Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, 2004
  • B.S., Engineering Science and Mechanics, Penn State University, 1996
Licenses & Certifications
  • Professional Engineer, Maryland, #36778
  • Certified Crash Data Retrieval (CDR) Technician
Professional Honors
  • Whitaker Foundation Graduate Student Fellowship in Biomedical Engineering
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
  • Ashton Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania
  • Student Marshall of Engineering Science and Mechanics (top of class), Penn State University
  • Robert L. Waltmeyer Scholarship, Penn State University
  • Wilbur and Judy Meyer Award, Penn State University
  • Tau Beta Pi and Omicron Delta Kappa honor societies
Languages
  • German

Dr. Fisher addresses issues related to human injury biomechanics. He performs biomechanical accident reconstruction based on injury mechanisms to reconstruct the physical environment in which injury occurs and to illuminate critical timing issues regarding when and the order in which injuries occur during an accident sequence. 

Dr. Fisher's expertise includes injury causation and mechanisms of traumatic injuries associated with vehicular, pedestrian, occupational, and recreational accidents, as well as consumer products, including analysis of alternative design proposals. His work has ranged from reconstructing high-speed pedestrian accidents to analyzing scenarios leading to falls from heights. He has investigated a wide array of motor vehicle accidents and injury and timing issues related to performance of vehicular components like air bags, seat backs, and belt restraints.

Dr. Fisher also analyzes injury causation matters to assess whether the mechanisms of traumatic injury are present in an event and sufficient to be related to particular pathologies. This may include analysis of alternative injury scenarios.

Dr. Fisher's current research interests include pedestrian injury analysis and accident reconstruction, pedestrian safety and protection, occupant kinematics in low- and high-speed motor vehicle collisions, effectiveness of occupant protection systems such as seat belts and air bags, and the influences of pre-existing pathologies and occupant body size on injury mechanics. He is also knowledgeable in the areas of statics and dynamics, strength of engineering materials, mathematical modeling of biological systems, numerical methods and statistics.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Fisher was a Whitaker Foundation Research Fellow in the Injury Biomechanics Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, where he investigated the biomechanics of ventilator-induced lung injury in alveolar epithelial cells, including the effects of mechanical strain on ionic transport, mechanotransduction leading to ionic channel modulation, and cellular membrane mechanics associated with these phenomena. Dr. Fisher continues to serve as a visiting lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Fisher was also an intern at the Institute for Aerospace Medicine at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne, Germany, where he analyzed biofilm sensitivity for aerospace applications. His undergraduate honors research at Penn State University analyzed backflow patterns around tilting disc heart valves.