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Valentina Graci, PhD
Valentina Graci
Assistant Research Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Drexel University

Dr. Graci aims to identify the mechanisms underlying injury to inform strategies and interventions to reduce injury and improve safety. She leverages her eclectic scientific background, spanning from experimental psychology to exercise science and biomechanics. Her research focuses on biomechanical risk factors for age-related falls, and injury mechanisms due to motor vehicle accidents.

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Bio

Dr. Graci is an Assistant Research Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health System at Drexel University and at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She is the Inaugural CHOP-based Drexel Faculty within the Regional Alliance between Drexel University and CHOP oriented to build the first Pediatric Engineering program specifically focusing on the unmet clinical needs of children.

Dr. Graci brings more than 15 years of experience to a variety of biomechanics arenas, such as automotive safety, age-related falls, musculoskeletal and neuromotor disorders, and sport medicine. She is the Director of the SLED Laboratory which is the home of several innovative custom-made sled-devices used to mimic vehicle evasive and bracing maneuvers and a fall-inducing moving platform to understand fall dynamic in human volunteers. Dr. Graci received industry and federal funding to better understand vehicle occupant motions and child safety in future highly automated vehicles and age-related falls in older adults. The long-term goal of her research is to provide the automotive industry and regulators information that inform the creation of standards for advanced vehicle technology and occupant safety.

Besides conducting research within CIRP and the Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies (CCHIPs), Dr. Graci collaborates closely with several clinician scientists to provide engineering knowledge. Within the Neuromotor Performance Lab, Dr. Graci worked on several projects for the design of new methodologies that will inform personalized rehabilitation strategies for children affected by Cerebral Palsy. Dr. Graci is currently working with the Orthopedic Center to create evidence-based guidelines to inform return to sport and return to driving in adolescents after ACL reconstruction surgery.

Beyond her role as a scientist within CHOP and Drexel, Dr. Graci's dedication to connect clinicians and engineers resulted in her becoming the Director of the METACHOP Research Affinity Group (Math Engineering Technology at CHOP).

Education and Training

BSc, University of Milano-Bicocca (Experimental Psychology)

MS, University of Milano-Bicocca (Experimental Psychology), 2006

PhD, University of Bradford (Biomechanics/Vision Science), 2010

Fellowship, Saint Louis University (Movement Science), 2011

Fellowship, University of Maryland (Neuromotor Rehabilitation), 2017

Fellowship, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (Injury Biomechanics), 2018

Titles and Academic Titles

Assistant Research Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health System at Drexel University

Publication Highlights