Our 2023 Keynote Speaker: Kristin M. Myers, PH.D.
The 2023 Pelvic Floor Research Group Day will be held on Wednesday, February 22 (8 am – 4 pm)
Biomechanics of the Pregnant Cervix
Keynote Speaker: Kristin M. Meyers, PH.D.
Myers builds computational models of the pregnant anatomy to quantify the amount of mechanical loading on the soft tissue structures supporting the fetus. These models are based on rigorous mechanical tests of soft tissues conducted in her lab to establish the mathematical relationship between the tissue’s biological building blocks, its mechanical stiffness, and its remodeling behavior. Working with Maternal Fetal Medicine specialists at Columbia University Medical Center, the team is working to identify mechanical risk factors in pregnancy and to develop precise clinical interventions to eliminate those risks.
Recent projects from Myers’s research group include: ultrasound-based finite element models of pregnancy, mechanical characterization of cervical and uterine tissue remodeling, hormone-mediated tissue growth and remodeling, and mechanical characterization of preterm birth models of pregnancy
Myers received a BS in mechanical engineering in 2002 from the University of Michigan and an MS in 2005 and a PhD in 2008 in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She joined the faculty of Columbia Engineering in 2010 and in 2017 received the ASME Y.C. Fung Young Investigators Award.