Joan Stilling, M.D., M.S.

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Joan Stilling, MD, MSc is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Rehabilitation Medicine at Weill Cornell and Columbia University Medical Center with board certification in rehabilitation medicine, brain injury medicine, and electromyography. She specializes in general neurorehabilitation, including stroke, concussion, and traumatic brain injury. She researches different methods of non-invasive brain stimulation for use in stroke and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation.Dr. Stilling received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with a biomedical specialization from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. She realized her interest in brain stimulation technologies and their interface between engineering and medicine. She was involved in various projects exploring tissue and materials engineering applications focused on neurologic recovery. She went on to study medicine at the University of Calgary, Canada, and obtained her Doctor of Medicine in 2015. She subsequently completed a Master of Science degree through the study of non-invasive brain stimulation technologies for the treatment of post-concussion symptoms and post-traumatic headache.Dr. Stilling completed her medical residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Calgary and her post-doctoral training at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD in neurorehabilitation and non-invasive brain stimulation. She has been involved in the clinical application of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for both inpatient and outpatientneurorehabilitation patients. She also has clinical experience in treating muscle stiffness and spasticity, performing electromyography and nerve conduction studies for musculoskeletal and neurologic disorders, orthotics and wheelchair prescription, and general muscle and joint rehabilitation.Dr. Stilling is keenly interested in exploring new technologies and their various applications in the rehabilitation population. She is currently involved in research investigating mechanisms of post-stroke motor and languagerecovery using both functional MRI (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). She also investigates the use of tDCS as a treatment for post-stroke fatigue motor and language recovery, TMS as a treatment of post-traumatic headache and persistent post-concussion symptoms, and interventional treatments for spasticity and muscle stiffness.