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Dr. Dena Garner is a full professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance, is the Director of Undergraduate Research and is the Assistant Provost for Research and Policy at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. She started working at The Citadel in 2004 while completing her post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina, also located in Charleston. Before her move to Charleston, she worked at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon where she also received her doctoral degree in exercise physiology. She received her Master’s degree from the University of South Carolina in exercise physiology and an undergraduate degree from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

She has been working in the area of mouthpiece use and effect on human performance since 2005 with studies that have focused on reaction time, lactate, and cortisol and the effect of mouthpiece use on these parameters. In addition, her research has focused on mouthpiece use during steady state exercise and effects on oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange as well as the proposed mechanisms for positive effects on airway dynamics in a healthy population.

In addition to research in the area of mouthpiece use and effect on human performance, Dr. Garner is involved in a research study which encompasses testing and evaluating physiologic neuro-assessment devices in healthy versus traumatic brain injury populations. Related to this research she was awarded a multi-year grant from the Henry Jackson Foundation to assess neurologic assessment devices in healthy populations.

In her roles as Director of Undergraduate Research and Assistant Provost for Research and Policy she works with The Citadel campus to promote research and scholarly activity in all departments. In addition, she promotes external grants to support faculty research, specifically to improve the faculty/student mentoring within these research grants. During the first year of directing undergraduate research, she worked closely with the Provost and the departments to implement the inaugural Citadel SURE (Summer Undergraduate Research Experience) program.