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Scientist, postdoctoral researcher join Medical Center faculty

Medical Center leadership is proud to announce the following additions to its faculty and leadership staff.

Lorena Machado Amaral, Ph.D.

Dr. Lorena Machado Amaral, a scientist in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at UMMC since 2016, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor in pharmacology and toxicology.

After graduating from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Faculty of Pharmacy, Brazil, in 2008, Amaral earned her M.S. in cardiovascular pharmacology/pharmacogenetics in 2010 and her Ph.D. in cardiovascular pharmacology/pharmacogenetics in 2012 at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She had a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at UMMC from 2013-16.

An active member of several professional organizations, including the American Heart Association, the American Society of Physiology, the International Society of Hypertension in Pregnancy and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Amaral has authored or coauthored 37 articles in peer-reviewed professional publications and 33 poster presentations and has given five invited talks internationally. Her research interests include 17-hydroxyprogesterone caproate supplementation for preeclampsia management.

Matthias Krenn, Ph.D.

Dr. Matthias Krenn, a recent postdoctoral research associate at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an instructor in neurobiology and anatomical sciences.

After graduating with distinction from Higher Technical School, St. Polten, Austria, in 1998, Krenn earned his M.Sc. in electrical engineering with distinction at the Vienna University of Technology in 2007. He then received his Ph.D. in applied medical science at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, in 2015.

He began as a postdoctoral research associate at the Vienna University of Technology and then moved back to the Medical University of Vienna, where he worked on advancing transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation.

Besides research, Krenn was serving as a lecturer in the program for human medicine and neurorehabilitation at the Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems, Austria, and at the University of Applied Sciences Technikum, Vienna.

An active member of the International Society for Functional Electrical Stimulation and the Austrian Society of Biomedical Engineering, among other professional organizations, Krenn is the author or coauthor of 18 articles in peer-reviewed publications, two book chapters and several conference papers and abstracts. He has given four invited presentations internationally on neuromodulation of spinal motor control in humans.

His current research topic is assessment and intervention of spinal motor control networks in spinal cord injured humans.