The MOvES Lab would like to extend a warm welcome to Laura Boucher, PhD, AT, ATC, in her new role as Associate Lab Director! Dr. Boucher was hired as an Assistant Professor-Clinical in in 2014, with a teaching focus in musculoskeletal and orthopedic anatomy. Her research focuses on our improving anatomical and biomechanical understanding to reduce risk of injury in car crashes and sports.
Dr. Boucher completed her undergraduate studies at Ohio University with a BS in Athletic Training. She then earned her Master’s degree at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in Exercise Science-Athletic Training, where she also served as a Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer. Her master’s thesis explored the effects of fatigue on core muscle activation during sporting tasks.
Following graduate school, she was hired at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio as an Assistant Athletic Trainer. After two years, she moved into a duel faculty/athletic training position, teaching and advising within the Health and Sport Sciences Department, while continuing to provide athletic training services to Capital University Athletics teams. Her teaching responsibilities spanned from health and nutrition classes, to motor learning and biomechanics, and upper and lower extremity physical exam courses. Dr. Boucher provided Athletic training services to a variety of teams while at Capital University, including Football, Volleyball, Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field, and Women’s Basketball.
Her love of teaching and research continued to grow while working at Capital, which eventually led her to purse a PhD in Anatomy at The Ohio State University. She studied under the direction of Dr. John Bolte IV and completed her research in the Injury Biomechanics Research Center. Her work focused on evaluating pediatric ankle biomechanics, which led to the development a more biofidelic pediatric crash test dummy ankle and leg. Upon finishing her PhD, she was hired by The Ohio State University in the Division of Anatomy in 2014. In 2016 she joined the Athletic Training faculty. Her academic responsibilities include teaching gross anatomy in the Bone and Muscle Disorders Block for the first-year Medical students. She also teaches gross anatomy to the Physical and Occupational Therapy students and team teaches other courses to Biomedical Engineering and Athletic Training undergraduate students. She mentors and advises numerous students and serves as the Associate Block Director for the Bone and Muscles Disorders Block in the College of Medicine.
Dr. Boucher’s research continues to focus on pediatric injury biomechanics and more recently has started to explore the role of using musculoskeletal ultrasound in teaching physical exam skills, exploring how tissue responds to stress, as well as applications to aid in clinical decision making. We are excited to grow our faculty and add Dr. Boucher’s perspective to the MOvES lab.