Bier Nathalie
Contact information
Biography
Nathalie Bier is a Full Professor in Occupational Therapy at the School of Rehabilitation, Université de Montréal, and Associate Scientific Director for Partnerships and Knowledge Translation at the CRIUGM. She is also a FRQS Senior Research Scholar, recognized for her work on integrating assistive technologies into the living environments of older adults with cognitive impairments.
Dr. Bier holds a PhD in Clinical Sciences – Geriatrics from Université de Sherbrooke and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at Université Laval. She has received several honours, including the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists Award of Excellence (2023) and the Mentorship Award from Université de Montréal (2020, 2023).
Over the past decade, she has led numerous large-scale, competitively funded projects supported by CIHR, FRQS, SSHRC, CFI, Brain Canada, and various private and public partners. Her research has enabled the creation of living labs in community and clinical settings, the development of assistive and telemonitoring technologies, and the implementation of personalized tele-prevention tools, with a strong focus on knowledge translation and co-design with users.
She has supervised over 80 graduate and postgraduate trainees, contributed to the CCNA (Team 10: Cognitive Intervention and Brain Plasticity), and led multiple interdisciplinary projects on aging in place, social participation, and functional evaluation.
Research interests
Dr. Bier’s research focuses on rehabilitation and support for older adults with cognitive disorders, particularly through the analysis of activities of daily living (ADL) and the design of smart technologies that enhance autonomy and quality of life. Her work includes the implementation of assistive and ambient technologies (e.g., remote monitoring systems, virtual agents, connected devices) in home and institutional care, with strong emphasis on user-centered design, co-creation, and action research.
She also develops tools for fall prevention, telehealth delivery, cognitive evaluation, and intergenerational engagement, leveraging interdisciplinary approaches that combine neuroscience, health technology, and applied social sciences.
Keywords : Home support technologies, Telehealth and remote monitoring, Geriatric occupational therapy, Neurocognitive disorders, Living labs, Co-design and knowledge translation, Social participation, Prevention and rehabilitation, Smart environments.
