Welcome to the Spinal Cord Injury Imaging Research Laboratory (SCIRL)
Our research focuses on the prognosis and treatment of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). We conduct clinical research in a variety of different ways, with a focus on spinal cord imaging. We value local, national, and international collaborations to study important clinical questions in the field of SCI. Ultimately, our lab aims to improve the lives and wellbeing of people with SCI.
Andrew C. Smith, PT, DPT, PhD
Principal Investigator and SCIRL Director
Dr. Andrew C. Smith is a rehabilitation scientist whose primary interest is improving the assessment and clinical management of individuals with spinal cord injury. Dr. Smith’s secondary interest is in the quantification and characterization of skeletal muscle in health and disease states. Current research activities include: using medical imaging to to investigate the extent of spinal cord injury and its impact on motor and sensory function, using magnetic resonance imaging to improve the mechanistic understanding of responsiveness to spinal cord stimulation in individuals with spinal cord injury, and convolutional neural networks to automate segmentation processes of neuromusculoskeletal imaging.
Associate Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus
Email: Andrew.C2.Smith@CUAnschutz.edu
Link to complete bibliography of published work: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3CRNA2kAAAAJ&hl=en https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1l581LQVlowkn/bibliography/public/
Education:
BA, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
DPT, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
PhD, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Wesley Thornton, PT, DPT, NCS, PhD
Dr. Wes Thornton is a rehabilitation scientist with a research interest in neurological disorders including spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury. He graduated with honors from Regis University’s DPT program in 2014, and received the Regis DPT Young Alumnus Award in 2017. In 2014, Wesley was a recipient of the APTA’s Minority Scholarship Award. Wes obtained his PhD in 2025 from the University of Colorado Rehab Science Program. Wes has presented multiple lectures and in-services both locally and nationally on the care of patients with spinal cord and/or traumatic brain injuries for practitioners in inpatient rehabilitation settings. Wesley is a practicing physical therapist at Craig Hospital, and a member of the American Physical Therapy Association and the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals.
Jordan Connor, PT, DPT, PhD Student
Dr. Jordan Connor is a graduate student in the Rehabilitation Science PhD Program studying spinal cord injury. Jordan completed his BA in Exercise Science from Loyola University Chicago in 2016 and received his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Regis University in 2019. Prior to entering the PhD program, Jordan practiced as a physical therapist at Craig Hospital, working primarily with individuals with spinal cord injuries. His research thus far has included investigations using medical imaging to characterize the severity of spinal cord injuries, as well exploring automated segmentation of spinal cord lesions.
- Stephanie R. Albin, PT, DPT, PhD, OCS, FAAOMPT. Regis University School of Physical Therapy
- Jeffrey C. Berliner, DO. Craig Hospital
- Alan Best, MD. Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center Spinal Cord Injury & Disorders Center
- Julio Carballido-Gamio, PhD. University of Colorado Department of Radiology
- Julien Cohen-Adad, PhD. Polytechnique Montreal
- David Coons, MD. Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center Spinal Cord Injury & Disorders Center
- David Dungan, MD, FACR. Craig Hospital and Radiology Imaging Associates
- James M. Elliott, PT, PhD, FAPTA. University of Sydney, Kolling Institute
- Patrick Freund, MD, PhD. Spinal Cord Injury Center Balgrist, University of Zurich
- Ashraf Gorgey, MPT, PhD, FACSM, FACRM. Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Michael Harris-Love, PT, MPT, DSc, FGSA. University of Colorado Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
- David R. Howell, PhD. University of Colorado Department of Orthopedics
- Donglai Huo, PhD. University of Colorado Department of Radiology
- George Marzloff, MD. Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center Spinal Cord Injury & Disorders Center
- Denise R. O’Dell, PT, DSc, NCS. University of Kentucky College of Health Sciences
- Dario Pfyffer, PhD. Stanford University Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
- Enrico Rejc, PhD. University of Louisville Department of Neurological Surgery, Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center
- Stephanie Ryder, MD. Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center Spinal Cord Injury & Disorders Center
- Zachary A. Smith, MD. University of Oklahoma Department of Neurosurgery
- Jennifer Stevens-Lapsley, PT, PhD, FAPTA. University of Colorado Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
- Andrew Q. Tan, PhD. University of Colorado Department of Integrated Physiology
- Candace Tefertiller, PT, DPT, NCS, PhD. Craig Hospital and University of Colorado Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
- Ashesh Thaker, MD. University of Colorado Department of Radiology
- Ken A. Weber II, DC, PhD. Stanford University Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
May 2025 | Dr. Thornton Successfully Defended Dissertation
https://bsky.app/profile/drandrewcsmith.bsky.social/post/3lps2r4tqd222
March 2024| RehabCast Feature
https://open.spotify.com/episode/30n8UD84QTCW3oHgLYCWGQ?si=6f894af6d7194955&nd=1&dlsi=bf24e55037234a28
February 2024 | Golden Synapse Award from the Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy
https://twitter.com/DrAndrewCSmith/status/1758645060491456896
July 2022 | Andrew Smith, PT, DPT, PhD has been awarded the 2022 TRoHNS award
https://asia-spinalinjury.org/translational-research-or-human-neuroscience-studies-in-spinal-cord-injury-trohns-award/
Jun 6, 2022 | Four CU Anschutz Researchers Among the 2022 Class of Boettcher Investigators
https://news.cuanschutz.edu/news-stories/four-cu-anschutz-researchers-among-the-2022-class-of-boettcher-investigators?utm_source=today_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jun_08_22
Spring 2022 | AB Nexus Grant Awards
https://www.cu.edu/ab-nexus/current-grant-award-winners
Jan 19, 2021 | PM&R Pilot Grant Awarded to Dr. Andrew Smith
https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/physical-medicine-and-rehabilitation/newsdetail/news-and-media-2021/pm-r-pilot-grant-awarded-to-dr.-andrew-smith
Sep 8, 2020 | Welcoming Assistant Professor Andrew Smith
https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/physical-therapy-program/events-news/news/news-updates/welcoming-assistant-professor-andrew-smith
Foundation-Funding Recipient Awarded NCMRR Early Career Research R03 Award
*This page is updated semi-regularly. For a complete list of publications from the SCIRL Director, please visit:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1l581LQVlowkn/bibliography/public/
Connor JR, Thornton WA, Weber KA, Pfyffer D, Freund P, Tefertiller C, Smith AC. Reliability of SCIseg automated measurement of midsagittal tissue bridges in spinal cord injuries using an external dataset. Topics in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation (accepted for publication 3/2025).
Smith AC, Morey C, Thornton WA, Connor JR, Pfyffer D, Weber KA, Will K, Tefertiller C. Responsiveness to transcutaneous spinal stimulation for upper extremity recovery following spinal cord injury: a case series exploration of midsagittal tissue bridges. Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine. 2025. doi: 10.1080/10790268.2024.2448046. Online ahead of print.
Karthik EN, Valosek J, Smith AC, Pfyffer D, Schading-Sassenhausen S, Farner L, Weber KA, Freund P, Cohen-Adad J. SCIseg: Automatic segmentation of T2-weighted hyperintense lesions in spinal cord injury. Radiology AI. 2025;7(1):e240005.doi: 10.1148/ryai.240005.
Smith AC, Ahmed RU, Weber KA, Negahdar MJ, Gibson D, Boakye M, Rejc E. Spinal cord lesion MRI and behavioral outcomes in a miniature pig model of spinal cord injury: exploring preclinical potential through an ad hoc comparison with human SCI. Spinal Cord Series and Cases. 2024 Jul 8;10(1):44.
Thornton WA, Smulligan K, Weber KA, Tefertiller C, Manago M, Sevigny M, Wiley L, Stevens-Lapsley J, Smith AC. Lesion characteristics are associated with bowel, bladder, and overall independence following cervical spinal cord injury. Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine. 2024;3:1-9.
Draganich C, Anderson D, Dornan G, Sevigny M, Berliner JC, Charlifue S, Welch A, Smith AC. Predictive modeling of ambulatory outcomes after spinal cord injury using machine learning. Spinal Cord. 2024;62(8):446-453.
Pfyffer D, Smith AC, Weber KA, Grillhoesl A, Mach O, Draganich C, Berliner JC, Tefertiller C, Leister I, Maier D, Schwab JM, Thompson A, Curt A, Freund P. Prognostic value of tissue bridges in cervical spinal cord injury: a longitudinal multicenter study. Lancet Neurology. 2024;23(8):816-825.
Smith AC, Draganich C, Thornton WA, Berliner JC, Lennarson PJ, Rejc E, Sevigny M, Charlifue S, Tefertiller C, Weber KA. A single dermatome clinical prediction rule for independent walking one year after spinal cord injury. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2024;105(1):10-19
Alazzam AM, Balance WB, Smith AC, Rejc E, Weber KA, Trainer R, Gorgey AS. The use of peak slope ratio to identify standing configurations following percutaneous epidural stimulation in persons with spinal cord injury. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2024;13(5):1344. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13051344
Thornton WA, Marzloff G, Ryder S, Best A, Rasheed K, Coons D, Smith AC. The presence or absence of midsagittal tissue bridges and walking: a retrospective cohort study in spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord. 2023. doi: 10.1038/s41393-023-00890-6.
Draganich C, Weber KA, Thornton WA, Berliner JC, Sevigny M, Charlifue S, Tefertiller C, Smith AC. Predicting outdoor walking one-year after spinal cord injury: a retrospective multisite external validation study. Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy. 2023. doi: 10.1097/NPT.0000000000000428.
Tefertiller C, Rozwod M, VandeGriend E, Bartelt P, Sevigny M, Smith AC. Transcutaneous electrical spinal cord stimulation to promote upper and lower extremity recovery in chronic spinal cord injury. Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences. 2022. doi: 10.3389/fresc.2021.740307.
Smith AC, Angeli CA, Ugiliweneza B, Weber KA, Bert RJ, Negahdar M, Mesbah S, Boakye M, Harkema SJ, Rejc E. Spinal cord imaging markers and recovery of standing with epidural stimulation in individuals with clinically motor complete spinal cord injury. Experimental Brain Research. 2022;240(1):279-288.
Smith AC, O’Dell DR, Albin SR, Berliner JC, Dungan D, Robinson E, Elliott JM, Carballido-Gamio J, Stevens-Lapsley J, Weber KA. Lateral corticospinal tract and dorsal column damage: predictive relationships with future motor and sensory scores at discharge from acute rehabilitation after spinal cord injury. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2021. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2021.07.792.
Berliner JC, O’Dell DR, Albin SR, Dungan D, Sevigny M, Elliott JM, Weber KA, Abdie DR, Anderson JS, Rich AA, Seib CA, Sagan HGS, Smith AC. The influence of conventional T2 MRI indices in predicting who will walk outside one year after spinal cord injury. Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine. 2021. doi: 10.1080/10790268.2021.1907676.
Smith AC, Albin SR, O’Dell DR, Berliner JC, Dungan D, Sevigny M, Draganich C, Elliott JM, Weber KA. Axial MRI biomarkers of spinal cord damage to predict future walking and motor function: A retrospective study. Spinal Cord. 2020. doi: 10.1038/s41393-020-00561-w.
Rejc E, Smith AC, Weber KA, Ugiliweneza B, Bert RJ, Negahdar M, Boakye M, Harkema SJ, Angeli CA. Spinal cord imaging markers and recovery of volitional leg movement with spinal cord epidural stimulation in individuals with clinically motor complete spinal cord injury. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. 2020. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2020.559313.
Smith AC, O’Dell DR, Thornton WA, Dungan D, Robinson E, Thaker A, Gisbert R, Weber KA, Berliner JC, Albin SR. Spinal cord tissue bridges validation study: predictive relationships with sensory scores following cervical spinal cord injury. Topics in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation (accepted for publication 7/2021).
Cummins DP, Connor JR, Heller KA, Hubert JS, Kates MJ, Wisniewski KR, Berliner JC, O’Dell DR, Elliott JM, Weber KA, Smith AC. Establishing the inter-rater reliability of spinal cord damage manual measurement using magnetic resonance imaging. Spinal Cord Series and Cases. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41394-019-0164-1.
O’Dell DR, Weber KA, Berliner JC, Connor JR, Cummins DP, Heller KA, Hubert JS, Kates MJ, Mendoza KR, Elliott JM, Smith AC. Midsagittal tissue bridges are associated with walking ability in incomplete spinal cord injury: a magnetic resonance imaging case series. Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine. 2019. DOI: 10.1080/10790268.2018.1527079.
Smith AC, Weber KA, O’Dell DR, Parrish TB, Wasielewski M, Elliott JM. Lateral corticospinal tract damage correlates with motor output in incomplete spinal cord injury. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2018;99(4):660-666.