People
Lab Director
Office phone:
Academic Affiliations
Assistant Professor
Director, Neuroscience of Dance in Health and Disability Laboratory
Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
Center for Health, Aging, and Disability
College of Applied Health Sciences
Fellow 2019-2020
Center for Advanced Study
Faculty Affiliate
Beckman Institute for Advance Science and Technology
Department of Dance, College of Fine and Applied Arts
Neuroscience Program, College of Liberal Arts and Science
Illinois Informatics Institute, Office of the Provost
Member
Healthcare Engineering Systence Center, Grainger College of Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Adjunct Faculty Joffrey Ballet Academy, The Official School of the Joffrey Ballet
Degree
Ph.D. Kinesiology University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2001. Emphasis in Biomechanics.
M.A. in Dance State University of New York at Brockport, 1995. Emphasis in Biomechanics.
B.S. Honors (Licentiate) Physics National Autonomous University of Mexico, 1991.
Research and Professional Interests
Dr. Citlali Lopez-Ortiz has enjoyed a long academic career in developing research, teaching, service interests in dance, biomechanics, motor control, motor coordination, and motor learning in both health and physical rehabilitation. As a certified classical ballet instructor from the Bolshoi Academy of Dance and fromBallet Academy of Coyoacán under Ana del Castillo with extensive research on the neural basis of movement coordination Dr. Citlali Lopez-Ortiz has blended multiple disciplines in her work. By establishing a scientific basis for dance in the rehabilitation of movement disorders, Dr. Citlali Lopez-Ortiz has investigated a wide spectrum of neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis. In her spare time Dr. Citlali Lopez-Ortiz can be found teaching classical ballet at Joffrey Ballet summer intensives inspiring young minds and budgeoning dancers.
Graduate Students
Academic Affiliations
Doctoral student, Physics
Academic Affiliations
Illinois Distinguished Fellow
Neuroscience Program
Coordinated Sciences Lab
Degree
B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2017)
Research and Professional Interests
Paul Camacho began working in the Neuroscience of Dance Laboratory in August of 2016. in May of 2018, he began his doctoral work in the Neuroscience Program on saccades in Parkinson's disease and healthy aging. He has also worked on grant proposals in multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. In his spare time, Paul enjoys woodworking, mixology, and writing music. He is also the graduate student advisor for UIUC's Undergraduate Neuroscience Society. He looks forward to continuing to rigorously advance reseach on complementary and integrative approaches to healthcare.
Academic Affiliations
Doctoral student, Neruroscience Program
Academic Affiliations
Graduate Student Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
Degree
Bachelor of Arts in Dance (Columbia College Chicago 2015)
Bachelor of Arts in Business (Columbia College Chicago 2015)
RYT Yoga Instructor
Research and Professional Interests
Andrea Rivera began working in the Neuroscience of Dance Laboratory in August 2019. Andrea is currently working on the Ballet and Multiple Sclerosis’ project. She is interested in bridging the gap between dance and science, and using dance as a new form of rehabilitation for patients with neurological disorders.
In her spare time, Andrea enjoys teaching yoga, dancing and reading. She looks forward to learning more about kinesiology and neuroscience.
Undergraduates
Research Lab:
Academic Affiliations
Neuroscience of Dance Lab
Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
Research and Professional Interests
Edward Tang is an undergraduate with a major of Kinesiology in the College of Applied Health Sciences. He has worked in the Neuroscience of Dance Laboratory since February of 2017. Edward is experienced in cleaning Qualisys motion capture recordings, cleaning data for analysis with Matlab, and writing user documentation of desktop applications programmed by the lab. In his spare time, Edward tinkers with Linux on his Desktop and Laptop.