Brach Poston, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Biography
Associate professor Brach Poston teaches Neurophysiology of Movement, Scientific Basis of Strength Training, and Advanced Strength Methods within the undergraduate program, along with Neurophysiology of Movement and Biomechanics of Strength within the graduate program. He is the director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Neuroscience at UNLV and Associate Director of the Professional Development Core Education Unit for the Mountain West Clinical & Translational Research Infrastructure Network.
Before coming to UNLV, Poston was a project scientist at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Before that position, he completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Human Motor Control Section, Medical Neurology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He also received postdoctoral training at Arizona State University in neural and motor control.
Poston earned a doctoral degree in Integrative Physiology (University of Colorado-Boulder), a master’s degree in Exercise Physiology (UNLV), and a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education (Missouri State University). He is also a certified strength and conditioning specialist and a certified personal trainer by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Poston’s research focuses on the use of non-invasive brain stimulation (transcranial direct current stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation) to improve motor skill learning in Parkinson’s disease, aging, and young adults. He also conducts research on strength training and muscle fatigue as well as concussion in boxing and mixed martial arts. His Parkinson’s disease research has been funded by NIH and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
He is also a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology and has served on three NASA Human Performance grant review panels.