Bernadette Gillick, PhD, MSPT, PT, FAPTA

Position title: Professor, School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Pediatrics

Director, Research Design, Institute for Clinical and Translational Research

Director, Waisman Neuromodulation Service & Pediatric Neuromodulation Lab

APTA Catherine Worthingham Fellow

Contact Information

Waisman Center
1500 Highland Ave
Room 491
Madison, WI 53706
bgillick@wisc.edu
Pediatric Neuromodulation Laboratory

Research Statement

Dr. Gillick’s research is dedicated to investigating cortical plasticity and recovery from neurologic insult in both adult and pediatric populations. Her research encompasses the use of non-invasive brain stimulation, in combination with behavioral training, for improved motor function. Current grants support investigation of the use of non-invasive brain stimulation with and without the combination of constraint-induced therapy in children with stroke and resultant hemiparesis. Neuroimaging and neuronavigation allows advanced understanding of the reorganization and structure of the brain which survived the stroke, and the influence of interventions on neurorecovery.

Research Topics:

Brain Development, Brain Imaging: MRI, PET, Brain Stimulation, Cerebral Palsy, Child Development, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Neuromodulation, Newborn Screening, Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation, Pediatric Brain Injury, Prenatal and Postnatal Risk and Prematurity

Selected Publications

PubMed

Sutter, E. N., Guerrero-Gonzalez, J., Casey, C. P., Dean, D. C., 3rd, de Abreu E Gouvea, A., Peyton, C., McAdams, R. M., & Gillick, B. T. (2025). White-Matter Connectivity and General Movements in Infants with Perinatal Brain Injury. Brain sciences, 15(4), 341. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15040341
Casey, C. P., Sutter, E. N., Grimaldo, A., Collins, K. M., Guerrero-Gonzalez, J., McAdams, R. M., Dean, D. C., 3rd, & Gillick, B. T. (2025). Preservation of Bilateral Corticospinal Projections from Injured Hemisphere After Perinatal Stroke. Brain sciences, 15(1), 82. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15010082
Sutter, E. N., Legare, J. M., Villegas, M. A., Collins, K. M., Eickhoff, J., & Gillick, B. T. (2024). Evidence-Based Infant Assessment for Cerebral Palsy: Diagnosis Timelines and Intervention Access in a Newborn Follow-up Setting. Journal of child neurology, 39(13-14), 461–469. https://doi.org/10.1177/08830738241279690
Sutter, E. N., Casey, C. P., & Gillick, B. T. (2024). Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation for assessment of motor development in infants with early brain injury. Expert review of medical devices, 21(3), 179–186. https://doi.org/10.1080/17434440.2023.2299310
Christopher, P., Sutter, E. N., Gavioli, M., Lench, D. H., Nytes, G., Mak, V., Simpson, E. A., Ikonomidou, C., Villegas, M. A., Saiote, C., & Gillick, B. T. (2023). Safety, tolerability and feasibility of remotely-instructed home-based transcranial direct current stimulation in children with cerebral palsy. Brain stimulation, 16(5), 1325–1327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2023.08.024
Saiote, C., Sutter, E., Xenopoulos-Oddsson, A., Rao, R., Georgieff, M., Rudser, K., Peyton, C., Dean, D., McAdams, R. M., & Gillick, B. (2022). Study Protocol: Multimodal Longitudinal Assessment of Infant Brain Organization and Recovery in Perinatal Brain Injury. Pediatric physical therapy : the official publication of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy Association, 34(2), 268–276. https://doi.org/10.1097/PEP.0000000000000886
Sutter, E. N., Francis, L. S., Francis, S. M., Lench, D. H., Nemanich, S. T., Krach, L. E., Sukal-Moulton, T., & Gillick, B. T. (2021). Disrupted Access to Therapies and Impact on Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic for Children With Motor Impairment and Their Caregivers. American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation, 100(9), 821–830. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHM.0000000000001818
Chantigian, D. P., Larson, M., Chen, M., Gillick, B. T., Cross, T. J., & Keller-Ross, M. L. (2021). Heart rate and blood pressure responses to corticomotor stimulation in young, healthy adults. Clinical neurophysiology practice, 6, 206–208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnp.2021.06.004
Mantell, K. E., Sutter, E. N., Shirinpour, S., Nemanich, S. T., Lench, D. H., Gillick, B. T., & Opitz, A. (2021). Evaluating transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) induced electric fields in pediatric stroke. NeuroImage. Clinical, 29, 102563. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102563
O’Leary, G. H., Jenkins, D. D., Coker-Bolt, P., George, M. S., Kautz, S., Bikson, M., Gillick, B. T., & Badran, B. W. (2021). From adults to pediatrics: A review noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) to facilitate recovery from brain injury. Progress in brain research, 264, 287–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2021.01.019
Keller-Ross, M. L., Chantigian, D. P., Nemanich, S., & Gillick, B. T. (2021). Cardiovascular Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Bimanual Training in Children With Cerebral Palsy. Pediatric physical therapy : the official publication of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy Association, 33(1), 11–16. https://doi.org/10.1097/PEP.0000000000000762
Behan, M., Nawshin, T., Nemanich, S., Kowalski, J., Sutter, E., Francis, S., Dubinsky, J., Freese, R., Rudser, K., & Gillick, B. (2020). A crossed-disciplinary evaluation of parental perceptions surrounding pediatric non-invasive brain stimulation research. International journal of pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing, 14(4), 623–640. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijphm-01-2020-0005
Lench, D. H., Simpson, E., Sutter, E. N., & Gillick, B. T. (2020). Feasibility of remote transcranial direct current stimulation for pediatric cerebral palsy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brain stimulation, 13(6), 1803–1804. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2020.10.010
Bikson, M., Hanlon, C. A., Woods, A. J., Gillick, B. T., Charvet, L., Lamm, C., Madeo, G., Holczer, A., Almeida, J., Antal, A., Ay, M. R., Baeken, C., Blumberger, D. M., Campanella, S., Camprodon, J. A., Christiansen, L., Loo, C., Crinion, J. T., Fitzgerald, P., Gallimberti, L., … Ekhtiari, H. (2020). Guidelines for TMS/tES clinical services and research through the COVID-19 pandemic. Brain stimulation, 13(4), 1124–1149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2020.05.010
Francis, S. M., Beard, K. L., Tseng, A., Chen, M., Gillick, B. T., Jacob, S., & Conelea, C. A. (2020). Transcranial direct current stimulation for compulsivity in adolescent fraternal twins with neurodevelopmental disorders. Brain stimulation, 13(4), 1153–1155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2020.05.007
Kowalski, J. L., Hickey, M., Rao, R., Georgieff, M. K., Chen, M., & Gillick, B. T. (2020). Safety of single-pulse TMS in two infants with implanted patent ductus arteriosus closure devices. Brain stimulation, 13(3), 861–862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2020.03.007
Rich, T. L., Nemanich, S., Chen, C. Y., Sutter, E. N., Feyma, T., Krach, L. E., & Gillick, B. T. (2020). Ipsilateral Corticospinal Tract Excitability Contributes to the Severity of Mirror Movements in Unilateral Cerebral Palsy: A Case Series. Clinical EEG and neuroscience, 51(3), 185–190. https://doi.org/10.1177/1550059419899323
Legon, W., Adams, S., Bansal, P., Patel, P. D., Hobbs, L., Ai, L., Mueller, J. K., Meekins, G., & Gillick, B. T. (2020). A retrospective qualitative report of symptoms and safety from transcranial focused ultrasound for neuromodulation in humans. Scientific reports, 10(1), 5573. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62265-8
Nemanich, S. T., Mueller, B. A., & Gillick, B. T. (2019). Neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging quantifies corticospinal tract microstructural organization in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. Human brain mapping, 40(17), 4888–4900. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.24744
Gröhn, H., Gillick, B. T., Tkáč, I., Bednařík, P., Mascali, D., Deelchand, D. K., Michaeli, S., Meekins, G. D., Leffler-McCabe, M. J., MacKinnon, C. D., Eberly, L. E., & Mangia, S. (2019). Influence of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Human Neurochemistry and Functional Connectivity: A Pilot MRI/MRS Study at 7 T. Frontiers in neuroscience, 13, 1260. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.01260
Nemanich, S. T., Rich, T. L., Gordon, A. M., Friel, K. M., & Gillick, B. T. (2019). Bimanual Skill Learning after Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy: A Brief Report. Developmental neurorehabilitation, 22(7), 504–508. https://doi.org/10.1080/17518423.2019.1600065
Kowalski, J. L., Nemanich, S. T., Nawshin, T., Chen, M., Peyton, C., Zorn, E., Hickey, M., Rao, R., Georgieff, M., Rudser, K., & Gillick, B. T. (2019). Motor Evoked Potentials as Potential Biomarkers of Early Atypical Corticospinal Tract Development in Infants with Perinatal Stroke. Journal of clinical medicine, 8(8), 1208. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8081208
Nemanich, S. T., Chen, C. Y., Chen, M., Zorn, E., Mueller, B., Peyton, C., Elison, J. T., Stinear, J., Rao, R., Georgieff, M., Menk, J., Rudser, K., & Gillick, B. (2019). Safety and Feasibility of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as an Exploratory Assessment of Corticospinal Connectivity in Infants After Perinatal Brain Injury: An Observational Study. Physical therapy, 99(6), 689–700. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzz028
Nemanich, S. T., Rich, T. L., Chen, C. Y., Menk, J., Rudser, K., Chen, M., Meekins, G., & Gillick, B. T. (2019). Influence of Combined Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Motor Training on Corticospinal Excitability in Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 13, 137. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00137
Rich, T. L., & Gillick, B. T. (2019). Electrode Placement in Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation-How Reliable Is the Determination of C3/C4?. Brain sciences, 9(3), 69. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci9030069