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About

Jessica Elder’s research lies at the critical intersection of neurorehabilitation and neuromodulation, focusing on restoring motor function after stroke and spinal cord injury. Her work rigorously tests whether combining robotic-assisted training with non-invasive brain stimulation, specifically transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), yields additive clinical benefits. In her landmark 2019 study (68 citations), she demonstrated that while intensive robot-assisted arm training produces meaningful clinical improvement in chronic stroke, the addition of tDCS does not further enhance outcomes—a finding that challenges prevailing assumptions and refines therapeutic protocols. Earlier, she established the feasibility and safety of upper-limb robotic training for chronic spinal cord injury (46 citations), showing measurable gains in motor performance for individuals with tetraplegia. Her 2017 investigation into subacute stroke patients (41 citations) similarly found that tDCS failed to augment robot-assisted gait training. By producing these null results with rigorous methodology, Elder has made a vital contribution: she helps the field avoid ineffective combinatorial treatments and redirect resources toward interventions that truly matter. Her work is essential reading for anyone developing evidence-based rehabilitation strategies for neurological recovery.