VCU Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

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Mentors

Without exaggeration, we can say that the faculty members involved in our training program have published more than 500 articles in peer-reviewed journals and published numerous books during the past 10 years. Our high productivity levels reflect the outstanding quality of the faculty, the resources of the university system and the excitement of working within a well-established interdisciplinary research community. There is little doubt that the enthusiasm and productivity of our faculty will be shared by our fellows.

Jeffrey S. Kreutzer, Ph.D., A.B.P.P. (ARRT program director) is a tenured professor with more than two decades of postdoctoral experience. He has VCU faculty appointments in the VCU departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry. Kreutzer has extensive research, clinical, teaching and grant administration experience, much of it relating to service delivery systems and outcome measurement. His research has focused on aspects of brain injury including families, return to work, psychological reactions to disability, neurobehavioral outcome, and costs and benefits of rehabilitation services. Kreutzer was a founding member of the Virginia Head Injury Foundation (1982) and in 1994 received the Sheldon Berol Clinical Service Award from the national Brain Injury Association. In recent years he received two lifetime achievement awards for research accomplishments, one from the Robert Moody Foundation and the University of Texas, another from American Psychological Association’s Division of Rehabilitation Psychology. Kreutzer has helped to develop and validate a wide range of measures relating to family needs, neurobehavioral functioning, quality of life, vocational outcome and obstacles to receiving rehabilitation services. Kreutzer has directed the university’s NIDRR Traumatic Brain Injury Model System program since 1987. He has served as project director for three consecutively awarded NIDRR research and training grants (first awarded in 1987). VCU was the site of an RRTC in severe brain injury (1987-1993). Kreutzer served in two roles at different times, research director and principal investigator. As co-director of a project funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he recently worked to develop a series of statewide surveys relating to consumers’ and caregivers’ needs, rehabilitation services, and service quality. With more than 125 peer reviewed journal publications, 12 books and more than 350 conference presentations, his strong commitment to rehabilitation research is evident.

Juan Carlos Arango, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabiliation. Arango has an extensive background in the area of assessment and diagnosis of individuals with neurological disorders. He obtained his doctoral degree in clinical psychology with a concentration ii neuropsychology from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain in 2002. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Laboratory at the Kessler Medical and Rehabilitation Research Center funded by the National Institutes of Health T32 Training Grant. He has authored over 40 peer-reviewed scientific and review articles in both English and Spanish in the areas of neuropsychology, traumatic brain injury, health disparities, and rehabilitation. He has also written 15 chapters and has edited two Spanish-language textbooks on dementia and neuropsychological rehabilitation. He was a guest editor of the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation and is a guest editor for a special issue on cultural issues of the journal NeuroRehabilitation. Arango is well-known in his areas of expertise, both in the US and abroad. He is the cultural competency coordinator for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research’s (NIDRR) Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems and co-director for the NIDRR-funded Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Program. Arango travels frequently to lecture at conferences and in seminars across the nation, in Latin America, and in Europe. He and his work have been recognized nationally and internationally. He received the American Psychological Association Presidential Latino Leadership Early Career Award in 2005 and the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey Founder’s Award and the Colombian Psychological Society Excellence in Research Award in 2006, among others.

William C. Broaddus, M.D., Ph.D., is associate professor in the VCU Department of Neurosurgery, with joint appointments in the departments of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Radiation Oncology, and Physiology. He received his medical degree and doctorate in pharmacology from the Case Western Reserve University Medical Scientist Training Program, and trained in neurological surgery at the University of Virginia. He is nationally recognized for his expertise in neuro-oncology and molecular therapeutics of brain tumors. Broaddus has an active neurosurgical practice and serves as director of the VCU Neuro-oncology Program of the Massey Cancer Center and the Harold F. Young Neurosurgical Center. He is a co-founder of the VCU Neuro-oncology Multispecialty Clinic, and has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous basic science research grants and clinical trials. The latter includes studies on quality of life in patients with brain tumors, and a current clinical study on assessment for depression in patients with brain tumor. He has extensive knowledge of outcome studies related to brain tumors and brain injury. At the national level, Broaddus serves on the executive committees of the Society for Neuro-oncology and of the Joint Section on Tumors of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. Broaddus has written and co-authored more than 50 articles in major medical journals including The Journal of Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery, Clinical Cancer Research, Brain Injury, and IEEE Transactions in Biomedical Engineering. In addition, Broaddus contributed more than 10 reviews and book chapters, and is a co-inventor on more than 15 patents and disclosures.

M. Ross Bullock, M.D., Ph.D., is the Reynolds Professor of Neurosurgery and director of the Neurointensive Care Unit at the VCU Medical Center. He holds joint appointments in the departments of Anatomy, Anesthesiology, Physiology, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He received a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Birmingham in England and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Natal in South Africa. Bullock is the vice chairman of the Brain Trauma Foundation. He served as vice president (1994) and president (1998-99) of the Neurotrauma Society, chairman of the Head Injury Committee of the AANS Joint Section on Neurotrauma and Critical Care (1997-98), and chairman of the AANS Joint Section on Neurotrauma and Critical Care (1999-2001). Bullock is a nationally and internationally recognized researcher and has published more than 220 peer-reviewed manuscripts, books and chapters in the areas of neurological illness and injury, neurotrauma, neuroprotection and neurosurgery. He serves on the Editorial Board for 14 medical journals, including Neurosurgery and Journal of Neurotrauma (deputy editor). Bullock currently serves as principal investigator for a NIH/NICDS-funded grant on mitochondria-related events in TBI, a NIH/NICHD-funded Cooperative Multicenter TBI Clinical Trials Network Site, and a grant investigating the role of endogenous neural stem cells in regeneration and repair after TBI funded by the VCU Neurotrauma Initiative. He also serves as principal investigator for subprojects of two grants, an FDA-funded intraventricular hemorrhage thrombolysis trial and a NIH-funded project on balloon prophylaxis of aneurysmal vasospasm.

David Cifu, M.D., is professor and chairman of the VCU Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He also is chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation services for the VCU Medical Center and a member of the executive committee of the Board of Governors in the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He received his Doctor of Medicine from Boston University and physical medicine and rehabilitation residency training from Baylor College of Medicine (Houston). He is nationally recognized for his expertise in neurorehabilitation and geriatric rehabilitation. Cifu’s expertise is evident upon examining his 13 years of experience as an academic physiatrist. He has served as a co-principal investigator or consultant on 10 research grants, including the ongoing NIDRR TBI Model Systems program and the NICHD/NIH TBI Network Sites project. He has previously served as a mentor on the VCU TBI Research and Training Center grant. Cifu has authored or co-authored more than 150 articles and abstracts in the medical literature. He has presented more than 300 lectures across the U.S. on numerous topics in the field of rehabilitation medicine, with specific emphasis on geriatric rehabilitation, brain injury, stroke and SCI rehabilitation.

Karen Cropsey, Psy.D., is an assistant professor in the VCU Division of Addiction Psychiatry. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology at Indiana State University. Cropsey completed a fellowship in forensic psychology at the University of Mississippi and worked as the mental health director for the University of Mississippi Division of Correctional Medicine. She received additional fellowship training in substance abuse at VCU prior to joining the Department of Psychiatry as faculty. Her research interests include investigating substance abuse and health behaviors in underserved populations such as prisoners. She received a K23 Mentored Patient-oriented Research Career Development award in 2002 to conduct smoking cessation research with incarcerated women. Other areas of research include examining Hepatitis C prevention among patients maintained on methadone; investigating the efficacy of using the nicotine patch combined with motivational interviewing for smoking cessation with HIV-infected patients; and understanding OxyContin use, abuse and diversion among prisoners and patients with chronic pain and substance abuse issues.

Robert J. Hamm, Ph.D., is a professor in the VCU Department of Psychology and is director of the graduate program in biopsychology. He received his doctorate in physiological psychology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1974. Hamm has an established record in TBI research. He played a leading role in the development of the dominate fluid percussion model of experimental brain injury. Hamm has extensive expertise in the assessment of animal cognitive function and is a recognized authority on the functional evaluation of outcome in preclinical research. During the past 15 years, he has played a prominent role in VCU’s project grants that have contributed to the increased understanding of the mechanisms that mediate the mortality and morbidity associated with TBI. He has more than 70 peer-reviewed publications. Hamm has served as a mentor for 21 graduate students who have completed their doctoral degrees.

Randall E. Merchant, Ph.D., is a professor in the VCU Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology and holds a co-appointment in the Department of Neurosurgery. He earned his doctorate in anatomy from the University of North Dakota in 1978 and received two years of post-doctoral training at the University of Zurich. He joined the VCU faculty in 1982. Merchant is nationally and internationally recognized for his laboratory and clinical expertise in neuro-oncology and neuro-immunology. Over the 20 years, Merchant has been directly involved in more than 30 clinical trials at VCU — most of which involve the testing of new treatments for TBI, brain tumors and stroke. He also has served as a consultant for major medical research projects at other universities and hospitals as well as several pharmaceutical companies. Merchant has written more than 80 articles in major medical journals, including The Journal of Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery, The Journal of Neurotrauma, The Journal of Neuro-Oncology, and Cancer Research. In addition, for the past 10 years, he has served on the editorial boards of both The Journal of Neuro-Immunology and The Journal of Neuro-Oncology. In his laboratory, he has been the senior adviser for and trained 18 master’s, nine Ph.D. and 10 postdoctoral students.

Janet Niemeier, Ph.D., ABPP,is an associate professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and has a joint appointment in the Department of Psychiatry. She serves as the director of Brain Injury Psychology on the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit at the VCU Medical Center. Niemeier received her doctorate in clinical and counseling psychology at VCU and has 22 years of research experience. She is the Principal Investigator for the Virginia Clubhouse Vocational Transitions Program, funded by the Commonwealth Neurotrauma Inititative Fund. She is also PI of an R01 awarded by NIH (NICHHD) to conduct a randiomized, controlled trial of her manualized acute neurobehavioral and cogntivie intervention for persons recovering from traumatic brain injury. Niemeier has provided assistance and leadership roles for TBI Model Systems projects as well. Her primary research expertise is in development and testing of effective therapy and treatment interventions, most recently for patients with brain injury-related cognitive and behavioral deficits. She also has initiated research related to understanding grief following functional losses after injury and culturally competent clinical practice issues. Niemeier is author of numerous articles in major, peer-reviewed journals, including Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Psychology, Brain Injury, Disability and Rehabilitation, and Topics in Stroke Outcome. Niemeier also has been primary author of several published books outlining the curriculum and methodology of the TBI Model Systems Cognitive Project for which she is project director.

Paul Wehman, Ph.D., is professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, with joint appointments in the departments of Teaching and Learning, and Rehabilitation Counseling. He pioneered the development of supported employment at VCU in the early 1980s and has been heavily involved in the use of supported employment with people who have severe disabilities, such as those with severe mental retardation, brain injury, SCI or autism. Wehman also is director of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Workplace Supports and chairman of the Division of Rehabilitation Research. Wehman has written extensively on issues related to transition from school to adulthood and special education as it relates for young adulthood. He has published more than 150 articles and 24 book chapters, and authored or edited 33 books. He is a recipient of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation International Awards in Mental Retardation, was a Mary Switzer Fellow for the National Rehabilitation Association in 1985, and has received the Distinguished Service Award from the President’s Committee on Employment for Persons with Disabilities in October 1992. Wehman was recognized as one of the 50 most influential special educators of the millennium by a national survey coordinated by the Remedial and Special Education journal (December 2000), and received the VCU Distinguished Service Award (September 2001). He testified on behalf of the President’s Committee on Excellence in Special Education (April 30, 2002). He also is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation. He has been the Principal Investigator of more than $24 million worth of federal grants since joining the VCU faculty.