Jia Liu, PhD

Jia LiuJia Liu, PhD
Assistant Professor

HRS PhD Program

Jia.Liu@osumc.edu

243H Atwell Hall
453 W. 10th Ave.
Columbus, Ohio 43210

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Professional Areas of Interest

  • Neurological Rehabilitation in spinal cord injury and stroke
  • Neuromodulation
  • Neurophysiology
  • Neuroimaging
  • Biomechanics

Overview

I’m an Assistant Professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, with affiliations in the Center for Brain Injury Recovery and Discovery (CBIRD), the Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Brain Imaging (CCBBI), and the Center for Neuroimaging, Neurophenotyping, Neurocomputation, and Neuromodulation (C4N).

My research program centers on improving rehabilitation outcomes for individuals with neurological conditions such as spinal cord injury (SCI) and stroke. To achieve this goal, my work is organized around two complementary themes. First, I develop and apply brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerve neuromodulation strategies to enhance rehabilitation outcomes. Second, I use a multimodal research approach, integrating biomechanics, neurophysiology and neuroimaging, to uncover the mechanisms underlying injury and recovery. Together, these two research themes complement each other, supporting a rigorous pursuit of advancing rehabilitation outcomes for people with SCI and stroke.

In multi-center cohorts of individuals with chronic cervical SCI, my group has demonstrated how corticospinal inhibition, ipsilateral corticomotor pathways, and muscle-specific cortical motor maps relate to residual upper limb function and self-care independence, establishing the mechanistic foundation for personalized neuromodulation targeting. On the translational side, I have contributed to clinical trials of transcranial direct current stimulation combined with rehabilitation in SCI and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the contralesional dorsal premotor cortex in severe chronic stroke, populations with few existing therapeutic options.

Major Awards

  • 2025 – First Place Best Oral Presentation Award, American Spinal Injury Association Annual Scientific Meeting
  • 2025 – Selected Participant (competitive), Training in Grantsmanship for Rehabilitation Research (TIGRR) Workshop, NIH-funded national program
  • 2023 – First Place Best Oral Presentation Award, American Spinal Injury Association Annual Scientific Meeting

Education

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Neuromodulation and Neuroimaging, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, US
  • PhD, Biokinesiology (Biomechanics), University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, US
  • MMed, Rehabilitation Medicine and Physical Therapy, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
  • BS, Sports Rehabilitation and Health, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China