Researcher Visit Deepens Light Therapy Education At Shepherd University

Shepherd University welcomed two researchers in light therapy to its campus Monday, part of an effort to bolster its student body’s familiarity with the field.

Since 2022, the university has been home to the Center of Excellence for Photobiomodulation, which serves as a hub for research on and usage of photobiomodulation, or PBM.

PBM is an experimental form of light therapy. By using infrared lasers, PBM professionals say they can help reduce the effects of neurological and age-related conditions.

To familiarize students and community members to PBM and its prospective medical applications, the university welcomed two researchers from Australia to its campus Feb. 3.

Ann Liebert serves as a clinician and photomolecular researcher at Sydney Adventist Hospital; Brian Bicknell is a research fellow at the University of Western Sydney and a research associate at Sydney University.

The researchers made the long journey to West Virginia to discuss their research into the up-and-coming form of light therapy. Liebert previously visited campus in 2023.

Liebert focuses on how PBM can be used to treat “neurological and microbiome-related disorders,” according to a Wednesday press release from Shepherd. Bicknell studies “the effect of PBM on the microbiome” and conducts clinical trials and case studies.

“I know that it [PBM] has amazing potential,” Bicknell said in a statement through Shepherd Monday. “We want a long health span, not just a long life span.”

At Shepherd, the Center of Excellence for PBM allows students to incorporate light therapy education into their broader studies. Liebert said in a statement that this presents exciting possibilities for newcomers to explore the field.

“It’s probably the first educational system in the world where it’s compulsory in masters of nursing,” she said.