“Our goal is to expand what’s possible in stroke recovery,” says senior researcher Tommaso Lenzi. “A stroke should not define the limits of where a person can go or how they can live.”

Powered exoskeleton helps Utah woman walk again after experiencing stroke A breakthrough at the University of Utah is giving one Utah woman t...

Can you really “catch up” on sleep over the weekend?

Chris Depner, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology, studies how sleep loss, circadian rhythms and everyday behaviors can influence metabolic and cardiovascular health.

His research highlights an important distinction: feeling more rested doesn’t always mean the body has fully recovered. In clinical studies, participants who caught up on sleep over the weekend reported feeling more alert, but their insulin sensitivity remained impaired—an important marker related to diabetes risk.

Depner’s work also explores how factors like late-night light exposure, eating at night and disrupted sleep schedules can interfere with the body’s natural circadian rhythms and potentially worsen the effects of insufficient sleep.

Now, he and his team are studying practical strategies that could help protect metabolic health, including extending sleep and modifying nighttime behaviors.

Swipe through to learn more about what sleep loss may be doing beneath the surface—and why when we sleep can matter just as much as how much we sleep.

Congratulations to KangJae “Jerry” Lee, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, whose book, Violent and Verdant: Systemic Injustice in Public Parks in the U.S., has won the 2026 Leisure Studies Association Outstanding Book Prize!

Published by Routledge in 2025, Violent and Verdant takes a critical look at the history of public parks in the United States, exploring how displacement, discrimination, and systemic injustice have shaped these spaces.

The honor comes from the Leisure Studies Association, an international organization of leisure scholars known for critical and rigorous research. The award adds to the growing international recognition of Lee’s work and its contributions to conversations about parks, health, history, and social and environmental justice.

Congratulations, Lee, on this outstanding achievement!

Congratulations to Amit Sethi, PhD, OTR/L, associate professor in the Department of Occupational and Recreational Therapies, who has received a new NIH R01 award for his project, “A Novel Multimodal Approach to Promote Motor Recovery and Plasticity after Stroke.”

The award will support a clinical trial testing whether a new therapy approach can help people with moderate-to-severe stroke improve movement in their arms and hands. The study will combine gentle, noninvasive brain stimulation with functional electrical stimulation-assisted practice, a therapy that uses small electrical signals to help muscles move during repeated task-based exercises.

Sethi’s work focuses on neuroplasticity, neurorehabilitation, motor control and new technologies to improve function after stroke. Through the NERD Lab, he and his team are working to develop evidence-based approaches that help stroke survivors regain movement, independence and quality of life.

Congratulations to Mary Playdon, PhD, MPH, associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology and investigator in Cancer Control and Population Sciences at Huntsman Cancer Institute, who has received support for three National Cancer Institute-funded cancer prevention research projects.

Her work will explore big questions in nutrition and cancer prevention, including:

How does meal timing affect cancer risk?
Can a blood-based biomarker help identify diet-driven inflammation linked to colorectal cancer?
Could weight loss medications play a role in reducing obesity-related cancer risk?

Together, the projects focus on breast, endometrial and colorectal cancers, and aim to better understand how diet, obesity, metabolism, inflammation and the body’s internal clock may influence cancer development.

Playdon’s research uses nutritional epidemiology and metabolomics to move cancer prevention toward more precise, personalized and evidence-based recommendations.

Big congratulations to Dart Schmalz, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, and her co-authors on the release of Health & Leisure: Making the Connections, 2nd Edition.

University of Utah PRT faculty, a recent Ph.D. graduate and a current Ph.D. student are all represented among the authors: Dart Schmalz, Jeff Rose, Ph.D., Paige Fery, Ph.D., and Carly Knudson. The book is the only one of its kind focused on health and leisure, with chapters exploring topics like health and wellness, stress management, nature, climate, and mindful dining.

The foreword was written by David Buchner, M.D., a respected public health leader whose work has helped shape physical activity policy and practice for decades.

Learn more and order the book here: [https://sagamorepub.com/collections/health-physical-education/products/health-and-leisure-making-the-connections-2nd-edition-ebook]