Nupur Hajela, PT, PhD

Dr. Nupur Hajela, PT, PhD is a licensed physical therapist and a neuroscientist. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at California State University, Fresno. In addition, she is the Director of Rehabilitation Technologies and Outcomes Research at Central California Sports Sciences Institute. At Fresno State, she is one of the core clinical neuro faculty teaching courses such as neurological evaluation and management for Stroke and Parkinsons to DPT students. She conducts her translational neuroscience research on gait and balance in neurological patient population such as mild traumatic brain injury, Stroke and Parkinsons Disease at the Gait Balance and Mobility Education and Research Center at Fresno State. She is a licensed physical therapist in the state of California and Washington and is an active clinician. She is passionate about student success and believes that DPT students have great potential to steer the profession in the right direction.

Dr. Hajela received her bachelor’s of physiotherapy degree from Baba Farid University of Medicine and Science, India. She then moved to the United States to pursue her PhD in Rehabilitation Science with emphasis - neuroscience at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She completed two years of post-doctoral fellowship in clinical neurorehabilitation at the Sensory Motor Performance Program at prestigious Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (new name: Ability lab) affiliated to Northwestern University of Medicine and Science, Chicago, IL, where she incorporated novel brain stimulation technique such as transcranial magnetic stimulation to understand the cortical and spinal mechanisms underlying neuroplastic changes after injury and rehabilitation in neurological patient population.

Dr. Hajela believes in interprofessional approach to treating patients and therefore is interested in internal and external collaboration for teaching, research and service. She is a lifelong learner and is currently pursuing post professional DPT from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, IL. She is also a LSVT BIG certified physical therapist to treat people with Parkinsons Disease. Currently, her research focuses on application of neurogaming in people with concussion such as war veterans and athletes. Her research interests are in the area of novel brain stimulation, games, virtual reality for physical and cognitive therapy.

Dr. Hajela is married and enjoys music, learning about different cultures and cuisines, traveling and spending time exploring nature with her husband and son.