Dr. Leslie Davidson is a nationally recognized leader in cognition, brain health, and rehabilitation, with more than 30 years of experience helping people and families navigate the challenges of brain injury, dementia, stroke, and mental health conditions. She blends the heart of a clinician with the vision of a leader, bringing cutting-edge science into everyday solutions.

Over the course of her career, Dr. Davidson has held senior leadership roles at Georgetown University Medical Center, where she served as Director of Rehabilitation, and at Shenandoah University, where she was Division Director and Program Director of Occupational Therapy. For more than a decade she also served as Chair of Clinical Research and Leadership at George Washington University in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She continues as an Associate Professor and a leading member of GW’s Institute for Brain Health and Dementia, where her research focuses on how people recover and thrive after brain injury, stroke, dementia, and other conditions that affect memory, thinking, mood, and daily life.

She has designed innovative rehabilitation programs adopted by nationally recognized centers, trained and mentored hundreds of clinicians and future leaders, and partnered with the U.S. Army to improve recovery for service members with traumatic brain injury. Her military medicine work included creating new tools to assess cognitive readiness after concussion and shaping provider training during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; advances that continue to guide both military and civilian approaches to brain injury rehabilitation today.

Her scholarship has reshaped how cognition is understood in daily life, proving that progress is best measured in real-world activities, not just clinical checklists. As a therapist, researcher, and advocate, Dr. Davidson uses this expertise to help families understand what changes in memory, behavior, and function really mean. She translates complex challenges into clear, practical strategies that promote safety, connection, and independence, so that daily life becomes more manageable and meaningful for both clients and their families.