Appendix C

Planning Committee, Video Participant, and Speaker Biographies

Mark Ashley, Sc.D., CCC-SLP, CCM, CBIST, is renowned for his 40 years of developing clinical therapies that help patients regain vital skills and independence. His published research spans neurological injury to best practices in treatment. Areas of expertise include extensive knowledge of neurorehabilitation diagnostics and treatment design as well as proven skill in facilitating neuroplasticity with intensive therapies, educating the public and practitioners on effective postinjury care, and implementing programs that transition patients from dependency to independence. He has authored five books on traumatic brain injury rehabilitation and has testified before the California legislature, the Texas legislature, and the U.S. Congress advocating for patients and families. He served as board chair and director for the Brain Injury Association of America and Brain Injury Association of California.

Charles Bombardier, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington. He has devoted his career to improving mental and physical health as well as quality of life in people with traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and other disability groups through clinical work and research. His studies have focused on assessing and treating depression, pain, physical inactivity, substance abuse, low participation in rehabilitation therapies, and cognitive impairment in people with disabilities. Many of his treatment trials have been delivered via telehealth and designed to promote positive health behaviors and overall recovery from injury. He has led or co-led more than 20 randomized controlled trials of single and combined treatments,

including antidepressants, cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, physical activity counseling, and hypnosis. He has led multisite studies with large investigator teams. His research has been published in high-quality, high-impact journals such as JAMA, JAMA Psychiatry, the Journal of Neurotrauma, the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation.

John Corrigan, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Ohio State University and director of the Ohio Valley Center for Brain Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation. For more than 40 years he has treated, studied, and advocated for persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Dr. Corrigan is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation. He has been the principal investigator (PI) and co-PI of the Ohio Regional Traumatic Brain Injury Model System since 1997 and chaired the Executive Committee of the TBI Model Systems Project Directors from 2007 to 2017. Dr. Corrigan is the national research director for the Brain Injury Association of America and has previously served other national organizations, including the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), the Injury Control Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Defense Health Board. Since 2013 he has served as the director of the Ohio Brain Injury Program, which is the designated lead agency in the state of Ohio for policy and planning related to living with brain injury. He has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and has received many awards for his service and research in brain injury rehabilitation, including the Brain Injury Association of America’s William Fields Caveness Award, the 2007 Robert L. Moody Prize, the Gold Key Award from the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Brain Injury Association.

Kristen Dams-O’Connor, Ph.D., is director of the Brain Injury Research Center of Mount Sinai, a clinical neuropsychologist, and professor and vice chair in the Departments of Rehabilitation Medicine and Neurology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. She is also director of the New York Traumatic Brain Injury Model System of Care and a founding board member of the New York Neurotrauma Consortium. Her primary fields of clinical and research expertise are in long-term outcomes after brain injury in civilians and veterans, intersections of TBI and neurodegenerative disease, and multimodal data integration to understand clinical and biological signatures of chronic TBI and post-traumatic neurodegeneration. Under her leadership, the Mount Sinai Brain Injury Research Center

develops and tests new treatments for TBI, investigates long-term health and functional TBI outcomes, and studies the mechanism and pathology of post-traumatic neurodegeneration and its relationships with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Her research is currently supported by federal grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and the Department of War. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at Mount Sinai Medical Center and a predoctoral internship in neurorehabilitation at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University Medical Center. She received her Ph.D. from the University at Albany.

Judy Dettmer, B.S.W., has been working in the field of brain injury for over 30 years. Ms. Dettmer is currently the director of technical assistance and special projects at the National Association of State Head Injury Administrators. Ms. Dettmer has worked extensively with adults, children, and family members of individuals with brain injury. She has provided direct and systems consultation to improve the lives of individuals with brain injury. Ms. Dettmer has also assisted with research efforts related to brain injury and has conducted countless presentations, classes, and seminars on brain injury nationally. Ms. Dettmer has provided technical assistance to numerous states including screening on brain injury; developing infrastructure within state systems such as departments of education, criminal justice, and juvenile justice; and developing and managing advisory boards and councils.

Ramon Diaz-Arrastia, M.D., Ph.D., is the John McCrea Dickson, MD, Professor of Neurology and the director of the Clinical TBI Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. His research interests are focused on understanding the molecular, cellular, and tissue-level mechanisms of neuronal injury and neuroregeneration, with the goal of developing neuroprotective and neuroregenerative therapies. Dr. Diaz-Arrastia received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Baylor College of Medicine, and completed postgraduate training at Harvard and Columbia. Prior to coming to Penn, he served on the faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and the National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke. Dr. Diaz-Arrastia has published over 250 primary research papers, as well as over 40 invited reviews and book chapters. He has also served on several national committees related to traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, and dementia, convened by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of War, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Academy of Medicine.

Derek Fales, LSW, is the waiver services director for developmental disabilities and brain injury services at the Maine Brain Injury Program in the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. In his current role, he oversees the day-to-day operations for Home and Community Based Services waiver programs for individuals with intellectual disabilities, other related conditions, and brain injury in partnership with the state Medicaid agency, the Office of MaineCare Services. As the waiver services director he oversees developmental disability and brain injury waiver programs in addition to overseeing Maine’s brain injury services and supports programs. His extensive experience in health and human services has been focused on working toward increasing positive social outcomes for children and families affected by violence, poverty, and substance abuse while ensuring community inclusion and maximizing opportunities for people with disabilities to live and work in their communities to the same degree as a person without disabilities. He is also the president of the board of directors for the National Association of State Head Injury Administrators.

Raquel C. Gardner, M.D., is a U.S. board-certified behavioral neurologist with additional advanced training in clinical research methods and biostatistics. She is associate professor of neurology at Tel Aviv University School of Medicine and director of clinical research at the Sagol Neuroscience Center, Sheba Medical Center, Israel. Dr. Gardner leads an international clinical research program focused on the intersections between traumatic brain injury, aging, and neurodegenerative disease. The goal of the research program is to advance knowledge and clinical care of brain injury in order to lessen the global burden of traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative disease. She is also an investigator with the U.S.-based traumatic brain injury research network TRACK-TBI. Dr. Gardner is a member of the executive committee of the International Initiative for TBI Research (InTBIR). Since October 2023, her research program has expanded to also include war-related TBI with a major focus on blood-based biomarkers to aid in diagnosis and prognosis.

Flora Hammond, M.D., is the Nila Covalt Professor and Chair of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Indiana University School of Medicine. She is a board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician who is an active clinician, researcher, and administrator. Dr. Hammond chairs the Indiana University Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and is an active member of the TBI Model System Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access Special Interest Group. She also serves on the Indiana University School of Medicine Health and Wellness Advisory Council. She is project director of the Indiana Traumatic Brain Injury Model System and chair of the TBI Model Systems Program

Executive Committee. Dr. Hammond also chairs the Tri-Model Systems Chronic Injury Special Interest Group. She has authored more than 220 peer-reviewed publications, most in the area of brain injury and spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Dr. Hammond has received several awards acknowledging her contributions, including the 2001 Association of Academic Physiatrists Young Academician Award, the 2011 Brain Injury Association of America William Caveness Award for national and international research contributions, the 2016 Robert L. Moody Prize for Distinguished Initiatives in Brain Injury Rehabilitation and Research, and the 2017 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Distinguished Member Award. She completed her medical degree at Tulane University School of Medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation residency at Baylor College of Medicine, and brain injury medicine fellowship at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan.

Odette Harris, M.D., M.P.H., is the Paralyzed Veterans of America Professor of Spinal Cord Injury Medicine at Stanford University. She also serves as the director of brain injury for Stanford Medical Center and as the director of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center. In addition to this, Dr. Harris is the deputy chief of staff, rehabilitation, at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. Dr. Harris manages the care of patients suffering from traumatic brain injury by implementing treatment algorithms aimed at improving outcomes. Dr. Harris has won numerous academic, research, and humanitarian awards. Most recently, she was recognized in 2019 by Forbes and Ebony Magazine with the Power 100 List Award as one of 100 most influential African Americans and received the National Medical Fellowships Award for Excellence in Academic Medicine. She was appointed a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network in 2018. In 2022 and 2024, Dr. Harris was recognized by Stanford University as one of Stanford’s 13 women’s history makers. Dr. Harris’ endowed professorship further distinguishes her as the first African American woman in neurosurgery and the first woman in neurosurgery at Stanford to receive this honor. As a Dartmouth volunteer, she has served as an admissions interviewer on the Dartmouth Alumni Council and mentor to undergraduates and alumni pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). She majored in biology at Dartmouth and received her M.D. degree from Stanford University School of Medicine where she also completed residency. She earned a Master of Public Health, Epidemiology, from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jeanne M. Hoffman, Ph.D., is a professor and the head of the Division of Rehabilitation Psychology and Neuropsychology in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington School of

Medicine. She is a board-certified rehabilitation psychologist. She conducts research to improve outcomes for individuals with traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury and examines access to health care for individuals with disability. Her other research interests include adjustment to disability, and new health care models and health services. Dr. Hoffman earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Arizona State University.

Saef Izzy, M.D., FNCS, is an associate professor of neurology, Harvard Medical School, and faculty in the Divisions of Neurocritical Care and Cerebrovascular Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Izzy is a National Institutes of Health-funded clinician scientist with research interests focused on modulating the neuroinflammatory response to promote neurological recovery following stroke and acute brain injury. Dr. Izzy is a medical graduate of the University of Baghdad College of Medicine. He completed his neurology residency at the University of Massachusetts and fellowship in neurocritical care at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. The Izzy Laboratory has targeted the neuroinflammatory response in models of acute neurological diseases, including traumatic brain injury and intracerebral hemorrhage, through the therapeutic manipulation of mucosal immunity. This work has led to the discovery of novel drugs that are currently in the process of translation to neurointensive care unit patients. Dr. Izzy is also working with the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University to investigate the long-term neurological and medical outcomes following head injury. In addition, Dr. Izzy is the lead editor of the book The NeuroICU Board Review, and he has authored over 78 publications in reputable journals, including Nature Neuroscience, Nature Communications, Lancet Neurology, Neuron, Brain, JAMA, and Circulation. Dr. Izzy is the immediate past editor-in-chief of Currents, Neurocritical Care Society e-magazine, and an active member of the board of trustees of the Neurocritical Care Foundation.

Shannon B. Juengst, Ph.D., CRC, FACRM, is a clinical investigator and senior scientist at TIRR Memorial Hermann, a certified rehabilitation counselor, and an adjunct associate professor in the Departments of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the University of Texas (UT) Health Sciences Center at Houston and UT Southwestern Medical Center. Her work focuses on behavioral and emotional outcomes after traumatic brain injury for individuals and their care partners and improving these outcomes through problem-solving interventions, neurobehavioral assessment, and innovative telehealth methods. She has a secondary focus on improving health disparities through accessible and adapted patient-reported outcome measures and behavioral health interventions. Her work has consistently focused on participation as a primary outcome, with a particular eye toward defining and

measuring participation in ways that are meaningful to individuals with TBI. Dr. Juengst has a long track record of research funding, mostly on projects examining long-term outcomes after TBI. Currently, she is (1) principal investigator (PI) of a Department of War funded Patient-Centered Award to develop an electronic version of problem-solving training for adults with TBI, employing a community-based participatory research approach; (2) co-PI for the SELF-TBI project to develop a self-management tool for persons with TBI to manage their chronic health conditions; and (3) co-project director for the TIRR Memorial Hermann/Baylor College of Medicine/UT Health Collaborative Traumatic Brain Injury Model System, wherein she leads both the TIRR site-specific project on self-reported symptom monitoring via mHealth after inpatient rehabilitation discharge and a multisite collaborative project on health perceptions and their effect on long-term outcomes after injury.

Kelly Lang, co-author of The Miracle Child: Traumatic Brain Injury and Me, is a brain injury survivor and caregiver to her daughter who sustained a traumatic brain injury in 2001. Lang is an author, public speaker, communications trainer, and advocate and she believes sharing our stories assists others in their healing journeys. She co-leads the Brain Injury Association of America’s Advisory Council and serves on the Virginia Brain Injury Advisory Council. Her advocacy experience includes working with the National Center on Advancing Person-Centered Practices and Systems’ Brain Injury Learning Collaborative and serving as a member of the Traumatic Brain Injury Leadership Group and the Person-Centered Advisory Group. Lang has been the keynote speaker at state brain injury conferences and conducted workshops and webinars about brain injury and advocacy. Lang has also worked with the Coalition for National Trauma Research as a panelist and participated in its conferences. Lang received the 2024 Mark Ylvisaker Symposium Award and spoke at the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine about her family’s experience with pediatric brain injury. Lang is also a communications trainer with INOVA Health Systems. Lang and her husband created a website to educate others about brain injury.

David Loane, Ph.D., is a neuroimmunologist and associate professor of neuroscience in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and adjunct associate professor at the Shock, Trauma, and Anesthesiology Research (STAR) Center at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Loane conducted his graduate studies in the Department of Pharmacology and MRC Center for Synaptic Plasticity, University of Bristol, England. He then pursued postdoctoral training in central nervous system injury and neuroinflammation at Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland,

and the Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. He was a faculty member in the Department of Anesthesiology and STAR Center, UMSOM, from 2009 to 2018, and he returned to Dublin to establish a preclinical neurotrauma and neuroimmunology research group in Trinity College. Dr. Loane leads a multidisciplinary research team dedicated to studying brain/systemic inflammation and chronic injury mechanisms following TBI.

Helene Moriarty, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, is professor; Diane & Robert Moritz, Jr., Endowed Chair in Nursing Research at the Villanova University M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing; and nurse scientist at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs (CMCVA) Medical Center. She is also a member of the NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health, a research center at University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and a core investigator at the CMCVA Center for Healthcare Evaluation, Research, and Promotion. Dr. Moriarty’s research has led to novel insights and health care approaches for veterans with TBI and their families. This research is one of the first scientific efforts to engage family members as integral partners in the care of veterans with TBI and address the well-being of family caregivers. Her completed National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded randomized controlled trial evaluated the impact of an innovative rehabilitation intervention, the Veterans’ In-home Program (VIP), for veterans with TBI and their families. Building on the VIP, Dr. Moriarty’s current NIH-funded study tests a rehabilitation approach that addresses critical gaps in services and research for civilians and veterans with chronic TBI symptoms and their families. She served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Accelerating Progress in TBI Research and Care from 2020 to 2022 that prepared a report providing a 10-year road map for advancing TBI research and clinical care. Recognized as an international nursing leader and expert in family science, Dr. Moriarty is a tireless champion for families, particularly for those of military veterans. Dr. Moriarty has held leadership roles within the VA health system, serves as a member of the American Academy of Nursing’s Expert Panel on Military and Veterans Health, and since 2022 has served as chair elect, chair, and now cochair of the VA Nursing Research Field Advisory Committee charged with developing and implementing the strategic plan for nursing research for the VA health system.

Risa Nakase-Richardson, Ph.D., FACRM, is the chief of staff for research and development at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital and professor and director of TBI Clinical Research in the Department of Neurosurgery in the Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida. She has worked in neuro-rehabilitation in both clinical and research capacities since

1998. She is a fellow of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and National Academy of Neuropsychology. She has over 180 publications in peer-reviewed journals including three clinical guidelines and position statements endorsed by the American Academy of Neurology, American Congress of Rehabilitation, and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research that represent translation of her work. She has served as guest editor on four special issues on topics of sleep and TBI, disorders of consciousness, rehabilitation outcomes of military TBI, and TBI and implementation science. She is associate editor of Brain Injury Medicine, third edition, and has over 333 presentations at international and national conferences. She has served as PI or investigator on 22 grants funded by various federal agencies and private organizations including Department of Veterans Affairs; Department of War; Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI); National Institutes of Health; National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research; and National Academy of Neuropsychology. She currently serves as the overall PI for the only Department of War Focused Program Award using implementation science and community-based participatory research to improve the quality of health care for persons with TBI-related disability.

Tolu Oyesanya, Ph.D., R.N., is an associate professor with tenure in the School of Nursing at Duke University. Her research program centers on the care of patients with TBI in acute and postacute treatment settings, as well as support of their family caregivers. Her current National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research grant focuses on testing the efficacy of her team’s transitional care program for patients with TBI, discharged home from acute hospital care, and their family caregivers, with an emphasis on improving patient quality of life and decreasing caregiver strain. Dr. Oyesanya earned her B.S.N., M.S.N., and Ph.D. in nursing from University of Wisconsin–Madison. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in brain injury research at Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Her research has been consistently supported by federally funded awards. Dr. Oyesanya is actively involved in several professional organizations, including serving as chair of the Career Development Networking Group of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and as a member of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses and the International Brain Injury Association.

Owen Perlman, M.D., is a physician for the Associates in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, PC. He is a board-certified specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation. He specializes in brain injury rehabilitation, spinal cord rehabilitation, stroke, neurological and multiple trauma rehabilitation, and chronic pain management. He also serves as medical director for postacute

residential and outpatient traumatic brain injury programs including NeuroRestorative Southeast Michigan, Resilire Neuro-Michigan, and Galaxy Brain and Therapy Center. He is also a board member of the Brain Injury Association of America. He has an extensive private practice and cares for brain injury survivors throughout the state who reside with family or are in postacute residential brain injury programs. He was president of the Michigan Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and is a past executive board member of the Washtenaw County Medical Society. He has held offices and board positions with several organizations in Ann Arbor and Metropolitan Detroit. During his prior position, Dr. Perlman was an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Michigan where he served as the director of the Adult Inpatient Rehabilitation Program and collaborated on initiating a Traumatic Brain Injury Evaluation Clinic and a Chronic Pain Management Program. Dr. Perlman completed his residency at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical Center.

Mary Jo Pugh, Ph.D., R.N., developed a research program to examine the long-term sequelae and outcomes of military exposures, which integrated her training as a veteran, nurse, and developmental psychologist. Over the past decade, her work has used Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) data to identify phenotypes in populations with complex comorbidity, including those with TBI, with a focus on TBI as a chronic condition. Dr. Pugh’s current work includes longitudinal observational and prospective studies to identify the emergence of distinct neurodegenerative conditions, such as cognitive impairment and epilepsy, that may have similar/networked biological underpinnings. Her longitudinal population-based observational studies currently link Department of War combat theatre and health system data with VA health system data with primary data collection, including surveys, neuroimaging, neuropsychological testing, and biomarkers. Her emerging analyses using these data sources focus on health impacts for women service members and veterans. These studies using artificial intelligence aim to identify risk factors and investigate the possibility of using personalized medicine to determine optimal treatment pathways for specific phenotypes that inform treatment guidelines for TBI in multimorbidity.

Rebecca Quinn, M.S.W., LCSW, CBIST, serves as an associate director for the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota (UND) School of Medicine & Health Sciences in Grand Forks. Ms. Quinn manages the North Dakota Brain Injury Network and the North Dakota Qualified

Service Provider Hub. Ms. Quinn’s past experience includes working in various settings, primarily in the health care field. She served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Social Work at UND where she taught courses on gerontology and substance abuse. Quinn is a licensed social worker and obtained her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Texas at Arlington in May 2000 and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas A&M in 1997.

Angelle M. Sander, Ph.D., is professor in the H. Ben Taub Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine and director of TIRR Memorial Hermann’s Brain Injury Research Center. She is project director for the TIRR Memorial Hermann/Baylor College of Medicine/UTHealth Collaborative Traumatic Brain Injury Model System. She has been principal investigator or coinvestigator on federally funded studies addressing prediction and treatment of cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial problems in persons with TBI; self-management of TBI-related consequences; health literacy in individuals with TBI; intimacy and sexuality after TBI; impact of TBI on caregivers; and social determinants of health following TBI. She has over 160 peer-reviewed publications, numerous book chapters and published abstracts, and multiple consumer-oriented dissemination products, including fact sheets, educational manuals, webcasts, and videos targeted toward individuals with TBI, their care partners, and rehabilitation professionals.

Andrea Schneider, M.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor of neurology in the Division of Neurocritical Care with a secondary appointment in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. She received her M.D. in 2014 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and she received her Ph.D. in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2012. She completed Neurology Residency and Neurocritical Care Fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2020. She is a neuroepidemiologist who has authored over 145 peer-reviewed publications. Her research program is centered on traumatic brain injury (TBI) epidemiology and the prevention of TBI-related sequelae, with a focus on the prevention of TBI-related neurodegeneration and dementia. Dr. Schneider is the principal investigator of a National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke grant and three Department of War grants. She is the recipient of the 2023 Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award in Clinical Science from the American Neurological Association, the 2023 Rising Star Award from the National Neurotrauma Society, and the 2024 National Institutes of Health Office of Disease Prevention Early-Stage Investigator Award.

Joel Scholten, M.D., is the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA’s) executive director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) providing policy and planning oversight for VA rehabilitation programming, which includes the polytrauma and amputation systems of care. Dr. Scholten assumed the role of PM&R director in September 2015. He maintains an active clinical and research practice at the Washington, D.C., VA Medical Center and serves as the associate chief of staff for Rehab Services. Dr. Scholten received his medical degree at the University of South Dakota and completed his residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine.

Jack Somers, M.S., is a former Marine Corps Captain and a passionate advocate for veterans’ neurological care and improved treatment outcomes. He serves as a Lived Experience Veteran Advisor for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)’s Southwest Region Epilepsy Centers of Excellence (ECoE), which spans 10 states and 12 facilities. The ECoE works to enhance quality of life for veterans with epilepsy and seizure disorders, ensuring their voices are represented in program development and research partnerships. Through these collaborative efforts, the focus remains on centering veteran needs in health care innovation. As a lived experience advisor with CURE Epilepsy and an advisory member of both the National Plan for Epilepsy and the Conferences of Epilepsies, Mr. Somers also contributes to advancing research in epilepsy and TBI. His advisory work engages with emerging fields such as biomarker discovery, diagnostics, and AI applications, leveraging his firsthand experience to help guide studies and support military and veteran communities. His efforts are dedicated to improving treatment outcomes and bridging the gap between scientific discovery and the lived experience of those most impacted.

Eric Spier, M.D., serves as the Brain Injury Program medical director at Craig Hospital. Dr. Spier earned his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School in Houston and completed his residency at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven and the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He joined the medical staff at Craig Hospital in 2016 after building and serving as the medical director for Mentis El Paso, a 24-bed postacute neurorehabilitation program that served West Texas, New Mexico, and surrounding areas. Dr. Spier serves as the medical director for the Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado.

Carole Starr is a 20-year brain injury survivor and co-chair of the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) Brain Injury Advisory Council, a survivor group within the Brain Injury Association of America. She is a

national keynote speaker, support group leader, author of To Root & To Rise: Accepting Brain Injury, and co-creator of Get on Board, a training program for brain injury survivors. Starr has been active in her local, state, and national brain injury communities. In her home state of Maine, she facilitates the WINGS Brain Injury Support Group and is a member of the Brain Injury Association of America-Maine Chapter Advisory Board. For 11 years, she led Brain Injury Voices, the survivor education, advocacy, and mentoring volunteer group that she and her mentor Bev Bryant founded. Nationally, Starr is also a member the TBI Advisory and Leadership Group survivor group within the Administration for Community Living’s TBI Technical Assistance and Resource Center and previously served as a faculty member for the Person-Centered Brain Injury Learning Collaborative.

Stacy Suskauer, M.D., is the vice president of rehabilitation at Kennedy Krieger Institute, director for the Division of Pediatric Rehabilitation in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins Medicine, and a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Suskauer is also a research scientist and codirector of the Center for Brain Injury Recovery at Kennedy Krieger Institute. Dr. Suskauer’s primary research focus is understanding and optimizing outcomes after childhood brain injury, spanning concussion to disorders of consciousness. Dr. Suskauer attended Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, for her undergraduate and medical education. She completed a combined residency program in pediatrics and physical medicine and rehabilitation at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati. She came to Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins for a pediatric rehabilitation research fellowship and subsequently joined the faculty of these institutions in 2007. Dr. Suskauer is board-certified in pediatrics and physical medicine and rehabilitation. She holds subspecialty certification in pediatric rehabilitation medicine.

Kelli Gary Talley, Ph.D., M.P.H., OTR/L, CBIS, is an assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling (RC) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia. After sustaining a severe TBI 35 years ago, she obtained a Bachelor of Science in occupational therapy (OT) from Chicago State University in Chicago, Illinois, a Master of Science and Master of Public Health from Columbia University in New York City, and a Ph.D. from VCU. She has 30 years of clinical practice, 20 years of research, and 14 years of teaching experience in OT, RC, and health services. Dr. Talley has authored/co-authored 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and five book chapters primarily focused on racial and ethnic

minorities and caregivers with TBI and other disabilities. She has secured over $500,000 in grant funding as a principal or co-principal investigator for TBI and community-based research. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA). She is the former president of the board of directors for the Brain Injury Association of Virginia and a former member of a national committee for veterans with special disabilities that reports directly to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. She has presented at numerous conferences around the nation and internationally on her research and her experience of living with a TBI and becoming successful, productive, and happy after injury.

Amy K. Wagner, M.D., is a tenured professor, vice-chair of faculty development, and UPMC Endowed Chair for Translational Research in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh. She holds appointments in the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Department of Neuroscience, and Clinical and Translational Science Institute. She is associate director for rehabilitation research at the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research. Dr. Wagner has defined her work with rehabilitation-centered biomarkers research as Rehabilomics Research. Dr. Wagner’s clinical research (dopamine systems, hormones, inflammation, neurotrophins) explores genetics and serum-based biomarkers to support personalized treatment selection, clinical decision making, and prognostication after TBI. Her experimental research incorporates immunotherapies, neuropharmacological agents, and rehabilitation-relevant cognitive training paradigms to understand their effects on functional recovery. She was the 2018–2019 National Neurotrauma Society president and the Neurotrauma 2019 Conference chair. She is a 2020 inductee into the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Wagner has published over 130 original research and 70 invited articles and chapters and is the editor-in-chief of the textbook Acute Care Neuroconsultation and Neurorehabilitation Management. Her extensive transdisciplinary and translational research portfolio of federally funded research (including National Institutes of Health; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research; and the Department of War) has garnered, to date, approximately $36 million for her TBI and cardiac arrest research. She is also an active member of the Neurocritical Care Society–sponsored Curing Coma Campaign, an international research and advocacy effort to improve long-term recovery for individuals with disorders of consciousness. Dr. Wagner mentors numerous research trainees and directs the Brain Injury Medicine Clinical Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Clinically, she treats patients undergoing inpatient neurorehabilitation and is an

acute care brain injury medicine consultant for neurologically devastated patients hospitalized at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Tamara L. Wexler, M.D., Ph.D., is a neuroendocrinologist, internationally known for her work on post-TBI pituitary hormone deficiencies. She is a clinical professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University (NYU) Grossman School of Medicine; an adjunct professor of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania; and a senior advisor to McKinsey & Company. She received her M.D. and her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania and completed her internal medicine residency and endocrinology fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She was the founding director of the NYU Langone Medical Center Pituitary Center and has served as an attending physician in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Wexler recently completed a term on the Endocrine Society Clinical Guidelines Committee, and now serves on the Endocrine Society Innovation Development Fund Advisory Board and on the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Leadership Council. She is a speaker and moderator at academic medical centers and international conferences on neuroendocrine sequelae of brain injury. Her publications appear in the Journal of Neurotrauma and the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, among others.

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