Members

Naznin Virji-Babul is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She graduated from McMaster University with a B.HSc in Physical Therapy and completed her Master’s degree in Motor Learning at Columbia University.  She received her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Western Ontario.

Dr. Virji-Babul’s research addresses fundamental aspects of brain-behavior relationships supporting action-perception and action-execution in typical and atypical development. She uses a cognitive neuroscience framework using a variety of neuroimaging tools, from magnetoencephalography (MEG) and high-density electroencephalography (EEG), to diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to unravel and examine the structural and functional brain networks underlying perception and action.

She has an active research program in concussion/mTBI with a focus on changes in brain structure and function in adolescents. She and her colleagues have shown changes in white matter, decreases in myelin content and increases in functional connectivity following concussion.

Research Themes

• Sports related concussions/mTBI
• EEG analysis of changes in functional connectivity following concussion/mTBI
• Risk assessment of concussion
• Myelin water fraction changes following TBI in adults
• Multi-modal imaging following TBI