NMBL

Johanna O’Day

IMG_2003_edited

PhD Candidate, Bioengineering
odayj@stanford.edu
Clark Center Room S341
318 Campus Drive

Bio

I am from Boston, MA and completed my B.S. in Biochemistry at Boston College. Since starting grad school in 2015, I have been loving the California life and all the outdoor adventures it provides (some of my favorites are climbing in Yosemite, skiing in Tahoe, attempting water sports in the Bay, and hiking among the redwoods). Outside of doing research you can find me working on science communication initiatives, facilitating design thinking workshops, volunteering at Common Roots Farm and spending time with family and friends.

Research Interests

I develop open-source tools that utilize wearable sensors (i.e. inertial measurement units) for measuring, understanding and improving walking, especially in people with Parkinson’s disease. I am excited about the impactful projects I’m working on to improve neurostimulation therapy for impaired walking in Parkinson’s disease and how this could translate to improve therapy for other neurological disorders, and improve mobility for people overall. I am interested in human-centered design, and how we can use this to create empathetic, innovative solutions to improve human health and performance.

B.S. in Biochemistry, Boston College, 2015
M.S. in Bioengineering, Stanford University, 2017
Ph.D. Candidate in Bioengineering, Stanford University, 2017 – present

Honors and Awards

  • Centennial Teaching Assistant Award, 2019
  • d.school Creativity in Research Innovation Fellow, 2017
  • Stanford Bio-X Bowes Graduate Student Fellowship, 2017
  • Stanford Society of Women Engineers Travel Grant, 2016

Representative Publications

O’Day, J., Syrkin-Nikolau, J., Anidi, C., Kidzinski, L., Delp, S., & Bronte-Stewart, H. (2020). The turning and barrier course reveals gait parameters for detecting freezing of gait and measuring the efficacy of deep brain stimulation. PloS one, 15(4), e0231984.

O’Day, J. J., Kehnemouyi, Y. M., Petrucci, M. N., Anderson, R. W., Herron, J. A., & Bronte-Stewart, H. M. (2020, July). Demonstration of kinematic-based closed-loop deep brain stimulation for mitigating freezing of gait in people with Parkinson’s disease. In 2020 42nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC) (pp. 3612-3616). IEEE.

Anidi, C., O’Day, J., Anderson, R. W., Afzal, M. F., Syrkin-Nikolau, J., Velisar, A., & Bronte-Stewart, H. M. (2018). Neuromodulation targets pathological not physiological beta bursts during gait in Parkinson’s disease. Neurobiology of disease, 120, 107-117.

Bronte-Stewart, H. M., Petrucci, M. N., O’Day, J. J., Afzal, M. F., Parker, J. E., Kehnemouyi, Y. M., … & Hoffman, S. L. (2020). Perspective: Evolution of Control Variables and Policies for Closed-Loop Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson’s Disease Using Bidirectional Deep-Brain-Computer Interfaces. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 14, 353.

Petrucci, M. N., Anderson, R. W., O’Day, J. J., Kehnemouyi, Y. M., Herron, J. A., Bronte-Stewart, H. M. A Closed-loop Deep Brain Stimulation Approach for Mitigating Burst Durations in People with Parkinson’s Disease. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2020 Jul;2020:3617-3620. doi: 10.1109/EMBC44109.2020.9176196. PMID: 33018785; PMCID: PMC8212866.

Petrucci, M. N., Anderson, R. W., O’Day, J. J., Kehnemouyi, Y. M., Herron, J. A., & Bronte-Stewart, H. M. (2020, July). A closed-loop deep brain stimulation approach for mitigating burst durations in people with Parkinson’s disease. In 2020 42nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC) (pp. 3617-3620). IEEE.

Syrkin-Nikolau, J., Neuville, R., O’Day, J., Anidi, C., Miller Koop, M., Martin, T., … & Bronte-Stewart, H. (2018). Coordinated reset vibrotactile stimulation shows prolonged improvement in Parkinson’s disease. Movement Disorders, 33(1), 179-180.

Cole, K. S., Grandjean, J. M., Chen, K., Witt, C. H., O’Day, J., Shoulders, M. D., … & Weerapana, E. (2018). Characterization of an A-Site Selective Protein Disulfide Isomerase A1 Inhibitor. Biochemistry, 57(13), 2035-2043.

Presentations

O’Day, J. (Jul 2021). “An open-source workflow for IMU-based kinematics over long durations.” Oral presentation at International Society of Biomechanics Virtual Meeting.

O’Day, J., Boswell, M., Hamill, J., Delp, S. Biomechanics on our Minds (BOOM) Learnings from a biomechanics podcast. Poster presented at: Virtual 44th Meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics. 5 Aug 2020.

O’Day, J., Anidi, C., Anderson, R.W., Parker, J.E., … & Bronte-Stewart, H. M. Limited trunk motion and variability during gait contribute to FOG and improve during STN DBS. Poster presented at: 50th Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL. 4 Nov 2019.

O’Day, J. (Oct 2019). “Investigating the behavioral and neural features in Parkinson’s patients experiencing impaired walking.” Oral presentation at Bio-X Symposium, Stanford, CA.

O’Day, J. (Jul 2019). “Subthalamic deep brain stimulation at 60 Hz and 140 Hz improves gait features in people with Parkinson’s disease.” Oral presentation at International Society of Biomechanics and American Society of Biomechanics Meeting, Calgary, Canada.

O’Day, J. (Nov 2018). “Neuromodulation targets pathological but not physiological beta bursts during gait in Parkinson’s disease.” Oral presentation at Stanford eWear seminar, Stanford, CA.

O’Day, J., Anidi, C., Syrkin-Nikolau, J., Anderson, R.W., Afzal, M. F., Velisar, A., & Bronte-Stewart, H. M. Detecting neural and kinematic features of different forward walking tasks in Parkinson’s disease. Poster presented at: 49th Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA. 4 Nov 2018.

O’Day, J., Anidi, C., Syrkin-Nikolau, J., Anderson, R.W., Afzal, M. F., Velisar, A., & Bronte-Stewart, H. M. Neural and kinematic features of different forward walking tasks in Parkinson’s disease. Poster presented at: 4th Annual Workshop on Freezing of Gait, KU Leuven, Belgium. 6 June 2018.

Teaching Experience

  • Assistant Lecturer, Creativity in Research Scholars (CIRS) Program, Stanford, CA (2018-2020)
  • Teaching Assistant, Advanced Dynamics and Simulation ME331A, Stanford, CA (Winter 2019)
  • Teaching Assistant, Design Thinking Studio ME377, Stanford, CA (Sep. 2018 – Dec. 2018)
  • Group Facilitator, Designing the Professional, Short Course, Stanford, CA (2018, 2019) 
  • Teaching Assistant, Biomechanics of Human Movement BIOE281, Stanford, CA (Winter 2018, 2020)
  • Teaching Assistant, Ethics in Bioengineering BIOE131, Stanford, CA  (Spring 2017)
  • MathGenesis Teacher, Math Genesis Camp, Menlo Park, CA (Summer 2017)
  • Student Teacher & Volunteer, Stanford Splash Program  (Sep. 2015 – 2018)

Leadership Experience

  • Founder, Parkinson’s Story Exchange, Stanford, CA    (Jan. 2018 – present)
    Created initiative to increase empathy between patients with Parkinson’s disease and Parkinson’s researchers.
  • Co-Founder and C0-Host, Biomechanics on our Minds podcast, Stanford, CA (Jan. 2018 – present)
    Co-host of podcast with lab mate and friend Melissa Boswell.  “We strive not just to be the best scientists, but the best people we can be. Biomechanics On Our Minds is on a mission to spread knowledge about the awesome impact of biomechanics and awareness on important issues we face in science and life.” Check us out: https://www.biomechanicsonourminds.com/
  • Student Mentor, Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education, Stanford, CA  (Sep. 2018 – 2020)
    Service as a senior graduate mentor to support junior doctoral students and enhance diversity in our fields.
  • Student Mentor, Stanford Biosciences Student Association, Stanford, CA  (Sep. 2016 – 2019)
    Service as a graduate mentor to first year graduate students in Biosciences each year.
  • Student Mentor, Stanford Women Engineers Corporate Mentorship Program, CA  (Sep. 2016 – June 2017)
    Service as a graduate mentor in career planning and education to female undergraduate students in engineering.
  • Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Volunteer, Stanford, CA  (Aug. 2016 – Jan. 2016)
    Volunteered 2 hours weekly as a bedside volunteer to entertain and provide resources to children in the hospital.
  • Science Fair Judge, Santa Clara County Science Fair, Santa Clara, CA  (April 2016)
  • Editor & Blogger, The Dish on Science (Online Blog), Stanford University, CA  (Jan. 2016 – 2018)
    Edit and write articles with other graduate students to improve science communication with the public.
  • Student Member & Volunteer, Stanford Women in Engineering, Stanford, CA   (Sep. 2015 – 2018)
    Attend monthly seminars with other women engineers, work on career development and outreach events.

Science Communication & Outreach