University of Pittsburgh homepage

Gelsy Torres-Oviedo

Professor

Bioengineering

Orcid identifier0000-0003-2415-1033
  • Professor
    Bioengineering
  • (412) 624-2660 (Work)
  • The University of Pittsburgh, Bioengineering, 4420 Bayard Street, room 115, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213, United States
  • The University of Pittsburgh, Bioengineering, 3700 O'hara Street, Benedum Hall, Rm 302, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States

BIO

Dr. Gelsy Torres-Oviedo is an accomplished researcher and educator specializing in locomotor learning, motor control, and neurorehabilitation. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh and Co-director of both the MS2PhD BRIDGE Fellowship and the Program in Neural Computation, a joint initiative between Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Torres-Oviedo earned her B.S. in Physics from the University of Texas at Austin, a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Georgia Tech-Emory University, and completed postdoctoral training in Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Torres-Oviedo has received numerous honors, including the NSF CAREER Award and the Early Career Award from the Society for Neural Control of Movement. She has led multiple NIH- and NSF-funded projects. Through her leadership roles and interdisciplinary collaborations, Dr. Torres-Oviedo continues to advance knowledge in motor learning and rehabilitation, aiming to improve mobility and independence for older adults and individuals with movement disorders.

 

Her research focuses on understanding how humans adapt their walking patterns through interactions with their environment, with a particular emphasis on aging and neurological conditions such as stroke. Dr. Torres-Oviedo has made significant contributions to identifying age-related changes in locomotor plasticity, understanding muscle coordination for balance and locomotion, and characterizing gait adaptability in older adults and stroke survivors using split-belt treadmill paradigms. Her work has provided critical insights into how cognitive and neural mechanisms influence gait adaptability across the lifespan.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Associate Professor
    University of Pittsburgh, Bioengineering, Pittsburgh, United States1 Sep 2026
  • Assistant Professor
    University of Pittsburgh, Bioengineering, Pittsburgh, United States1 Sep 2012 - 31 Aug 2026
  • Postdoctoral Fellow
    The Johns Hopkins University and Kennedy Krieger Institute, Motion Analysis Laboratory, Baltimore, MD1 Jan 2007 - 1 Jan 2011
  • Graduate Research Assistant
    Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Neuromechanics Laboratory, Atlanta, GA1 Jan 2001 - 1 Jan 2007
  • Undergraduate Research Assistant
    University of Texas at Austin, Center for Nonlinear Dynamics, Austin, TX1 Jan 1999 - 1 Jan 2001
  • Undergraduate Research Assistant
    ITEMS Campus, Centro de Manufactura y Desarrollo, Monterrey, Mexico1 Jan 1997 - 1 Jan 1998

DEGREES

  • Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering
    Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University1 Jan 2001 - 1 Jan 2007
  • B.S., Physics
    University of Texas, ustin, Texas1 Jan 1999 - 1 Jan 2001

POSTGRADUATE TRAINING

  • Postdoctoral Training in Postdoctoral Fellow Neuroscience
    Johns Hopkins University and Kennedy Krieger Institute, United States2007 - 2011

FIELDS OF RESEARCH