Florence Thirlwell

Florence received her Bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering with departmental honours from the University of Washington, in Seattle in June 2023. During these years, she spent summers working in the labs of Dr. Amy Lenz and Dr. Brittany Coats at the University of Utah Orthopaedic Surgery and Mechanical Engineering departments. Her final project in Seattle, a method to detect a patient’s change in position, is part of a larger effort focusing on creating an automated CT-guided biopsy system to decrease radiation exposure.

In October 2024, Florence received her Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, focused on biomechanics and mechanobiology, with a distinction from Imperial College London.  Under the supervision of Dr. Nicolas Newell and Dr. Fraje Watson, Florence completed her thesis that looked at using optical motion capture to clinically validate a full body wearable sensor system to be used in monitoring the progression of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Florence joined the SMS lab as a doctoral student in April 2025, and she is also involved in the interdisciplinary EU TAILOR Project focused on furthering rehabilitation robotics. The focus of Florence’s work lies in creating an interactive clinical interface that will translate patient metrics into relevant information for therapists to make real-time decisions and adjustments to a patient’s gait rehabilitation therapy.