Upcoming Event: PhD Dissertation Defense

Multiscale Quantification of Preterm Infant Movement Dynamics in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Ally Richardson, CSEM Ph.D. Candidate

Abstract

Preterm infants, categorized as infants born at less than 37 weeks gestational age, are one of the most vulnerable clinical populations. Due to their underdeveloped physiology, preterm infants often face many short-term and long-term health complications including neurological and motor issues. Longterm neurological complications of prematurity include motor, sensory, and cognitive disorders. Motor issues may range from developmental coordination disorders to cerebral palsy. This thesis evaluated movement as an indicator of the health of preterm infants by modeling the changes in movement over time in a cohort without medical complications, developing a point process model of movement onset and offsets, and analyzing the metrics ability to classify and predict adverse medical outcomes during their hospitalization.

Biography

Ally Richardson is a CSEM Ph.D. candidate supervised by Dr. David Paydarfar. Prior to joining CSEM, she earned a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and B.A. in Physics from SUNY Buffalo State University.