Title(s)
- Director, Laboratory for Research on Arm Function and Therapy (RAFT)
- Medical Director, Rehab Neural Engineering Labs
- Associate Director/Research, Technology Enhancing Cognition & Health, Geriatrics Research Education & Clinical Center, VAPHS
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Wittenberg received training at Harvard, UC San Diego, Washington U., St. Louis, the National Institutes of Health, and KU Leuven. His clinical and research interests are in neurorehabilitation, stroke, cerebral palsy and movement disorders. He uses transcranial magnetic stimulation, functional imaging, and rehabilitation robotics to study recovery of motor function.
He has a tenured appointment as Professor in the Department of Neurology and is a Neurologist/Researcher in the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System. He has secondary appointments in Bioengineering and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He is Director of the Laboratory for Research on Arm Function and Therapy (RAFT), one of the Rehab Neural Engineering Labs, which has a multidisciplinary faculty of 8. He arrived in Pittsburgh in 2018 as the outgoing Director of the VA Maryland Exercise and Robotics Center of Excellence. He is now one of the investigators in the joint Pitt/VA Human Engineering Research Laboratory, and the VA TECH-GRECC.
Dr. Wittenberg is a Fellow of the American Society of Neurorehabilitation and Board Certified in Neurology and Brain Injury Medicine. He is an Associate Editor of Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair and on the Pitt Active Mobility Committee, chairs the Neurology Grand Rounds Committee, and is on the local StrokeNet and national Stroke Recovery & Rehabilitation advisory panels.
Education & Training
- PhD, University of California, San Diego, Biology
- MD, University of California, San Diego, Medicine
- Resident, Washington University in St. Louis, Neurology
- Fellow, Washington University in St. Louis, Neurorehabilitation
- Sr. Staff Fellow, NINDS
- Senior Fellow, KU Leuven
Specialized Areas of Clinical, Research and/or Educational Interests
- Research: Rehabilitation robotics; Transcranial brain stimulation; Brain connectivity as it relates to motor function and rehabilitation
- Clinical: Stroke rehabilitation; Rehabilitation robotics; Brain mechanisms of arm control; Motor deficits after stroke and in other neurological conditions
Board Certifications
- Adult Neurology
- Brain Injury Medicine
Professional Organization Membership
- American Society of Neurorehabilitation Organization for Human Brain Mapping, 1999-Present and past-President
- Neural Control of Movement Society, 2004-Present
- International Society of Motor Control, 2009-Present
- American Neurological Association, Fellow, 2009-Present
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2014-Present
Honors & Awards
- Fellow of the American Society of Neurorehabilitation
Selected Publications
Massie CL, Kantak SS, Narayanan P, Wittenberg GF. Timing of motor cortical stimulation during planar robotic training differentially impacts neuroplasticity in older adults. Clin Neurophysiol. 2015 May;126(5):1024-32. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2014.06.053. Epub 2014 Sep 16. PMID: 25283712; PMCID: PMC4362917.
Dimyan MA, Harcum S, Ermer E, Boos AF, Conroy SS, Liu F, Horn LB, Xu H, Zhan M, Chen H, Whitall J, Wittenberg GF. Baseline Predictors of Response to Repetitive Task Practice in Chronic Stroke. Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2022 Jul;36(7):426-436. doi: 10.1177/15459683221095171. Epub 2022 May 26. PMID: 35616437; PMCID: PMC9197874.
Lo AC, Guarino PD, Richards LG, Haselkorn JK, Wittenberg GF, Federman DG, Ringer RJ, Wagner TH, Krebs HI, Volpe BT, Bever Jr CT. Robot-assisted therapy for long-term upper-limb impairment after stroke. New England Journal of Medicine. 2010 May 13;362(19):1772-83.
Schlaug G, Cassarly C, Feld JA, Wolf SL, Rowe VT, Fritz S, Chhatbar PY, Shinde A, Su Z, Broderick JP, Zorowitz R, Awosika O, Edwards D, Lin C, Franciso GE, Wittenberg GF, Pundik S, Gregory C, Borich MR, Ramakrishnan V, Feng W. Safety and efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation in addition to constraint-induced movement therapy for post-stroke motor recovery (TRANSPORT2): a phase 2, multicentre, randomised, sham-controlled triple-blind trial. Lancet Neurol. 2025 May;24(5):400-412. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(25)00044-4. Epub 2025 Mar 26. PMID: 40157380.
Powell MP, Verma N, Sorensen E, Carranza E, Boos A, Fields DP, Roy S, Ensel S, Barra B, Balzer J, Goldsmith J, Friedlander RM, Wittenberg GF, Fisher LE, Krakauer JW, Gerszten PC, Pirondini E, Weber DJ, Capogrosso M. Epidural stimulation of the cervical spinal cord for post-stroke upper-limb paresis. Nat Med. 2023 Mar;29(3):689-699. doi: 10.1038/s41591-022-02202-6. Epub 2023 Feb 20. PMID: 36807682; PMCID: PMC10291889.
