Michael Harris-Love (born 1968), is an American

physical therapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease prevention ...

, rehabilitation scientist, and academic administrator. He is a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

within the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) at the

University of Colorado School of Medicine The University of Colorado School of Medicine is the medical school of the University of Colorado system. It is located at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado, Aurora, Colorado, one of the four University of Colorado campuses, six mil ...

, and the inaugural Joanne Posner-Mayer Endowed Chair in Physical Therapy. He also serves as a Health Scientist at the VA Eastern Colorado Geriatrics Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC). His research focus is the development of sonographic methods for

sarcopenia Sarcopenia ( ICD-10-CM code M62.84) is a type of muscle loss that occurs with aging and/or immobility. It is characterized by the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass, quality, and strength. The rate of muscle loss is dependent on exer ...

and myosteatosis screening, and characterizing

skeletal muscle Skeletal muscle (commonly referred to as muscle) is one of the three types of vertebrate muscle tissue, the others being cardiac muscle and smooth muscle. They are part of the somatic nervous system, voluntary muscular system and typically are a ...

adaptations in response to exercise-based interventions in

older adults Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

with chronic health conditions. Harris-Love has contributed to the development of the core set measures for international

myositis Myositis is a rarely-encountered medical condition characterized by inflammation affecting the muscles. The manifestations of this condition may include skin issues, muscle weakness, and the potential involvement of other organs. Additionally ...

clinical trials as a member of the International Myositis Outcomes Assessment Study Group. As a clinician-investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center, he initiated the development of the Adult Myopathy Assessment Tool. Harris-Love has attained

Fellowship A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned or professional societies, the term refers ...

status within the

Gerontological Society of America The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is a multidisciplinary organization devoted to research and education in all aspects of gerontology: medical, biological, psychological and social. History and organization The Gerontological Society o ...

and the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).

Early life and education

Harris-Love was born and raised in the

Krainz Woods Krainz Woods (colloquially known as Krainz and Krainz Park) is a neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. The neighborhood was named after Captain John Krainz Jr., a World War II hero from Detroit. The neighborhood was once home to Malcolm X, who live ...

neighborhood in

East Detroit, MI Eastpointe (formerly East Detroit) is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Eastpointe borders Detroit to the south, roughly northeast of Downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a ...

. He completed his undergraduate studies at

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1899, it was the third and final university established in the Arizona Territory. It is one of the three universities gove ...

(NAU) in

Flagstaff, AZ Flagstaff ( ), known locally as Flag, is the county seat of Coconino County, Arizona, in the southwestern United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 76,831. Flagstaff is the principal city of the Flagstaff ...

as a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Arizona Space Grant Consortium Intern under the direction of NAU Regents’ Professor, Stan L. Lindstedt. Harris-Love received his

baccalaureate degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years (d ...

Exercise Science Exercise physiology is the physiology of physical exercise. It is one of the allied health professions, and involves the study of the acute responses and chronic adaptations to exercise. Exercise physiologists are the highest qualified exercise ...

Physical Education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

with honors from Northern Arizona University (NAU) earning the Exercise Science Graduate of the Year award from the NAU College of Health Professions. He earned his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

Physical Therapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

from the Mayo School of Health Sciences in

Rochester, MN Rochester is a city in Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. It is located along rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 121,395, making ...

. He completed his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in Health Sciences from the

University of Indianapolis The University of Indianapolis (UIndy) is a private United Methodist Church-affiliated university in Indianapolis, Indiana. It offers Associate, Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees. It was founded in 1902 as Indiana Central University an ...

. through

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

and Children’s National Hospital.

Federal career

Harris-Love has held a variety of positions over the past two decades at medical centers with the

Veterans Health Administration The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the component of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) led by the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health that implements the healthcare program of the VA through a Nationali ...

and at the

NIH Clinical Center The NIH Clinical Center is a hospital solely dedicated to clinical research at the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The Clinical Center, known as Building 10, consists of the original part of the hospital, the Warren ...

Bethesda, MD Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region an ...

. He joined the NIH Clinical Center PT Section as a Staff Physical Therapist and progressed to the role of

Rheumatology Rheumatology () is a branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and management of disorders whose common feature is inflammation in the bones, muscles, joints, and internal organs. Rheumatology covers more than 100 different complex diseases, c ...

Clinical Specialist. He was instrumental in establishing the Strength Assessment Laboratories at both the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center and the Washington DC VAMC Clinical Research Center following their construction in 2004 and 2015, respectively. He served as co-investigator within the Intramural Research Program (NIH IRP) at the NIH Clinical Center in support of clinical and research activities at

NIEHS The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) conducts research into the effects of the environment on human disease, as one of the 27 institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is located in the Resea ...

NIAMS The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is one of the institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ...

NINDS The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is a part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). It conducts and funds research on brain and nervous system disorders and has a budget of just over US$2.03 billion. The ...

, and

NHGRI The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) is an institute of the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland. NHGRI began as the Office of Human Genome Research in The Office of the Director in 1988. This Office transi ...

. Harris-Love led the development of the Adult Myopathy Assessment Tool (AMAT) to provide a battery for the assessment of functional performance and observed muscle endurance for individuals with intrinsic muscle disease. The AMAT continues to be used in the NIH IRP and it has been featured in multiple NIH-sponsored clinical trials.He was also the primary research physical therapist for the

Rituximab Rituximab, sold under the brand name Rituxan among others, is a monoclonal antibody medication used to treat certain autoimmune diseases and types of cancer. It is used for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (in children and ad ...

in Myositis Study which featured 31 international sites with 20 adult and 11 pediatric centers (cited > 680 times as of April 2024). Based on his research contributions to the field of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, Harris-Love was appointed as the first physical therapist to serve on the Myositis Association’s Medical Advisory Board in 2005. Harris-Love is the Director of the Muscle Morphology, Mechanics, and Performance

Laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratories are found in a variety of settings such as schools ...

(3MAP Lab), founding the group in 2013 at the Washington DC VAMC jointly with the Research Service and Geriatrics and Extended Care Service. The laboratory group’s research contributions at the medical center included raising

awareness through publications focused on federal healthcare and presenting a VA Center for Innovation project (with the

San Francisco VA Medical Center The San Francisco VA Medical Center, also called the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center or the SFVAMC, is a Veterans Affairs medical center, located in San Francisco. The main facility is on 42nd Avenue and Clement Street at the former ...

) regarding sarcopenia screening in VA Renal Clinics to VA Under Secretary for Health,

David Shulkin David Jonathon Shulkin (born July 22, 1959) is an American physician and former government official who served as the ninth United States secretary of veterans affairs from 2017 to 2018 under President Donald Trump. He was the Under Secretary of ...

, and other VHA staff. Harris-Love was the founding Co-Director for the Rehabilitation Research Fellowship Program at the Washington DC VAMC, and he later served as the Associate Director of the Human Performance Research Unit within the DC VAMC Clinical Research Center. His national-level service during this time included his appointment to the Geriatrics Research, Education, and Clinical Center Advisory Subcommittee for the

Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...

, as well as his elected position as Vice-Chair of the Degenerative Diseases Special Interest Group within the APTA Neurology Section.

Academic career

Harris-Love served as a physical therapist at the Clinic Hospital Methodist Campus and St. Marys Campus, and then in the Rehabilitation Medicine Department at the NIH Clinical Center, prior to his academic appointment at

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

(GW) in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. He initially served as core faculty for the Program in Physical Therapy at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and later was appointed as an Associate Clinical Professor within the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at the GW

Milken Institute School of Public Health The Milken Institute School of Public Health (known as School of Public Health, Milken School, or SPH) is the school of public health of the George Washington University, in Washington, DC. '' U.S. News & World Report University Rankings'' ranks ...

. Harris-Love developed a

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

for force-angle feedback augmented

diagnostic ultrasound Medical ultrasound includes diagnostic techniques (mainly imaging) using ultrasound, as well as therapeutic applications of ultrasound. In diagnosis, it is used to create an image of internal body structures such as tendons, muscles, joints, ...

. In 2019, Harris-Love accepted a

Visiting Professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

appointment at the

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is the academic health sciences campus in Aurora, Colorado that houses the University of Colorado's six health sciences-related schools and colleges, including the University of Colorado Schoo ...

, and succeeded Margaret Schenkman to become the 9th Director in the 71 year-history of the University of Colorado Physical Therapy Program. He prioritized post-professional education as a program goal and worked with faculty to attain accreditation of Physical Therapy Residencies in Orthopaedics with

UCHealth University of Colorado Health, doing business as UCHealth, is a not-for-profit health care system, headquartered in Aurora, Colorado, United States. The system includes hospitals and facilities throughout Colorado, along with affiliated hospita ...

and Faculty Development. He also continues his clinical research through his joint appointment with the Rocky Mountain Regional VAMC and the VA Eastern Colorado GRECC.

Selected publications

Key

publications To publish is to make Content (media), content available to the general public.Berne Conv ...

from Harris-Love and his collaborators have centered on assessing muscle dysfunction, developing clinically viable approaches to quantitative imaging, and applying exercise-based rehabilitation to improve muscle performance: * * * * * *

References

External links

Faculty webpapge

Harris-Love's
publications indexed by

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of Academic publishing, scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in Beta release, beta in November 2004, th ...

Living people 1968 births People from Michigan Northern Arizona University alumni Mayo College alumni University of Indianapolis alumni Georgetown University alumni American scientists 21st-century scientists African-American scientists Clinical research University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus faculty Physiotherapists Fellows of the American Physical Therapy Association Fellows of the Gerontological Society of America National Institutes of Health faculty United States Department of Veterans Affairs {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris-Love, Michael