Joel Burma

Joel is completing his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Jonathan Smirl and Dr. Jeff Dunn with an expected completion date of 2024. His PhD is seeking to comprehensively understand cerebrovascular regulation with a multimodal imaging approach including transcranial Doppler ultrasound, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and electroencephalography. This multimodal approach will be utilized during cerebrovascular reactivity, cerebral autoregulation, and neurovascular coupling assessments, which will quantify both cerebral hemodynamics and cerebral electrical activity across the brain. Additionally, Joel’s PhD project will also explore how the aforementioned regulatory mechanisms are impacted by the phase of the menstrual cycle, between biological sexes, and by cardiorespiratory fitness status. Currently, there is an underrepresentation of published cerebrovascular research studies including female participants. This, in part, is due to the fluctuation of hormones across the menstrual cycle, which may change the compliance of the blood vessels within the brain. Therefore, Joel’s PhD project is ultimately seeking to understand the various regulatory mechanisms within the brain, while also enhancing current methodological approaches to increase the number of future cerebrovascular studies that include female participants.

Joel has completed his Master of Science (2020) at the University of Calgary under the supervision of Dr. Kathryn Schneider and Dr. Jeff Dunn and his Bachelor of Human Kinetics at the University of British Columbia Okanagan under the supervision of Dr. Jonathan Smirl and Dr. Paul van Donkelaar.

Top Publications:

1. Echemendia RJ, Burma JS, Bruce JM, Davis GA, Giza CC, Guskiewicz KM, Naidu D, Black AM, Broglio S, Kemp S, Patricios JS, Putukian M, Zemek R, Arango-Lasprilla JC, Bailey CM, Brett BL, Didehbani N, Gioia G, Herring SA, Howell D, Master CL, Valovich McLeod TC, Meehan WP 3rd, Premji Z, Salmon D, van Ierssel J, Bhathela N, Makdissi M, Walton SR, Kissick J, Pardini J, Schneider KJ. Acute evaluation of sport-related concussion and implications for the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT6) for adults, adolescents and children: a systematic review. Br J Sports Med. 2023 Jun;57(11):722-735. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-106661. PMID: 37316213.
2. Leddy JJ, Burma JS, Toomey CM, Hayden A, Davis GA, Babl FE, Gagnon I, Giza CC, Kurowski BG, Silverberg ND, Willer B, Ronksley PE, Schneider KJ. Rest and exercise early after sport-related concussion: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2023 Jun;57(12):762-770. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-106676. PMID: 37316185.
3. Putukian M, Purcell L, Schneider KJ, Black AM, Burma JS, Chandran A, Boltz A, Master CL, Register-Mihalik JK, Anderson V, Davis GA, Fremont P, Leddy JJ, Maddocks D, Premji Z, Ronksley PE, Herring S, Broglio S. Clinical recovery from concussion-return to school and sport: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2023 Jun;57(12):798-809. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-106682. PMID: 37316183.
4. Panerai RB, Brassard P, Burma JS, Castro P, Claassen JA, van Lieshout JJ, Liu J, Lucas SJ, Minhas JS, Mitsis GD, Nogueira RC, Ogoh S, Payne SJ, Rickards CA, Robertson AD, Rodrigues GD, Smirl JD, Simpson DM; Cerebrovascular Research Network (CARNet). Transfer function analysis of dynamic cerebral autoregulation: A CARNet white paper 2022 update. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2023 Jan;43(1):3-25. doi: 10.1177/0271678X221119760. Epub 2022 Aug 12. PMID: 35962478; PMCID: PMC9875346.
5. Echemendia RJ, Brett BL, Broglio S, Davis GA, Giza CC, Guskiewicz KM, Harmon KG, Herring S, Howell DR, Master CL, Valovich McLeod TC, McCrea M, Naidu D, Patricios J, Putukian M, Walton SR, Schneider KJ, Burma JS, Bruce JM. Introducing the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 6 (SCAT6). Br J Sports Med. 2023 Jun;57(11):619-621. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2023-106849. PMID: 37316207. 
6. Echemendia RJ, Brett BL, Broglio S, Davis GA, Giza CC, Guskiewicz KM, Harmon KG, Herring S, Howell DR, Master C, McCrea M, Naidu D, Patricios JS, Putukian M, Walton SR, Schneider KJ, Burma JS, Bruce JM. Sport concussion assessment tool™ - 6 (SCAT6). Br J Sports Med. 2023 Jun;57(11):622-631. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2023-107036. PMID: 37316203.
7. Davis GA, Echemendia RJ, Ahmed OH, Anderson V, Blauwet C, Brett BL, Broglio S, Bruce JM, Burma JS, Gioia GA, Giza CC, Guskiewicz KM, Harmon KG, Herring S, Makdissi M, Master CL, McCrea M, Valovich McLeod TC, Meehan WP 3rd, Naidu D, Patricios J, Purcell LK, Putukian M, Schneider KJ, Walton SR, Yeates KO, Zemek R. Introducing the Child Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 6 (Child SCAT6). Br J Sports Med. 2023 Jun;57(11):632-635. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2023-106853. PMID: 37316202.
8. Davis GA, Echemendia RJ, Ahmed OH, Anderson V, Blauwet C, Brett BL, Broglio S, Bruce JM, Burma JS, Gioia G, Giza CC, Guskiewicz KM, Harmon KG, Herring SA, Makdissi M, Master CL, McCrea M, Meehan WP 3rd, Naidu D, Patricios JS, Purcell LK, Putukian M, Schneider KJ, Valovich McLeod TC, Walton SR, Yeates KO, Zemek R. Child SCAT6. Br J Sports Med. 2023 Jun;57(11):636-647. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2023-106982. PMID: 37316212.
9. Echemendia RJ, Ahmed OH, Bailey CM, Bruce JM, Burma JS, Davis GA, Gioia G, Howell D, Fuller GW, Master CL, van Ierssel J, Pardini J, Schneider KJ, Walton SR, Zemek R, Patricios J. Introducing the Concussion Recognition Tool 6 (CRT6). Br J Sports Med. 2023 Jun;57(11):689-691. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2023-106851. PMID: 37316214.
10. Echemendia RJ, Ahmed OH, Bailey CM, Bruce JM, Burma JS, Davis GA, Gioia G, Howell DR, Fuller GW, Master CL, van Ierssel J, Pardini J, Schneider KJ, Walton SR, Zemek R, Patricios JS. The Concussion Recognition Tool 6 (CRT6). Br J Sports Med. 2023 Jun;57(11):692-694. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2023-107021. PMID: 37316201.
11. Burma JS, Van Roessel RK, Oni IK, Dunn JF, Smirl JD. Neurovascular coupling on trial: How the number of trials completed impacts the accuracy and precision of temporally derived neurovascular coupling estimates. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2022 Aug;42(8):1478-1492. doi: 10.1177/0271678X221084400. Epub 2022 Feb 25. PMID: 35209741; PMCID: PMC9274868.
12. Burma JS, Seok J, Johnston NE, Smirl JD. Cerebral blood velocity during concurrent supine cycling, lower body negative pressure, and head-up tilt challenges: implications for concussion rehabilitation. Physiol Meas. 2023 Aug 18;44(8). doi: 10.1088/1361-6579/acecd4. PMID: 37531960.
13. Burma JS, Miutz LN, Newel KT, Labrecque L, Drapeau A, Brassard P, Copeland P, Macaulay A, Smirl JD. What recording duration is required to provide physiologically valid and reliable dynamic cerebral autoregulation transfer functional analysis estimates? Physiol Meas. 2021 May 11;42(4). doi: 10.1088/1361-6579/abf1af. PMID: 33761474.
14. Burma JS, Copeland P, Macaulay A, Khatra O, Smirl JD. Comparison of diurnal variation, anatomical location, and biological sex within spontaneous and driven dynamic cerebral autoregulation measures. Physiol Rep. 2020 Jun;8(11):e14458. doi: 10.14814/phy2.14458. PMID: 32537905; PMCID: PMC7293969.
15. Burma JS, Copeland P, Macaulay A, Khatra O, Wright AD, Smirl JD. Dynamic cerebral autoregulation across the cardiac cycle during 8 hr of recovery from acute exercise. Physiol Rep. 2020 Mar;8(5):e14367. doi: 10.14814/phy2.14367. PMID: 32163235; PMCID: PMC7066871.