Georgia Research Alliance Student Scholar Explores New Technology at Shepherd Center
Victory Lapido spends a year in the lab testing smart socks at Shepherd Center’s Andrew C. Carlos Multiple Sclerosis Institute
People who have multiple sclerosis (MS) often experience fatigue and reduced mobility. Measuring walking is part of MS care, but it can be extremely challenging to measure walking in everyday life.
So, a Shepherd Center research project is exploring new technology that can measure walking outside the clinic. At Shepherd Center's Andrew C. Carlos Multiple Sclerosis Institute, they’re using “smart socks” equipped with sensors, developed by Sensoria Health. The socks send important information to a patient’s healthcare provider – in real time.
Enter Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Student Scholar Victory: In a clinical lab, she ensured the smart socks functioned as they should. She also helped process and analyze the data.
“And there was a LOT of data. It was especially enlightening to see how the smart socks data compared to how patients viewed their experiences walking. In some cases, the two measures were completely different." Victory says.
Early in her Georgia Tech career – Victory is a biology major – she was drawn to lab research. Particularly the kind involving patients. The GRA Student Scholar program gave her the chance to try out research, and in a clinical setting.
“I took a leap of faith when applying to become a GRA Student Scholar. I was amazed when I got the acceptance letter.”
Victory was one of the first GRA Student Scholars to spend an entire academic year in the lab. And Shepherd Center kept her on for another two semesters!
“I’d never thought about how people experience clinical studies. I came to understand that their participation in clinical research could really help them in the long run. And it could help others, too.”
With five decades of experience, Shepherd Center provides world-class clinical care, research, and family support for people experiencing the most complex conditions, including spinal cord and brain injuries, multi-trauma, traumatic amputations, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and pain. An elite center ranked by U.S. News as one of the nation’s top hospitals for rehabilitation, Shepherd Center is also recognized as both Spinal Cord Injury and Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems. Shepherd Center treats thousands of patients annually with unmatched expertise and unwavering compassion to help them begin again.