[1] For much of the war, he operated a private practice in New York City, wherein he embarked on experiments that would lead him to foundational observations about nerve-regeneration.
[2][3] Michaelis asserted that injuries wherein nerves were damaged or separated could heal and regain lost sensation and mobility.
[4] During this time, he also became close acquaintances with Dr. Benjamin Rush and even dedicated a later volume of his 1778 De Angina Polyposa sive Membranacea to the American founding-father.
[5] Returning to Germany in 1783, Michaelis became chair of the practice of medicine at Cassel before earning an appointment as professor of anatomy at the University of Marburg in 1786.
He continued to study and publish findings on nerve regeneration alongside varied topics like tonsillitis and bladder stones.