Lindsey Lepley, PhD, ATC

Dr. Lindsey Lepley is an assistant professor of Athletic Training, director of the Comparative Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Laboratory (CORL), and co-director of the Orthopedic Rehabilitation & Biomechanics Laboratory (ORB) at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology. In 2014, she earned a PhD in Kinesiology from the University of Michigan and subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Kentucky’s Center for Muscle Biology. Dr. Lepley took her first faculty position at the University of Connecticut, and has been at the University of Michigan since 2019.

Dr. Lepley’s research program focuses on the identification of the neuromuscular consequences of traumatic joint injury and the development of therapeutic approaches to combat neuromuscular dysfunction. Her laboratory uses experimental techniques from both neurophysiology and biomechanics that she gained during her doctoral studies. Her postdoctoral work supplemented these skills with in-depth training in muscle mechanics and an expansion of her line into preclinical rodent models. These unique training experiences position Dr. Lepley to harness the power of preclinical models to understand the underlying physiological responses to injury, and rigorously define the parameters and thresholds of therapeutic interventions that improve patient outcomes.

This work has received several research awards and been selected for featured presentations at national and international scientific meetings. In 2018, Dr. Lepley was awarded a K01 Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. Other awards include the 2022 New Investigator Award by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and the 2015 New Investigator Award by New England American College of Sports Medicine. She has authored more than 40 research articles in peer-reviewed journals including the American Journal of Sports Medicine, Frontiers in Physiology, Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Orthopaedic Research, and Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy.