Distinguished Doctoral Scholarship allows students to better plan for their future

From developing rehabilitative tools that help stroke survivors regain motor skills to exploring yoga's impact on heart health, students in the WVU School of Medicine Pathophysiology, Rehabilitation and Performance doctoral program are conducting research they hope will change lives.

With the aid of scholarship funds, WVU doctoral students Serhii Bahdasariants and Alexis Thrower can further their research efforts while defraying costs.

Both students were awarded a 2025 Distinguished Doctoral Scholarship from the West Virginia University Foundation. The award is presented annually to select students who have been admitted to doctoral candidacy and are working toward completing their dissertations during the Spring 2025 term.

“I did not expect my research to receive such broad recognition, and now that it has been honored at the university-level, I feel more driven than ever to pursue it,” Bahdasariants said. “Today, I’m profoundly grateful for the scholarship, grateful for the validation of my research and above all, grateful for my mentor Dr. Sergiy Yakovenko’s constant refrain that waiting for perfect conditions to enter the competition often means missing out on life’s biggest opportunities.”

Both recipients have spent years working on their respective research.

Bahdasariants has been researching human neuromechanics to develop assistive and rehabilitative tools to help stroke survivors regain their motor skills. He is designing systems that interpret the movement a partially paralyzed person intends to make, and then helps them perform the movement by sending electrical signals to the weakened muscles that need support.

With his scholarship, Bahdasariants can fund components of his research and travel to share his findings on an international platform during the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) meeting in San Diego. 

“My engineering background motivated me to address real-world challenges, so I pursued neuroscience to develop targeted solutions for the neural underpinnings of partial paralysis,” he said. “By collaborating with experts at gatherings like SfN, I can refine these tools and ensure they genuinely enhance patients’ lives.”

Thrower’s dissertation explores yoga's impact on heart health, particularly for individuals with high blood pressure. It assesses the health benefits and feasibility of delivering a remote vinyasa yoga intervention, contributing to the growing evidence of yoga as an effective tool for improving cardiovascular health.

Thrower says she’s honored by the WVU Foundation’s award, which provided the opportunity for her to further her studies.

“This scholarship will impact me for the remainder of my academic career by helping to defray educational and research costs,” she said. “Specifically, this scholarship will allow me to focus more on my dissertation research and completing my Ph.D. with fewer financial constraints.”

She chose to pursue her research because it offers a unique opportunity to combine several of her passions, including sharing her love for yoga while helping others improve their health and well-being.

“Through my research career, I hope to better our understanding of how physical activities, such as yoga, can enhance health across all populations to help others live longer, healthier lives,” Thrower said.

The Pathophysiology, Rehabilitation and Performance (PRP) program is a doctoral program in the Division of Exercise Physiology that prepares students for careers in academic, industrial and governmental research, among other career pathways. Students choose a specialization in one of three research tracks: cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, muscle pathophysiology or rehabilitation science and engineering.

“I am extremely proud and privileged to have so many wonderful young scientists in the Pathophysiology, Rehabilitation and Performance program,” Paul Chantler, Ph.D., director of the program, said. “Alexis and Serhii, are great examples of this. Their areas of research are very different, which reflects the diversity of students in the PRP program. Our broad areas of research reflect a commonality between our students and our labs - a desire to help alleviate the burden of disease through scientific discovery. Both Alexis and Serhii are worthy winners of 2025 Distinguished Doctoral Scholarship."

To learn more about the program, visit https://medicine.wvu.edu/exercise-physiology/pathophysiology-rehabilitation-and-performance-phd/.