Brain and Behavior in the Extremes

Dr. Vladimir Ivkovic was trained as a translational neuroscientist and integrative physiologist with emphases in spaceflight/extreme physiology, neuroimaging, neuromodulation, and emergency medicine. His research focuses on applying ambulatory brain and physiology monitoring for assessment of neurophysiologic and neurobehavioral disorders elicited by exposure to extreme operational environments or activities, and development of countermeasures for their mitigation. Ivkovic has conducted numerous studies on healthy, elite populations (astronauts, firefighters, active military, and athletes) and patient populations (those with Parkinson's disease or cardiosurgical issues) in operational and clinical environments. Included among those studies are assessments of cerebrovascular pulsatility in parabolic microgravity flights, ambulatory neurophysiologic assessment of sleep quality and operational performance during simulated space missions in NASA's Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA), and ambulatory monitoring of brain motion within the skull during football drills. In collaboration with Boston Fire Department and the Last Call Foundation, he currently leads a research effort on identifying neurophysiologic and cognitive markers of resiliency to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in firefighters. He also serves as a principal investigator on NASA's CIPHER research project—the largest spaceflight biomedical study investigating functional brain, neurobehavioral, immune, metabolomic, and sleep changes in two-, six-, and twelve-month missions aboard the International Space Station. He teaches both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including courses in neuroscience, spaceflight and extreme physiology, psychophysiology, and neurobiology, and has mentored undergraduate and graduate students. Ivkovic's interests include human adaptations to extreme environments, development of mitigation strategies, and their translation to clinical practice.