Zachary Graham
Research Scientist
Zachary came to IHMC as a part-time Research Scientist in 2021 then joined as a full-time Research Scientist in 2024. He is very interested in how exercise can be implemented to improve the health and quality of life of individuals across disease states and the lifespan. His projects focus on in-depth phenotyping, including cognitive and physical performance, fresh tissue and in vitro mitochondrial function, and high resolution integrative molecular multiomics profiling. Using this comprehensive approach helps guide his research to his optimal goal of individualized exercise prescriptions and more precise rehabilitation strategies. Zachary’s principal interests are in aging, spinal cord injury, and Parkinson’s disease, all largely focused on trying to improve walking performance and mitochondrial function. He also pursues active pre-clinical research on the role of connexin hemichannels in accelerating muscle dysfunction.
He received a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from The Ohio State University in 2007 and a Master’s and Ph.D, from the University of Kansas in 2010 and 2014. respectively. He completed postdoctoral training in muscle physiology from 2014-2018 at the National Center for the Medical Consequences of Spinal Cord Injury at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. He currently has additional affiliations at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, the Birmingham VA Medical Center and the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx, NY.
Active funding as PI