Michelle Eliason, MS, OTR/L

Owner of Buffalo Occupational Therapy (Established 2018)

About Michelle C. Eliason

Michelle Eliason, PhD(c), MS, OTR/L is a clinician-scientist, occupational therapist, and rehabilitation researcher specializing in cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms of recovery across aging and acquired brain injury. She is a PhD candidate in Rehabilitation Science at the University at Buffalo, where her work in the Brain Function & Recovery Lab focuses on distinguishing healthy versus pathological aging and examining how non-invasive neuromodulation (transcranial direct current stimulation, tDCS) influences cortical–subcortical connectivity, neuroplasticity, and functional cognition.

Michelle’s research sits at the intersection of neuroimaging, cognition, and real-world occupational performance, with an explicit emphasis on translational application to clinical practice. Her work includes surface-based morphometry, functional and structural connectivity, and dual-task cognitive-motor interactions in populations including older adults with mild cognitive impairment and individuals with traumatic brain injury. She is a first author on peer-reviewed publications in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience and GeroScience, and her ongoing projects explore nonlinear structural coupling across aging trajectories, genotype-related neuroinflammatory patterns, and clinically meaningful markers of recovery.

In parallel with her academic work, Michelle is the founder and clinical manager of Buffalo Occupational Therapy, a private outpatient practice established in 2018 that delivers highly individualized, one-to-one neurorehabilitation grounded in evidence-based cognitive-motor intervention. Her clinical philosophy rejects volume-driven care models in favor of depth, precision, and collaboration—ensuring that assessment and intervention remain anchored to functional performance, context, and patient-defined goals. Her practice has served as a translational bridge between research and care delivery, informing both her scientific inquiry and her approach to complex clinical cases.

Michelle has held academic appointments as an adjunct professor and teaching assistant in occupational therapy education, contributed extensively to continuing education for clinicians nationwide, and mentored graduate students, clinicians, and interdisciplinary trainees. She currently leads lab coordination and graduate mentorship within the Brain Function & Recovery Lab and serves as a research mentor to a medical student in neurorehabilitation. Her leadership extends to professional advocacy, including service within NYSOTA initiatives, national task forces through the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, and community-based cognition and balance screening programs.

Across roles, Michelle’s work is unified by a single aim: to elevate occupational therapy as a rigorous, neuroscience-informed discipline capable of shaping how cognitive and functional recovery are understood, measured, and delivered across the lifespan.

Research Activity