Andrew Robertson PhD
PhD, Research Associate
Kinesiology
University of Waterloo
I am a cerebrovascular physiologist exploring how physical activity preserves blood vessel health along the heart-brain axis and protects against progressive neurodegeneration in aging and disease. Arterial stiffness characterizes the decline in elastic properties of central blood vessels which occurs as we age and accumulate vascular risk. This measure independently predicts complications relating to left ventricle dysfunction (e.g. heart failure) and small vessel disease (e.g. chronic kidney disease, vascular cognitive impairment). My research program is interested in understanding how acute exercise and exercise training alters arterial stiffness with consequences on heart and brain function. I use a battery of non-invasive techniques to assess cardiovascular and cerebrovascular structure and function, including: beat-by-beat physiological monitoring, imaging and Doppler ultrasound, applanation tonometry, and phase contrast and arterial spin labeling MRI.