Alka Bishnoi , PT, Ph.D.

•  Ph.D. in Kinesiology and Community Health (specialization: Neuroscience), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL
• M.S. in Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, IL
• M.S. in Exercise Physiology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
• B.S. in Physical Therapy, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

• Faculty Fellow, National Science Foundation (NSF) Build and Broaden, CY3, Kean University, 2025
• University Fellowship Block Grant, UIUC, 2021
• Trainee Professional Development Award, Society of Neuroscience, 2020
• Supplemental Summer Block Grant, UIUC, 2020
• Teaching Scholar Certification, UIUC, 2020
• Fellowship Recipient at Neural Control of Movement Conference, 2020
• Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society Conference Award, 2019
• Van Doren Scholarship Award, UIC, 2017

• Wearable Technology Continuously Monitors Heart-rate Recovery to Predict Risk, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign News Bureau, April 9, 2025.

• Kean University Researcher Conducts Study on Osteoarthritis’ Impact on the Brain, Kean University, October 6, 2025.

BOOK CHAPTERS

• Bishnoi, A. (2024). Hypertension, Heart Rate Reserve, and Cognitive Impairment: Exploring Relationships, Implications, and Measurement Techniques. In: Mittal, M., Narayan, J. (eds) Intelligent Cyber-Physical Systems for Healthcare Solutions. Springer, Singapore. Https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8983-2_5.
• Bishnoi, A., Hernandez, M.E. (2025). Association of Heart Rate Variability with Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Healthy Adults. In: Narayan, J., Gritli, H. (eds) Design and Control of Rehabilitation Robots. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 585. Springer, Cham. Https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-86977-8_7.

PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS (* denotes students)

• Alka Bishnoi, Yang Hu, Manuel E. Hernandez. Impact of Sensory Organization Tasks on Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Older Women: A Comparative fNIRS Study of Osteoarthritis and Healthy Aging. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. 2025.
• Ayse Dogan*, Alka Bishnoi, Richard B. Sowers, Manuel E. Hernandez. Continuous Heart Rate Recovery Monitoring with ECG Signals from Wearables: Identifying Risk Groups in the General Population. IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics. 2025.
• Alka Bishnoi, Manuel Hernandez. Heart rate reserve effects on brain activation and cognitive motor performance while doing an instrumented trail walking task in middle- aged to older adults. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics Plus. 2025.
• Sadia Younis*, Alka Bishnoi, Jyotindra Narayan, and Renato Mio*. 2024. Impact of Contralateral Hemiplegia on Lower Limb Joint Kinematics and Dynamics: A Musculoskeletal Modeling Approach. Biomechanics. 2024.
• Alka Bishnoi, Yang Hu, Manuel E. Hernandez. Perturbation walking effects on prefrontal cortical activation and walking performance in older women with and without osteoarthritis: a FNIRS study. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. 2024.
• Alka Bishnoi, Manuel E. Hernandez. Effects of Heart Rate Reserve on Prefrontal Cortical Activation and dual task walking while doing an instrumented trail walking task: an fNIRS study. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (Abstract accepted to: Heart-Brain Interactions: Role of Imaging Modalities). 2023.

PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS (* denotes students)

• Alka Bishnoi, Yang Hu, Manuel E. Hernandez. Impact of Sensory Organization Tasks on Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Older Women: A Comparative fNIRS Study of Osteoarthritis and Healthy Aging. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. 2025.
• Ayse Dogan*, Alka Bishnoi, Richard B. Sowers, Manuel E. Hernandez. Continuous Heart Rate Recovery Monitoring with ECG Signals from Wearables: Identifying Risk Groups in the General Population. IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics. 2025.
• Alka Bishnoi, Manuel Hernandez. Heart rate reserve effects on brain activation and cognitive motor performance while doing an instrumented trail walking task in middle- aged to older adults. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics Plus. 2025.
• Sadia Younis*, Alka Bishnoi, Jyotindra Narayan, and Renato Mio*. 2024. Impact of Contralateral Hemiplegia on Lower Limb Joint Kinematics and Dynamics: A Musculoskeletal Modeling Approach. Biomechanics. 2024.
• Alka Bishnoi, Yang Hu, Manuel E. Hernandez. Perturbation walking effects on prefrontal cortical activation and walking performance in older women with and without osteoarthritis: a FNIRS study. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. 2024.
• Alka Bishnoi, Manuel E. Hernandez. Effects of Heart Rate Reserve on Prefrontal Cortical Activation and dual task walking while doing an instrumented trail walking task: an fNIRS study. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (Abstract accepted to: Heart-Brain Interactions: Role of Imaging Modalities). 2023.

PEER-REVIEWED FULL LENGTH CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS. (* denotes students)

• Alka Bishnoi, Hussnain Shakeel*, Declan Cioffi*, Manuel Hernandez. Cognitive-Motor Interactions Post Concussion: A Systematic Review of Dual-Task Gait in Middle-Aged Adults. Society of Neuroscience (SFN), 2025.
• Alka Bishnoi. Impact of Increased Respiratory Load on Prefrontal Cortical Activation Under Varying Task Complexities of Trail Walking Task. Kean Conference, 05/09/2025.
• Hussnain Shakeel*, Declan Cioffi*, Alka Bishnoi. Cognitive-Motor Interactions Post Concussion: A Systematic Review of Dual-Task Gait in Middle-Aged Adults. Kean Research Days, 2025.
• Alka Bishnoi, Hussnain Shakeel*, Declan Cioffi*, Manuel Hernandez. Cognitive-Motor Interactions Post Concussion: A Systematic Review of Dual-Task Gait in Middle-Aged Adults. International Society of Posture & Gait Research (ISPGR). 2025.
• Alka Bishnoi, Manuel Hernandez. Impact of increased respiratory load on prefrontal cortical activation under varying task complexities of trail walking task. International Society of Posture & Gait Research (ISPGR). 2025.
• Alka Bishnoi, Manuel Hernandez. Impact of increased respiratory load on prefrontal cortical activation under varying task complexities of trail walking task. American Society of Biomechanics (ASB). 2025.
• Alka Bishnoi, Manuel Hernandez. Clinical sensory organization task effects on prefrontal cortical activation patterns in older adults with and without hypertension. Neural Control of Movement. 2024
• Juliana Lefano*, Alka Bishnoi, Manuel Hernandez. Association of Heart Rate Variability with Cardiovascular Disease risk in Healthy adults: Framingham Heart study. Research Days, Kean University. 2024
• Juliana Lefano*, Alka Bishnoi, Manuel Hernandez. Association of Vascular Age and Age Dependent Maximum Heart Rate with Performance on the Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test Among Community Dwelling Adults. Research Days, Kean University. 2023
• Alka Bishnoi, Manuel Hernandez. Gait variability association with prefrontal cortical activation among older adults with and without impaired heart rate reserve. Society of Neuroscience. 2022
• Manuel Hernandez, Alka Bishnoi. Effect of hypertension on prefrontal cortical activation in older adults during instrumented trail walking tasks. Gerontological society of America. 2022