As Associate Dean for Research Dr. LaRoche aims to support faculty in the development of their scholarship, external funding, and professional identities as they navigate the competing demands of research, teaching, service and engagement. He is a scientist at heart stemming from his love of physiology, biomechanics, technology and optimizing human performance. He is intrigued by how the exercise stimulus can confer health and functional benefits to everyone from elite athletes to older adults and has extensively studied both ends of the human performance spectrum. His current research is focused on assistive robotics, technology for aging in place and the free-living monitoring of gait quality, physical function, fall risk and vitality of older adults. Dr. LaRoche is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, is a Past-President of the New England Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine, is a member of the Gait and Posture journal editorial board, regularly publishes his research in high-impact journals, and received the College of Health and Human Services Teaching Excellence Award in 2012 and a Mather Institute Innovative Research on Aging Award in 2022. Dr. LaRoche's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation among other sponsors.
Dr. LaRoche's Research Focuses on:
• Assistive robotics for dementia care, exercise program delivery, assistance for independent living, and rural health
• Interplay of neuromuscular, metabolic, and biomechanical function in the limitation of mobility of older adults
• Neuromuscular responses to exercise, strength asymmetry, passive-elastic muscle-tendon unit properties
