Meet one of our 2025 Early Career Scholars, Scott Uhlrich, PhD!

Dr. Uhlrich’s early work in osteoarthritis highlighted the limitations of current movement outcome measures, which led him to the co-development of OpenCap—an affordable, portable tool for measuring movement using smartphone video. Today, OpenCap is used by over 5,000 users around the world and is making an impact in neuro-musculoskeletal disease research, including studies in myotonic dystrophy (DM).

Dr. Uhlrich has co-authored 15 papers on computational biomechanics, computer vision, and machine learning—key areas that drive his current work in DM. His recent focus has been on improving movement measurement in DM through digital tools, such as the Stanford Digital Health Day study. He is currently collaborating with Dr. Russ Butterfield at the University of Utah to expand the dataset and plan a Utah Digital Health Day.

As the director of the Movement Bioengineering Laboratory at the University of Utah, Dr. Uhlrich leads a team focused on building better tools for understanding and tracking movement in rare diseases. His MDF-funded project, “Novel digital functional outcome measures for myotonic dystrophy using smartphone video,” reflects his ongoing commitment to advancing care and improving treatment outcomes for people living with DM.

Click here to learn more about MDF's research funding opportunities and prior grant recipients.