Implication of vestibular input to the hippocampus on vestibular rehabilitation

A steady accumulation of evidence suggests that vestibular lesions not just effect oculomotor and postural reflexes in humans but also may lead to cognitive deficits

Host Puneet Dhaliwal, PT, DPT, NCS is joined by Dr. Paul Smith, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, to discuss the implications of vestibular input to the hippocampus on vestibular rehabilitation.

Professor Smith completed his PhD in vestibular neuroscience under the supervision of Ian Curthoys at the University of Sydney, in 1987. Following his Post-Doctoral research at the University of Sydney, he moved to Dunedin in New Zealand. In 1997 he became an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago Medical School, where he was made a full Professor in 1999. In 2004 he returned to Massey University as a part-time, extramural student, to re-train in Statistics and in 2013 graduated with a Master of Applied Statistics degree, 1st Class Hons. In 2014 Dr. Smith was awarded a DSc by the University of Otago. He has published 3 books and more than 300 scientific papers and book chapters and is on the Editorial Boards of Frontiers in Neurology (Neuro-otology), Frontiers in Neuroscience and Frontiers in Psychology,  the Journal of Vestibular Research and Auris, Nasus, Larynx. Dr. Smith's main research interests lie in the effects of vestibular dysfunction and stimulation on higher cognitive function, especially the hippocampus, but also cognitive-motor interaction in the striatum, as well as the mechanisms of tinnitus. He is also interested in the application of multivariate and dating mining analyses to vestibular research.