| | FACULTY |  | James Krause, PhD, holds the rank of Professor and serves as the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Health Professions at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). He serves as Director of the Center for Rehabilitation Research in Neurologic Conditions and Scientific Director of the South Carolina Spinal Cord Injury Research Fund which provides funding for basic, applied, and interdisciplinary studies of spinal cord injury (SCI). Dr. Krause also serves as Director on two federally funded centers including the Center on Health Outcomes Research and Capacity Building for Underserved Populations with SCI and TBI and the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Secondary Conditions in Individuals with SCI. He has served as principal investigator on 12 additional federal research grants of long-term outcomes and SCI. These include a 35-year longitudinal study of SCI, two longitudinal studies of vocational interests, two studies of secondary conditions, and four studies of mortality. He was also principal investigator of two projects within the SCI Model Systems and currently serves as a consultant on the Georgia SCI Model Systems Center. Dr. Krause has served as first author on over 125 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has made over 150 presentations at national and international professional conferences. He has published extensively on SCI including the areas of employment, vocational interests, quality of life, health and secondary conditions, and risk for early mortality. A substantial portion of his research work has also focused on disparities in health behaviors, employment, and health outcomes among Caucasian, African-American, Latino, and Native American participants with SCI. Curriculum Vitae |
|  | Lee Saunders, PhD, is an epidemiologist who holds the rank of Research Assistant Professor in the College of Health Professions at MUSC. Dr. Saunders is currently the Co-Director of an RRTC on Secondary Conditions in Individuals with SCI and is a Co-Investigator on the Center on Health Outcomes Research and Capacity Building for Underserved Populations with SCI and TBI. Her research experience has focused in the areas of traumatic spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, including participation in a collaborative study which interfaced data from the Model Systems with data from a population-based study of traumatic injury. This study not only compared the Model Systems data with the population-based data to assess for differences in the study population characteristics, but also assessed employment outcomes one year after injury using the integrated data. In additon, Dr. Saunders has participated in research including a longitudinal study of outcomes after traumatic brain injury, as well as surveillance research on both traumatic spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury. The interest in traumatic spinal cord injury surveillance also extended into a study of trends of acute spinal cord injury mortality. She was recently awarded the Developing Scholar of the Year Award through the College of Health Professions. Dr. Saunders has authored or co-authored 25 publications and 24 presentations. Curriculum Vitae |
|  | Yue Cao, PhD, MSPH, holds the rank of Research Associate in the College of Health Professions at the Medical University of South Carolina. He earned a joint degree in medical sociology and epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He worked at the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center Center for three years and led four research projects before moving to Charleston. In the past four years, he has authored or co-authored 10 publications and 12 presentations. Dr. Cao's research interests focus on health disparities, psychosocial perspectives of rehabilitation among people with traumatic spinal cord injury, migration and health study, and life course study. Curriculum Vitae |
| | TEAM |  | Joshua Acuna, MPH, is currently a Program Coordinator II for the Medical University of South Carolina. He holds a Master’s of Public Health in Epidemiology from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. He also has a Bachelor’s of Art in Biology from Wake Forest University. Joshua worked at Wake Forest School of Medicine for two years and was involved in twelve projects at the time. In the past four years, he has focused on psychosocial factors associated with chronic diseases, occupational health, infectious diseases, environmental health, aging, and cognitive disorder. He has skills in data management, survey design, and data analysis. His interests are underserved populations and minority health. He moved to Charleston, SC to focus on psychosocial outcomes following spinal cord injury. |
|  | Richard Aust, Project Coordinator, currently holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from York University (Toronto, Ontario). He has worked with Dr. Krause for over three years as a Project Coordinator for three federally funded grants. He has more than 20 years of experience in management, advocacy and the provision of community based services to people with disabilities. His previous work includes eight years of developing and implementing a community re-integration program for people with brain and/or spinal cord injuries. The program incorporates life skills training sessions, social/recreational opportunities, and employment services. Mr. Aust has extensive experience in all aspects of program management including program planning, policies/procedures, independent living training sessions, facilitation of peer and community support group meetings, crisis intervention, dissemination of program information, development of volunteer network and resource building programs. He has been responsible for maintaining the master database, data collection, preparation of presentations for consumer focus groups, and dissemination of publications through creation of web sites and blogs. |
|  | Bernard Broughton II, Administrative Assistant I, holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Public Health from Benedict College. He is currently working toward obtaining his Master of Health Services Administration degree from Strayer University. Bernard worked at South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control for two years doing powerpoint presentations to endorse healthy lifestyles and personal choices of students at multiple universities. He also collected and reviewed data in order to implement programs for many communities. Bernard has worked with community health educators, disease intervention specialist, rural health program specialist and numerous healthcare professions. In the past three years, Bernard has focused on environmental emergencies and examined facilities for compliance with appropriate DHEC regulations. Currently, Bernard is working with Dr. Krause obtaining data for research purposes. |
|  | Jennifer Coker, MPH, Project Coordinator for the SCI Research Team, obtained a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the Rollins Scholl of Public Health at Emory University in May 2001. She has worked with Dr. Krause for over a decade and is highly experienced in management of research projects. While working at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, GA, Ms. Coker was the Project Coordinator for several federally funded studies with Dr. Krause as the PI, incluing the GA Regional Spinal Cord Injury Model System. Later, Ms. Coker was Project Coordinator for the Georgia Area Model Brain Injury System. Since arriving at the Medical University of South Carolina, Ms. coker has been Project Coordinator for seven federally funded grants, assisted in writing five funded grant applications, and as the team liasion with the Institutional Review Board, maintains all regulatory documentation. In addition to her extensive experience in project management, protection of human subjects, and grant writing, Ms. Coker has presented research at national conferences of the American Spinal Injury Association, American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Psychologists and Social Workers, the American Public Health Association, and the American Psychological Association. In addtion, Ms. Coker has won several awards for research presentations and her work with persons with disabilities. These include best paper and best poster at Shepherd Center Research Day (2000), and the James W. Alley Award for Outstanding Service to Disadvantaged Populations (2001). |
|  | Nicole DiPiro, MS, is a graduate assistant for the SCI research team. She graduated from The University of Georgia in 2009 with a BSEd in Exercise Science and from The University of South Carolina in 2011, where she received a MS in Exercise Science. Nicole recently moved to Charleston and is currently completing her first year of PhD coursework in the College of Health Professions PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Science Program. Nicole’s research interests include examining the effects of exercise on functional and quality of life improvements in disease states in adolescents and adults. |
|  | Emily Johnson, MHA, holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Health and Exercise Science from Furman University and a Master in Health Administration Degree from the Medical University of South Carolina. Emily worked for the Center for Health Economic and Policy Studies at MUSC for over five years as a grants and project manager. She managed over 10 grants in a wide variety of areas including pharmaceutical advertising, nicotine replacement therapy, effects of health conditions in the Medicaid population, and effects of mental health hospital closures. She also managed day to day operation in the Center for Health Economics and has helped organize, plan and execute two national conferences. Emily has experience in grant and publication writing, data management, and data collection. She has worked for Dr. Krause for over a year and specializes in dissemination, training and technical assistance activities. |
|  | Corey King, Project Assistant, has more than eight years of experience working in the healthcare industry. He has worked with Dr. Krause for over a half a year providing personal assistance support, data entry, and other office related duties for three federally funded grants. |
|  | Sarah Lottes, Data Coordinator, has worked for the Research Department at Shepherd Center in Atlanta, GA for almost 16 years. During this time, she has collected and organized data for a parenting study in collaboration with Kessler Institute in New Jersey, has done follow-up data collection for a collaborative study on aging with Craig Hospital in Colorado and the Model Systems, and has worked on numerous federally funded grant projects with Dr. Krause. Over the years, she has also served as a co-author on several articles published in professional journals. Currently she works as liasion between Shepherd Center and the Medical University of South Carolina for an NIH funded 10 year project studying risk of adverse outcomes after SCI. |
|  | Kristian Manley, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from Western Carolina University. Has over ten years prior working experience with at risk populations. Kristian has been working for Dr. Krause since 2009 as a Direct Care and Research Assistant. He provides Dr. Krause with personal care at home and away on travel. He assist the Research Team by functioning in a variety of different roles including participant searches, phone call interviews, survey mail outs, and data entry and verification. He also does most of the filming, photography and editing for the team to disseminate as videos and pictures on the web sites. |
|  | Karla Reed, MA, is currently a Project Coordinator at the Medical University of South Carolina. Mrs. Reed holds a Master of Arts in Pyschology from the Citadel. Since 2006, she has worked with Dr. Krause on several federally funded grants. Her previous work included data collection and organization of a randomized clinical trial for smoking cessation and a randomized clinical trial for cocaine dependence. Mrs. Reed assists in preparation of presentations for professional conferences, dissemination of publications, has served as a co-author on numerous published articles in refereed journals, and has presented at multiple national conferences. Along with Dr. Krause, she was the recipient of the 2009 American Rehabilitation Counseling Association Research Award. |
|  | D'Andra Roper, Administrative Specialist, her functions include data entry, survey phone calls, and designated administrative needs. She has 4 years of experience working in the healthcare industry, and as an administrative assistant. During this time she has helped patients at Roper Hospital with private care, and worked as an administrative assistant with the United States Core of Engineers. She is a transfer student from Anderson University in Anderson, SC. Currently, she is majoring is biology, where she is enrolled in the "Two for Two" program between Trident Techincal College, and the College of Charleston. |
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