Kessler Foundation Podcasts

Keeping “On the Move”: Adventures in Real Life Moderator: Trevor Dyson-Hudson, MD Panel Members: Scott Chesney, Charles Fleisher, Ronald Moore, Maggie Redden, Paul Ward Hear the stories and real-world advice of people with SCI or other physical disabilities who are active in their communities.

Welcome to a Kessler Foundation Spinal Cord Injury Grand Rounds podcast featuring Lawrence Harding, a Physical Therapist, Director of Fitness at Axis Project, NYC, and President of Spinal Mobility. He will be presenting “An Introduction to Spinal Mobility (Level I and II/III)” Summary: Spinal Mobility is a new manual neuromuscular re-education intervention that gives therapists an additional tool to help teach patients with trunk weakness how to integrate trunk mobility and control exercises into their treatment routines. It gives clinicians manual skills that enable their patients to improve their sitting balance and trunk control for improved ADLs. For more information, visit: www.spinalmobilitynyc.com This presentation was recorded and produced by Joan Banks-Smith on Wednesday, September 28th, 2016 and was hosted by the Northern New Jersey Spinal Cord Injury System, which is supported by a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90SI5011-01-00).  NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Options for Travelers with Special Needs Linda C. Cutrupi, CMP, ARC, IATA, IATAN, CLIA Owner, Mainly Special Needs Travel, LLC, Author of “A Handbook For Special Needs Travelers,” Special Needs Travel Specialist, Certified Accessible Travel Advocate, & Instructor, Bergen Community College Learn about the many ways you can explore the world and get advice to help you prepare for a successful trip. Bio ====== www.mainlyspecialneedstravel.com Linda Carole Cutrupi was born in Bergen County, New Jersey and continues to reside there. During her career she was National Conference Manager for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America, Inc. In 1988 she formed her own meeting planning company for the purpose of doing medical meeting planning and travel. While planning national and international events, she gained much of her travel experience, especially where special needs travel was concerned. In 2002 she formed Mainly Special Needs Travel. She is currently a Certified Accessible Travel Advocate, instructor at Bergen Community College and a long-time member of the Society for Accessible Travel & Hospitality. The inspiration for all this came from her mother, Peggy who bravely endured strokes in 1996—and had no intention of staying home. Linda now uses her expertise to help others.

Tips and Tricks for Successful Air Travel presented by Mary Shea, OTR/L, ATP and Trevor Dyson-Hudson, MD Get practical advice to help you (and your assistive technology) travel safely and smoothly by air.

CarolAnn Murphy, PA, Communications Manager at Kessler Foundation interviews Maggie Redden at the 2016 SCI Consumer Conference Panelist. Maggie Redden Bio ========================== Maggie Redden http://www.teamusa.org/para-track-and-field/athletes/Maggie-Redden Maggie Redden has worn many hats in her life including being a Paralympian (Beijing 2008), harpist who performed at Carnegie Hall, Penn State graduate, and Ms. Wheelchair New Jersey 2013. None of that would have been possible had it not been for a stroke of luck. She was adopted from India at age two, after having contracted Polio as an infant. After spending 2012 abroad, living and working at a home for orphan girls (some with severe disabilities) in Kolkata, India, Ms. Redden realized what life could have been like for her. She decided to pursue a Masters of Public Administration degree, which she completed in 2015, so she could better effect change and help others live life to their fullest potential. Ms. Redden currently works for Social Security in their Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) and serves as a board member for Tri-State Wheelchair & Ambulatory Athletics. Ms. Redden says, “I have never let my disability define me and owe a lot of my uniqueness to it.”

Session 1 – Finding and Funding the Latest Wheelchair Technology Mary Shea, OTR/L, ATP Clinic Manager, Wheelchair Services, Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation Learn about new wheelchair and seating technologies that can enhance your mobility as well as creative ways of finding funding for new technology. Bio ================== Mary Shea, OTR/L, ATP Clinic Manager, Wheelchair Services, Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation www.kessler-rehab.com Mary Shea, MA, OTR, ATP is an occupational therapist who has been working with clients with neurological injuries for the past 24 years. She is the clinical manager of wheelchair services at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation. Ms. Shea is an adjunct professor in the occupational therapy departments at NYU and Mercy College and is a guest lecturer for assistive technology and spinal cord injury in the occupational therapy departments at Long Island University and SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Ms. Shea maintains a small private practice, has authored textbook chapters and articles, and has presented wheelchair-related workshops in nationally and internationally.

If you have a brain or spinal cord injury, stroke or Multiple Sclerosis, access to world-class research is right in West Orange. Kessler Foundation researchers carry out studies on the latest treatments for these conditions. We are looking for research volunteers with brain or spinal cord injury, stroke or MS. We also need healthy persons to serve as controls in our studies. There is no cost to join our studies, and you may be compensated. For information call Kessler Foundation at 844-KFSTUDY or 844-537-8839.

Welcome to “On the Move”, the 2016 Consumer Conference for People with Spinal Cord Injury. I’m Dana Hawkins-Simons, communications strategist at Kessler Foundation, and our director of multimedia, Jody Banks-Smith, is recording today’s podcasts. Delivering the Welcome & Introductory Remarks to the conference is Jeanne M. Zanca, PhD, MPT, the event organizer. Jeanne is a Senior Research Scientist in Spinal Cord Injury Research at Kessler Foundation. Joining her is Trevor A. Dyson-Hudson, M.D., Director of Spinal Cord Injury Research and Outcomes & Assessment Research at Kessler Foundation, a Co-Director of the Northern New Jersey Spinal Cord Injury System (NNJ SCIS), and an Associate Professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. And we’ll also hear from Scott Chesney, a world traveler, professional life coach, and the President of Scott Chesney, LLC. This presentation was recorded on Friday, September 23rd, 2016, and was hosted by the NNJ SCIS, a collaborative effort of Kessler Foundation, Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, and University Hospital. NNJ SCIS is supported by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) under grant number 90SI5011. NIDLIRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living, in the Department of Health and Human Services. The ideas expressed during this conference do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, HHS, or the Federal Government.

Since 2005, Kessler Foundation has hosted NJIT (New Jersey Institute of Technology) day. On June 21, 2016, fifty seventh and eighth grade young men and women from the NJIT engineering camp received hands on demonstrations in our various research labs. We had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Karen Nolan, Sr. Research Scientist at the Foundation about this ongoing program and Kaitlyn Gross, a former camper and now teachers assistant about the impact this program has made in her life.

In June 2016, Jack Fanous of VetsNow Radio stopped by Kessler Foundation and talked with foundation staff members Glenn Wylie, DPhil, Associate Director of Neuroscience and Justin Stanley, Research Recruitment Specialist about our ongoing Gulf War Illness Research. Listen in on the various topics discussed for the radio show. Subject Recruitment and how it relates to the foundation's research (0:00 - 9:30) Justin Stanley explains how the research we do is directly translated to helping people receive better quality of care. Understanding Gulf War Illness (9:30-13:27) Here Dr. Wylie talks about GWI in a general sense.   Tackling the Problem- Kessler’s Research Approach (13:27-17:04) Dr. Wylie gets more into the issue of fatigue and discusses his research methodology.   Implications for Veterans’ Health Issues (17:04-20:22) Dr. Wylie talks about how data-driven research can help with advocacy. Jack expands on these issues in terms of overall veterans’ health issues.   How and Why Veterans Should Get Involved (20:22-25:03) Dr. Wylie discusses why we need veterans with and without GWI and what’s involved. ======================================================== Kessler Foundation is currently recruiting Gulf War veterans for a study, "Examination of Cognitive Fatigue in Gulf War Illness Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging".   It is estimated that 25% of all Gulf War veterans have Gulf War Illness (GWI), with fatigue being a primary symptom. The importance of gaining a better understanding of fatigue is illustrated by the fact that a primary complaint of those reporting chronic fatigue is that their fatigue is worsened by the physical and cognitive demands of daily life resulting in a significant number of military personnel that are no longer able to perform their duties. It is precisely this fatigue that is exacerbated by mental and physical demands of the day— cognitive fatigue— that has remained understudied, and that is the focus of our study.   The objective of this study is to establish the network of brain areas underlying cognitive fatigue in persons with GWI. This will be done by looking at cognitive fatigue as a trait of GWI, and by looking at cognitive fatigue as a state that individuals with GWI are more prone to than healthy veteran controls.   For more information, visit our website (https://kesslerfoundation.org/content/volunteers-needed-gulf-war-illness-study) or Samantha Schmidt at Kessler Foundation, 973-243-6812, or researchstudies@KesslerFoundation.org. ========================================================

More than seven million people in the United States have survived a stroke. Stroke is a leading cause of serious long-term disability. How can research help? On Thursday, June 16, 2016, Kessler Foundation held an evening of discovery and discussion with our rehabilitation researchers. Steve Adubato, PhD, our panel moderator along with distinguished research and clinical staff, A.M. Barrett, MD, Karen J. Nolan, PhD, Mooyeon Oh-Park, MD, and Yekyung Kong, MD demonstrated their latest findings and discussed innovative efforts propelling new discoveries with the latest technologies to help stroke survivors of all ages regain independence and return to their homes, their communities, and the workplace. Be sure and check out the online video "The Brain Damage You Don’t Know You Have” with Drs. Sanjay Gupta and A.M. Barrett at http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/brain-damage-you-dont-know-you-have/ For more information about stroke research, go to https://www.kesslerfoundation.org/researchcenter/stroke/index.php Our distinguished research and clinical staff: A.M. Barrett, MD, a cognitive neurologist and clinical researcher, is director of Stroke Rehabilitation Research at Kessler Foundation. She is also chief of Neurorehabilitation Program Innovation and co-leader of the Stroke Rehabilitation Program at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation. Dr. Barrett focuses on brain-behavior relationships from the perspective of cognitive neurology, cognitive neuroscience, and neurorehabilitation. Her research centers on post-stroke cognitive dysfunction, with an emphasis on hidden disabilities of functional vision—spatial bias and spatial neglect—that hinder recovery. Dr. Barrett is a founder of the Network for Spatial Neglect, an international organization dedicated to awareness, diagnosis, and treatment of this often overlooked complication of stroke. Karen J. Nolan, PhD, an expert in biomechanics and motor rehabilitation, is senior research scientist in Human Performance and Engineering Research at Kessler Foundation, clinical research scientist at Children’s Specialized Hospital, and affiliated faculty at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Her research centers on improving outcomes in adults and children with disorders that affect balance, gait, and peripheral motor control. Dr. Nolan investigates the use of robotic exoskeletons in individuals recovering from stroke and traumatic brain injury, as well as the efficacy of a virtual reality intervention for balance deficits caused by brain injury in military, veteran, and civilian populations. Mooyeon Oh-Park, MD, a physiatrist and clinical researcher, is director of Geriatric Rehabilitation at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation and research scientist in Stroke Rehabilitation Research at Kessler Foundation. Dr. Oh-Park’s comprehensive approach to post-stroke rehabilitation addresses cognitive and physical deficits, as well as the impact on caregivers. She applies her expertise in electrophysiology, neuromuscular imaging, and mobility assessment to develop new ways to facilitate recovery after stroke. Dr. Oh-Park studies how under-recognized conditions such as delirium affect recovery, and how advances like telemedicine and exoskeleton-based interventions can be applied to stroke research. Yekyung Kong, MD, a physiatrist and acupuncturist, is director of Outpatient Stroke Services at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation. Dr. Kong specializes in the treatment and rehabilitation of stroke patients, as well as the treatment of individuals with neurological disorders, gait dysfunction, spinal cord injury, and Guillain-Barré syndrome. She has expertise in pain management, spasticity management, the therapeutic use of orthoses (braces), and acupuncture. Dr. Kong has written numerous articles, publications, and abstracts and has appeared on several news broadcasts as an expert in the field of stroke rehabilitation.

2016 Employer Recognition Breakfast Alice Hunnicutt, Director, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, DVRS, give Opening Remarks at the Employer Recognition Breakfast Hosted by The Essex County & Newark Workforce Development Boards’ Disability Issues Committee.

2016 Employer Recognition Breakfast Elaine Katz, Senior VP of Grants and Communications at Kessler Foundation, Keynote speaker at the Employer Recognition Breakfast Hosted by The Essex County & Newark Workforce Development Boards’ Disability Issues Committee

INSIDE Kessler Foundation, a new podcast series that we are excited to share with you! Your hosts, Joan banks-Smith and CarolAnn Murphy, PA will be showcasing CUTTING-EDGE rehabilitation research in stroke, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injury and innovative programs that promote employment for people with disabilities. Our first episode highlights are: 3D Printing and Rehabilitation Research - An interview with Ghaith Androwis A Round Table Discussion - Increasing Employment After Spinal Cord Injury, Drs. JohnO'Neil, Trevor Dyson-Hudson, and James Malec Are you a rehabilitation research hero? – the importance of contributing to multiple sclerosis research - Interview with Justin Stanley 2016 First Quarter Awarded Research Grants Be sure and check out our podcasting website at http://www.kesslerfoundation.org/insidepodcast where you can find additional photos, videos, and supporting media.

Cherylynn Marion presents at the 2016 Fellow Symposium "Parent-Child Agreement of Neurobehavioral Functioning Following Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury"