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About

Lucy Dodakian is a leading researcher in stroke rehabilitation, whose work has fundamentally advanced our understanding of how the brain recovers motor function after injury. Her key research areas include the development of standardized clinical assessments, the application of robotic therapy for upper extremity recovery, and the identification of neural biomarkers that predict treatment outcomes. She is perhaps best known for her seminal 2013 paper on the standardized Fugl-Meyer Assessment (308 citations), which provided a rigorous scoring methodology that has become a cornerstone for clinical trials worldwide. Dodakian’s research has demonstrated that neural function, injury type, and stroke subtype are critical predictors of treatment gains (212 citations), offering a framework for personalized rehabilitation. She has also pioneered the use of robot-based assessments to objectively measure upper extremity function and has explored how MRI biomarkers can capture treatment effects. Her work on targeted engagement of the dorsal premotor circuit has opened new avenues for treating post-stroke paresis. With a career dedicated to bridging the gap between mechanistic neuroscience and practical clinical application, Dodakian’s contributions have directly shaped how clinicians design and evaluate restorative therapies, making her a pivotal figure in modern neurorehabilitation.