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Krishnan Muthaiah, Vijaya Prakash

FACULTY

Biography

Dr. Vijaya Prakash Krishnan Muthaiah is an associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Central Michigan University and a licensed physical therapist. He teaches in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program, covering joint anatomy and kinesiology, motor learning in neurorehabilitation, clinical pathophysiology, and professional practice.

His research examines how occupational hazards and neurotrauma affect public health, with a focus on sensory processing and sensorimotor integration. Blast exposure, traumatic brain injury, inhaled manganese fume, and noise can disrupt these systems, producing hearing loss, tinnitus, dizziness, balance impairment, and falls. He is particularly interested in neural plasticity, how the brain reorganizes after injury, sometimes in ways that sustain symptoms, and how rehabilitation can steer that reorganization toward recovery. The aim is to identify biomarkers of injury and target nodes for therapy and interventions. Current projects examine fall risk in welders, vestibular assessment after brain injury, and respiratory muscle training in multiple sclerosis.

He applies statistical and machine-learning methods to clinical, laboratory, and national population data to produce evidence that supports health policy on worker protection, brain injury care, and underserved communities. His work has been funded by the National Institute for Occupation Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Department of Defense, the Hearing Health Foundation, and the New York Physical Therapy Association, and he has published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers.

He serves as a scientific member of a Veterans Affairs Institutional Review Board, reviewing human-subjects research for scientific and regulatory adequacy. Before joining CMU in 2026, he spent eight years as Rehabilitation Science faculty at the University at Buffalo. He is active in the APTA Academy of Research and chaired the New York Physical Therapy Association's Research Committee. He holds a PhD in anatomy and master's degrees in biostatistics and data science.

More about Vijaya Prakash Krishnan Muthaiah

Selected publications (42 total; full list at ORCID 0000-0001-8609-7816):

  • Krishnan Muthaiah VP, et al. The silent crisis: the dual burden of sleep disturbances and mental health in professional graduate students. Psychol Health Med. 2026.
  • Ghazanfarpour S, et al., Muthaiah VP, et al. Utilizing machine learning for Raman spectral data analysis of brain tissue. WSEAS Trans Biol Biomed. 2026;23:6.
  • McPherson JI, Krishnan Muthaiah VP, et al. Temporal expression of brainstem neurotrophic proteins following mild traumatic brain injury. Brain Res. 2024;1835:148908.
  • Krishnan Muthaiah VP, Kaliyappan KP, Mahajan SD. PARP-1 inhibition by 3-aminobenzamide recuperates HEI-OC1 auditory hair cells from blast overpressure-induced cell death. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2023;11:1047308.
  • Kaliyappan KP, et al., Krishnan Muthaiah VP. Correlation of histomorphometric changes with diffusion tensor imaging for evaluation of blast-induced auditory neurodegeneration in chinchilla. J Neurotrauma. 2021.
  • Krishnan Muthaiah VP, Chen GD, Ding D, Salvi R, Roth JA. Effect of manganese and manganese plus noise on auditory function and cochlear structures. Neurotoxicology. 2016;55:65-73.
  • Chen YC, et al., Krishnan Muthaiah VP, et al. Tinnitus and hyperacusis involve hyperactivity and enhanced connectivity in the auditory-limbic-arousal-cerebellar network. eLife. 2015;4:e06576.

Selected presentations:

  • Krishnan Muthaiah VP, Ray A, Fisher N. A longitudinal evaluation of the effect of respiratory muscle training and maintenance in multiple sclerosis. APTA Combined Sections Meeting, Anaheim, CA, 2026.
  • Ramachandran K, et al., Krishnan Muthaiah VP. Integration of the ICF framework in occupational hazards predicts fall risk in welders. APTA CSM, Anaheim, CA, 2026.
  • Krishnan Muthaiah VP. Comprehensive vestibular assessment in traumatic brain injury. New York State Physical Therapy Conference (invited), 2023.
  • Military Health System Research Symposium presentations, 2019–2021, 2024.
  • Research Designated Fund Award, New York Physical Therapy Association
  • Young Investigator Award, World Congress of Neuroscience (2011)
  • Senior Research Fellowships, Indian Council of Medical Research (2009) and Lady Tata Memorial Trust (2008)
  • MPS, Data Sciences and Applications, University at Buffalo
  • MPH, Biostatistics, University at Buffalo
  • PhD, Anatomy, University of Madras, India
  • MS, Molecular Biology, University of Madras, India
  • BPT, Physiotherapy, The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, India
  • Blast- and noise-induced injury to the auditory and vestibular systems
  • Occupational exposure to manganese fume and its interaction with noise
  • Vestibular assessment and rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury
  • Balance, motor changes, and fall risk in welders and other exposed workers
  • Statistical and machine-learning methods for rehabilitation and population health data
  • American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)
  • American Statistical Association
  • Association for Research in Otolaryngology
  • Indian Association of Biomedical Scientists
  • New York Licensed Physical Therapist (# 62 041180)
  • Certified Health Data Analyst (CHDA), American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)
  • SAS Certified Statistical Business Analyst
  • Certified in Public Health (CPH)

Courses Taught

  • PTH 624:  Clinical Pathophysiology & Pharmacology IV 
  • PTH 666:  Physical Therapy Seminar II 
  • PTH 672:  Clinical Anatomy and Kinesiology of Human Joints 
  • PTH 690:  Motor Control and Learning in Rehabilitation

To a learned person, every region and every town is like their own home, so why would anyone live without learning until the end of their life?

Kural, 397
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