Rate My Professor Azizah Jor’dan

Azizah Jor’dan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Exercise and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences, a position she assumed in 2020. She completed her BS in Kinesiology, MA in Lifespan Motor Development, and PhD in Lifespan Motor Control, Motor Development, and Gerontology at the University of Minnesota. Following her doctorate, Jor’dan undertook postdoctoral fellowships in translational research in aging at Harvard Medical School (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Hebrew SeniorLife) and the VA Boston Healthcare System Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center. Prior to UMass Boston, she served as an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and collaborated on the Mobilize Boston Study with Professor Suzanne Leveille. Her early graduate work at Minnesota involved children at risk for developmental coordination disorder, which later shifted toward gerontology.

Jor’dan’s research examines the effects of aging and age-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, on neurophysiology and balance control. Key interests encompass biomedical assessments of gait and postural control, real-time measurements of cerebral vascular physiology during dual-task walking and standing, and transcranial direct current stimulation as an intervention to improve brain function and balance in vulnerable older adults. She leads an NIA-funded K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Career Development Award project investigating brain activation during locomotion and the potential of noninvasive brain stimulation for rehabilitation, aiming to reduce fall risks and promote independence. Select publications include “Transcranial direct current stimulation reduces the cost of performing a cognitive task on gait and postural control” (European Journal of Neuroscience, 2014), “Reduction of Dual-task Costs by Noninvasive Modulation of Prefrontal Activity in Healthy Elders” (Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2016), “Diminished Locomotor Control Is Associated With Reduced Neurovascular Coupling in Older Adults” (Journals of Gerontology Series A, 2020), and “The Physiologic Complexity of Prefrontal Oxygenation Dynamics Is Associated With Age and Executive Function: An Exploratory Study” (Journals of Gerontology Series A, 2024).