Title(s)
- Director, Laboratory for Research on Arm Function and Therapy (RAFT)
- 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
- Haddadshargh G, de Freitas RM, Mak J, Boos A, Fang X, Collinger JL, McKernan G, Zhan L, Liu F, Wittenberg GF. Mapping the Causal Roles of Non-Primary Motor Areas in Human Reach Planning and Execution. Hum Brain Mapp. 2026 Feb 1;47(2):e70465. doi: 10.1002/hbm.70465. PMID: 41641924; PMCID: PMC12875006.
- 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. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10291889.
- 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. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9197874.
- Stein J, Katz DI, Black Schaffer RM, Cramer SC, Deutsch AF, Harvey RL, Lang CE, Ottenbacher KJ, Prvu-Bettger J, Roth EJ, Tirschwell DL, Wittenberg GF, Wolf SL, Nedungadi TP. Clinical Performance Measures for Stroke Rehabilitation: Performance Measures From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Stroke. 2021 Oct;52(10):e675- e700. PubMed PMID: 34348470.
- Deluisi JA, Goldenk off ER, Lee TG, Brissenden JA, Taylor SF, Polk TA, Wittenberg GF, Vesia M. dsGrid: a dual-site TMS grid-search method for personalized targeting of motor network connectivity. Brain Stimul. 2026 Jan-Feb;19(1):102998. PubMed PMID: 41352727.
