Professor Sisto received her Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy at St. Louis University, St. Louis Missouri. She began her clinical practice at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation where and pursued her Masters degree in Physical Therapy at New York University, graduating with a specialization in pathokinesiology. Dr. Sisto received the Mary E. Switzer pre-doctoral fellowship from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) 1991-92. She then received a NIDRR doctoral training scholarship to pursue her doctoral studies at New York University which 1997 with a specialization in pathokinesiology, biomechanics and motor control. Professor Sisto pursued a post-doctoral fellowship with the New Jersey NIH Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Cooperative Research Center from 1996-97. She then assumed the Directorship position of the Human Performance and Movement Analysis Laboratory at the Kessler Foundation. Dr. Sisto developed this laboratory over the next 10 years, after which she assumed her current position here at Stony Brook University in September, 2007.
Dr. Sisto currently teaches electrotherapy and physical therapy as well as other lectures in the areas of spinal cord injury throughout the curriculum. She is currently the Director of the Rehabilitation Research and Movement Performance (RRAMP) laboratory on the Stony Brook University’s Research and Development Park which opened in 2009. This lab is the seat of faculty research across many scientific areas such as prosthetic gait, exercise equipment biomechanics, spinal cord injury gait and balance, childhood obesity activity and exercise, Huntington’s disease eye tracking and balance, childhood cancer survivor rehabilitation and athletic performance and biomechanics to name a few. The lab is equipped with a 12 camera Vicon system with 4 in ground force plates and an EMG system all integrated in time. The lab also has an exercise metabolic testing system for treadmill exercise tests. Additionally, Dr. Sisto is currently the Co-Director of the NeuroRecovery Network, funded by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control.
Dr. Sisto has been a Physical Therapist for over 32 years with a specialization in pathokinesiology. Dr. Sisto has focused her work on the evaluation of movement using 3D movement analysis technology, electromyography, kinetic analysis and metabolic exercise capacity. Her laboratory will be designed to explore human movement of persons with disabilities, pursue the advancement of rehabilitation for improvement of mobility and, ultimately, the quality of life. She has received numerous grants in the area of secondary complications after a disability such as obesity and cardiac risk factors after spinal cord injury (SCI), overuse injuries of the upper limbs due to wheelchair propulsion in paraplegia and tetraplegia and the recovery of ambulation after incomplete SCI. Previous grants examined the effect of chemodenervation on spasticity in SCI, traumatic brain injury and stroke; the effect of constraint induced movement therapy after stroke; the use of FES in the recovery of muscle and bone after SCI; the effect on exercise on chronic venous insufficiency; and activity limitations in chronic fatigue syndrome.
Dr. Sisto also has a strong history in mentoring medical residents and students, students in physical therapy and biomedical engineering as well as post-doctoral fellows in physical therapy, motor control, occupational therapy, biomedical engineering. Of note, she was voted “Best Mentor” by the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at UMDNJ/NJMS in 2007. Dr. Sisto has a strong professional history of service with several organizations where she serves on their boards such as the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, the National Stroke Association Rehabilitation and Recovery Advisory Board and Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society.
Dr. Sisto has served on various NIH, Shriners, APTA and other grant review committees as well as several editorial boards for key rehabilitation journals. Dr. Sisto has published 90 abstracts and 50 publications in various rehabilitation, biomechanics, and engineering journals. She is the chief editor of the book entitled “Spinal Cord Injuries: Management and Rehabilitation” published by Mosby/Elsevier to be released in January 2009.
