BIAA HOME : BOARD MEMBER BIOGRAPHIES

Board Member Biographies

James F. Humphreys, Esq. Chairman	Jim Humphreys is a licensed attorney in W.Va. and Washington, D.C. His practice areas include personal injury; litigation and appeals; and Federal Employer’s Liability Act. He earned his J.D. from George Washington University. He also holds a M.P.A. from Princeton, an M.A. from the Ohio State University, and an A.B. from West Virginia University. Mr. Humphreys was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1982 and previously served on the staff of Senators John Glenn and Don Reigle. He is a member of the Board of the George Washington University Law School and has served in advisory roles for the BIA of West Virginia.
Daniel S. Chamberlain, Esq. Vice Chairman	Dan Chamberlain is a Board Certified Civil Trial Advocate and partner in the Indianapolis-based law firm of Doeherman Chamberlain. The firm specializes in personal injury and wrongful death. He is the author of several professional articles and is a sought-after public speaker. Along with his professional experience as an attorney dealing with the aftermath of traumatic brain injury and the protection of the financial futures of those affected, Dan is a champion of brain injury and other patient protection issues by advocating tirelessly within the Indiana state legislature on behalf of the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association. He has also worked closely with the Brain Injury Association of Indiana to procure a HRSA state grant and to assist state agencies in developing the necessary resource facilitation and systems coordination to help fulfill funding goals.
Virginia Lazzara, R.N., BSN, CRRN Secretary	Ginny Lazzara is a graduate of St. Xavier University. She has more than 25 years experience in the field of brain injury rehabilitation. She served as the director of Extended Services and coordinator of the Brain Injury Program at Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital in Chicago. Ginny currently is a Brain Injury Rehabilitation consultant with the Nolan Law Group and continues to facilitate the Brain Injury Support Group at Schwab. She has served in numerous volunteer positions for the past 20 years, including past chair of the Governor’s Council on Brain and Spinal Cord Injury for Illinois and currently Board chair for the Brain Injury Association of Illinois. She is past chair of BIAA’s State Affiliate Assembly and currently serves on the BIAA board of directors as the secretary.
Dennis R. Hays, Esq. Treasurer	Dennis Hays graduated with a B.A. in accounting from Brigham Young University and with a J.D. in law from University of California at Davis. He has been a certified public accountant and member of the bar in the state of California since 1972. Dennis is chief operating officer for the Centre for Neuro Skills, where has been employed for almost 25 years. Prior to joining CNS, he served as deputy district attorney in San Diego County and in accounting positions at Price Waterhouse and Arthur Young accounting firms. Dennis is a member of the board of directors of the Brain Injury Association of California.
Susan H. Connors President/CEO	Susan Connors is president and chief executive officer of the Brain Injury Association of America. She was executive director of the National Association of State Head Injury Administrators from 2001 to 2005 and BIAA’s national director of state affairs from 1995 to 2001. During the past 15 years, Ms. Connors has served in advisory capacities and on expert panels for several federal agencies, universities, and nonprofit organizations and has authored numerous publications, position statements and articles. She has a bachelor’s degree in public communication from George Mason University.
Mark J. Ashley, Sc.D. Director	Mark Ashley is co-founder and president/CEO of Centre for Neuro Skills (CNS), which has operated post-acute brain injury rehabilitation programs at facilities in Bakersfield, Calif., Encino, Calif., and Irving, Texas, since 1978. In addition to his responsibilities with CNS, Dr. Ashley serves as past chairman of the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association of America. He also the past-chairman of the Corporate Advisory Committee of the Academy of Certified Brain Injury Specialists. Dr. Ashley participated in the preparation of the Traumatic Brain Injury Medical Treatment Guidelines for the State of Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and served on the grant review committee for the Colorado Traumatic Brain Injury Trust Fund. He founded the Centre for Neuro Skills Clinical Research and Education Foundation, a nonprofit research organization. His work has been published in numerous professional and research publications and he has written two books - one entitled Working with Behavior Disorders: Strategies for Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation and the other entitled Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation, now in its third edition. Dr. Ashley is a non-voting member of the Board.
Sharese Bullock-Bailey Director	Sharese Bullock-Bailey is an educator, producer, strategic consultant and global youth-media expert who pioneered strategic partnerships at the international youth-media network Listen Up!. She has showcased youth media and culture to new audiences for the past 10 years through her writing and by curating and presenting work by young artists at festivals around the world. Bullock-Bailey also led service and international education programs including filmmaking training for young producers throughout the United Kingdom with the Experiment in International Living (2005- 2006); and across India, the United Kingdom and the United States with Adobe Youth Voices (2006-2007). Bullock-Bailey is the producer of Off and Running, an Emmy nominated feature documentary co-produced by ITVS that had its national broadcast premiere on Public Broadcasting Service in 2010. Sharese received a BA in Communications at The University of Pennsylvania and developed a broad financial skill set through the Financial Analyst program at Goldman Sachs. In 2002, she created a brand management consultancy that develops global brands and non-profits across the social sector. She currently teaches with Teach for America in her hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y., and serves as a board member of The Young People's Project.
Dr. Marie Cavallo Director	Dr. Marie Cavallo is currently the associate director of Adult Day Services for AHRC-NYC, a community-based organization with more than 60 years of service to individuals with disabilities. She is responsible for the supervision and oversight of AHRC’s Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation Day Programs, as well as programs for individuals with other disabilities, including a day program for people with substance abuse issues and cognitive disabilities. While at AHRC, she served as a Regional Resource development specialist for the NYS DOH for 10 years, where she was directly involved with the development and initial implementation of the NYS TBI Home and Community Based Services Waiver, and the deinstitutionalization of hundreds of individuals with brain injury. Prior to her work at AHRC-NYC, Dr. Cavallo served for 11 years as a project coordinator and ultimately as director of Training at the NYU Medical Center Rehabilitation RTC on Head Injury and Stroke. Dr. Cavallo has published a variety of articles and book chapters on family issues, and issues of cultural diversity in the rehabilitation of individuals with TBI. Her most recent publication (2011) was a chapter on The Family System in the “Textbook of Traumatic Brain Injury.” She currently serves as the president of the board of directors of the Brain Injury Association of New York State, co-chair of the NYS Alliance of TBI and NHTD Waiver Providers, which she co-founded. She was twice awarded the Ted Weiss Consumer Advocacy Award from the membership of BIANYS, and AHRC–NYC was awarded a Founder’s Award for its innovative contributions to the field of brain injury in NYS under her direction.
Philicia Deckard, LSW, CBIST Director	Ms. Deckard has been the executive director of the Brain Injury Association of Illinois since 2001. Prior to that, she served on the BIA of Illinois board of directors. Philicia is a graduate of Indiana University with a degree in social work. She is licensed in the State of Illinois as a Social Worker and Nursing Home Administrator. She is a Certified Brain Injury Specialist Trainer. Philicia has 26 years experience in the field of brain injury rehabilitation, social work, case management and neurobehavioral training and program development. She assisted in the development of one of the first community based programs for persons with brain injury in the Chicago area as well as the development of sub‐acute programs within skilled nursing facilities across Illinois. Philicia has been instrumental in the continued development of the BIA of IL recreational and camping programs as well as the peer mentoring and military outreach programs. She provided assistance and training in the development of the Illinois Wounded Warrior program. In 2011, Philicia provided support and assistance in passing Chicago’s first concussion bill; then worked with Illinois state legislators in passing Illinois’ first concussion law. She was a co‐recipient of the Team Leadership Award from the Brain Injury Association of America in 2002, as well as an Award of Excellence in 2007 for her role in the development of a collaborative prevention project with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, and again in 2011 for the film, The Journey Forward. She has been active with the Affiliate Assembly and the Society of Executive Directors. Philicia is a member of the Illinois Governor's Council on Brain and Spinal Cord Injury where she developed a "virtual resource center" for the State of Illinois. She is a member of the TBI Advisory Council for Illinois' P&A agency, Equip for Equality, and a member of the Advisory Committee for the Illinois Emergency Medical Services for Children Council. Philicia is also a member of the Executive Committee for the Midwest Regional TBI Model Systems grant where she is currently working on a multi‐media website and educational film series as part of the project. Philicia is a member of the Army OneSources’s Illinois/Missouri Behavioral Health Alliance, and a member of the Illinois Inter-Service Family Assistance Committee.
Ramon Diaz-Arrastia, M.D., Ph.D. Director	Dr. Diaz-Arrastia is professor of Neurology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and director of the North Texas TBI Research Center. Dr. Diaz-Arrastia received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Baylor College of Medicine in 1988, where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. After a one-year medicine internship at Beth Israel Hospital and the Harvard Medical School, he completed his neurology residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. In 1993, he accepted an appointment as assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at UT Southwestern, where he has risen through the ranks and promoted to Professor in 2006. Dr. Diaz-Arrastia heads the North Texas TBI Research Center, a collaboration between the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) and Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation (BIR). Dr. Diaz-Arrastia has served in several national committees related to TBI research and practice, including expert panels convened by the Institute of Medicine, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Institute of Aging. He has also served on two Scientific Review Committees for the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration, Alzheimer’s Association, and Victoria (Australia) Neurotrauma Fund, among others. He is also a peer reviewer for the leading journals in neurology, neuroscience, neurotrauma, and neurorehabilitation.
Bud Elkind, M.S., CBIST Director	Since entering the field of brain injury in 1985, Bud has held senior level administrative and clinical positions with experience in Dual-diagnosis Neuro-behavior, A-typical Sub-acute and Post-acute Rehabilitation. He is the director of Clinical Operations for Robin Hill Farm, Inc., a post-acute residential treatment and rehabilitation company located in south central New Hampshire. Bud’s graduate training is in human services and management; he is a Certified Brain Injury Specialist Trainer (CBIST), holds a certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis and is an adjunct at Granite State College, where he teaches American History and Basic Neuro-anatomy. He currently chairs the Academy of Certified Brain Injury Specialists (ACBIS), is the immediate past president of the Brain Injury Association of New Hampshire; a past chair of New Hampshire’s Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Advisory Council’s President of the Wings of Hope Foundation and is a member of the New Hampshire Civilian-Military Cooperative Council. Bud has an immediate family connection to both ABI and TBI, is a regular conference presenter and has written numerous articles relating to brain injury and rehabilitation.
Wayne A. Gordon, Ph.D. Director	Wayne Gordon is the Jack Nash Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine and associate director of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City. Also, at Mount Sinai he is chief of Rehabilitation Psychology and Neuropsychology services. Dr. Gordon is a Diplomate in Clinical Neuropsychology and a Fellow in the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. He has published more than 150 articles and book chapters. He is the director of the Brain Injury Research Center of Mount Sinai, which includes the New York TBI Model System (funded by NIDRR) and the CDC-funded Mount Sinai Injury Control Research Center. He has received several awards during his career including in 2009 The Robert L. Moody Prize for Distinguished Initiatives in Brain Injury Research and Rehabilitation, awarded by The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, and in 2010 the William Fields Caveness Award, from the Brain Injury Association of America. In 1996, he received an award from the NYS Department of Health for his visionary work in TBI. Beyond his research and administrative roles, he also provides diagnostic services (neuropsychological evaluation) and treatment (psychotherapy, cognitive remediation) for individuals who have sustained a brain injury from trauma, a medical event or exposure to toxic substances. Dr. Gordon is chairman of BIAA's Research Council and a non-voting member of the Board of Directors.
Sheldon L. Herring, Ph.D. Director
David A. Hovda, Ph.D. Director	Dr. Dave Hovda is the director of the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center. He is president of the International Neurotrauma Society (2009-2012) and president-elect of the National Neurotrauma Society. He is chairman of the Brain Injury and Neurovascular Pathologies study section for the National Institute for Neurological Disease and Stroke at NIH. Dr. Hovda serves on several editorial boards and consults for numerous organizations and agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense. He is a sought-after author and speaker and has been honored with numerous awards for his work in the cellular pathophysiology of brain injury. Dr. Hovda earned his Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of New Mexico.
Brent E. Masel, M.D. National Medical Director	Dr. Brent Masel graduated from Loyola Medical School in Maywood, Ill., in 1974. He completed his internship and Neurology residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, Texas in 1978. Following his training, Dr. Masel established a Neurology private practice in Galveston and received certification in 1980 from the Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is a clinical assistant professor in the Departments of Neurology, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy at UTMB. He has conducted research and published in the area of headache pain management. In 1992, Dr. Masel became the medical director of The Transitional Learning Center (TLC), and in January of 1994, he left his private practice to become the president of this post acute brain injury rehabilitation facility. He has provided numerous in-service training seminars and lectures at a variety of local, state and national conferences. Dr. Masel is in demand as an international speaker on the topic of Growth Hormone Deficiency and Hypopituitarism and Rehabilitation following an acquired brain injury. He serves on the governing board of The Moody Endowment.
James S. Misko, Psy.D. Director	Jim Misko, co-owner and president of CORE Health Care, has specialized in neuropsychology for the past 15 years. Dr. Misko received his doctorate from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1988 and is licensed as a Clinical Psychologist. He has committed his time and energy to helping improve the quality of life for people who have survived traumatic brain injuries and other neurological disorders. Dr. Misko lectures nationally to raise awareness of brain injury. The Brain Injury Association of Texas awarded him the 2003 Professional Contribution of the Year.
Drew A. Nagele, Psy.D. Director	Trained as a Clinical Neuropsychologist, Dr. Drew Nagele has worked for the past 24 years in brain injury rehabilitation, where he developed school and community re-entry, supported employment, residential and affirmative business programs. He is currently director of Program Development for Mentor Brain Injury Services for the Mid-Atlantic Region. He is a founding member of the Brain Injury Association of Pennsylvania, serving as its first president, and now past president. Dr. Nagele’s seat on BIAA’s Board is a result of his election as chairperson of the State Affiliate Assembly, the collective body of voting members of the national association.
Christopher Nowinski Director	Chris Nowinski is the co-founder and president of the Sports Legacy Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to solving the sports concussion crisis. He is also co-founder of Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, which analyzes the brain tissue of former athletes to understand the effects of repetitive trauma. Mr. Nowinski sustained numerous mild traumatic brain injuries as a college football player and as a professional wrestler; he speaks publicly and writes frequently about his experiences. He is a graduate of Harvard University and has received numerous awards for his service to the field.
Gregory J. O'Shanick, M.D. Past Chairman and Medical Director Emeritus	Gregory O'Shanick, M.D., is the past chairman of the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association of America. In May 2011, Dr. O'Shanick became the Medical Director Emeritus for BIAA, after serving for 14 years as its first National Medical Director. Over the past 30 years, he has treated more than 11,000 patients with brain injuries while serving on the faculties of three different medical schools and in private practice. Since 1991, Dr. O'Shanick has been the president and medical director of the Center for Neurorehabilitation Services in Richmond, Va. He holds board certification in four medical subspecialties (Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, Neurorehabilitation, Psychosomatic Medicine and General Psychiatry) and has published three books, 12 academic textbook chapters and more than 70 peer-reviewed publications. He has presented at national and international medical conferences and has served as an advisor to numerous federal agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.
Joseph C. Richert, Esq. Past Chairman	Joe Richert is the president/CEO of Special Tree Rehabilitation System. Located in Michigan, Special Tree provides rehabilitation and care for individuals with brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and other disabilities. Mr. Richert served on the Board of Directors of the BIA of Michigan, as chairman, vice chairman, and treasurer. He was the president of the Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council, where he served as director, treasurer and vice-president/chairman of the Government Relations Council.
Christopher Slover Director	Chris Slover is the chairman and chief executive officer of Lakeview Healthcare Systems. He owns and manages insurance and real estate holding corporations in which he oversees the strategic planning, public relations, sales management and contracting functions. Chris was previously employed as a financial planner and stock broker in the securities firm of Lincoln Financial and holds licenses in general securities, life/health insurance annuities, and general property and casualty. Chris earned a B.A. in economics with a minor in business from the University of Texas at Austin. He serves in volunteer leadership roles for Associated Tileworks, Austin Museum of Art, and several neurological organizations and is a member of the Young Presidents Organization.
Caroline Suplizio, E.E.D Director
Tina M. Trudel, Ph.D. Director
Tony Zink, M.D., Ph.D. Director	Dr. Tony Zink currently practices as a cardiologist with St. Luke’s Cardiovascular Consultants and the Mid-America Heart and Vascular Institute. He sustained a brain injury during his residency at Emory University Hospitals in Atlanta, Ga. Dr. Zink has served on the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association of Kansas and Greater Kansas City. He attended Texas Christian University and completed his M.D. and Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Kansas. He is currently board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiology and Echocardiography and specializes in valvular heart disease and peripheral vascular disease. Dr. Zink and his wife, Toni, have given several talks on recovery from brain injury blending the different perspectives of physician, spouse and survivor.