Committee and Staff Biographical Sketches
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
David H. Wegman (Chair) is professor emeritus in the School of Health and Environment at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Dr. Wegman was appointed professor and founding chair of the Department of Work Environment in 1987. He served a 5-year term as dean of the School of Health and Environment (2003-2008), after which he returned to the faculty until his retirement at the end of 2009. He continues to serve as adjunct professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. Previously, he served as director of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health and on the faculty at Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Wegman has focused his research on epidemiologic studies of occupational respiratory disease, musculoskeletal disorders, and cancer and has published more than 200 articles in the scientific literature. He has also written on public health and policy issues concerning hazard and health surveillance, methods of exposure assessment for epidemiologic studies, the development of alternatives to regulation, and the use of participatory methods to study occupational health risks. He has served as chair of the National Research Council (NRC)-Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committees on Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers and the Health and Safety Consequences of Child Labor, as well as the Committee to Review the NIOSH Research Programs. He has also been a member of the NRC-IOM Panel on Musculoskeletal Disorders and Work and the IOM Committees to Review the Health Consequences of Service during the Persian Gulf War and to Review Gender Differences in Susceptibility to Environmental Factors. He also served as chair of the NRC Committee on
the Role of Human Factors in Home Health Care. He received his B.A. from Swarthmore College and his M.D. and M.Sc. from Harvard University, and is board certified in preventive medicine (occupational medicine).
Thomas J. Armstrong is a professor in the Departments of Industrial and Operations Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan. He is also director of the University of Michigan Center for Ergonomics and was director of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Ergonomics. His research is concerned with performance and health issues in manual work and has focused on the development of methods for analyzing physical work requirements; the development of biomechanical models of hand function; analysis of the relationship between physical work requirements and musculoskeletal disorders; the design of workstations, hand tools, and keyboards; identification of ways of facilitating the return to work of injured workers; analysis and design of jobs for accommodation of restricted workers; and the design of ergonomic programs for control of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. He has conducted research and training within the automobile, aerospace, electronics, computer, office, and food processing industries. His research has resulted in numerous articles, book chapters, and reports on upper-limb biomechanics, carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, job analysis, vibration, tools, workstations, and computer-aided design. Dr. Armstrong is on the editorial boards of Human Factors and Ergonomics, the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, and the Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment and Health. He is a fellow in the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and the International Ergonomics Association. Dr. Armstrong served on the National Research Council committee that organized the Workshop to Evaluate Work-Related Musculoskeletal Injuries: The Research Base. Dr. Armstrong holds a B.S.E. in aerospace engineering; an M.P.H. in industrial health; and a Ph.D. in industrial health, physiology, and engineering, all from the University of Michigan.
Burt S. Barnow is the Amsterdam professor of public service and of economics at George Washington University. Prior to joining George Washington University, Dr. Barnow was associate director for research at Johns Hopkins University’s Institute for Policy Studies, where he worked for 18 years. Prior to that, he worked for 8 years at the Lewin Group and nearly 9 years at the U.S. Department of Labor, including 4 years as director of the Office of Research and Evaluation in the Employment and Training Administration. As a labor economist, Dr. Barnow focuses much of his work on labor markets; over the years he has conducted a number of studies looking at whether particular labor markets have experienced shortages of workers
and if so, why. He has also conducted many studies of occupational training programs, including studies of how the programs are being implemented and how effective they have been. Dr. Barnow teaches the core course on program evaluation in the public policy and public administration program at George Washington University, and he has conducted evaluations of a variety of social programs, including training, welfare, child support, and fatherhood programs. His current research includes the development and evaluation of pilot programs to test self-sufficiency strategies for welfare recipients for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a study of the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for workforce investment programs for the U.S. Department of Labor, and an evaluation of a new approach to adult education sponsored by the Gates Foundation. Dr. Barnow has been a member of eight other National Research Council committees, most recently the Committee to Review NASA’s Workforce; the Committee to Review EPA’s Title 42 Hiring Authority for Highly Qualified Scientists and Engineers; the Committee on the Emerging Workforce Trends in the U.S. Mining and Energy Industries; and the Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Workforce Needs for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base. He also served two terms on the NRC Board on Higher Education and the Workforce. Dr. Barnow received a B.S. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Leighton Chan is chief of the Rehabilitation Medicine Department at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health. Subsequently, he completed a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar Fellowship and was a congressional fellow for the Honorable Jim McDermott (Washington). From 1994 to 2006, Dr. Chan was on the faculty of the University of Washington’s Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. From 2002 to 2006, he was associate professor. He is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation and in electrodiagnostic medicine. Dr. Chan’s research interests include health services, quality of care given to Medicare beneficiaries, and Medicare payment policy issues. He has published more than 65 peer-reviewed articles and numerous book chapters. His awards include the Young Academician Award from the Association of Academic Physiatrists, two outstanding teacher awards from the University of Washington School of Medicine, and a Presidential Citation Award for excellence in research from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Dr. Chan is a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and is a current IOM membership section leader. He holds an M.P.H. from the University of Washington and an M.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Chan completed
postgraduate training in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Washington.
Peter C. Esselman is professor and chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington, as well as chief of rehabilitation medicine at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. His clinical interests include the rehabilitation of individuals after traumatic injuries, with a focus on traumatic brain injury and burn injuries. He is also interested in quality improvement. Dr. Esselman was an intern in the Department of Medicine and a resident as well as chief resident in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington. He has published more than 50 journal articles and five book chapters and is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. He is a member of the Health Policy Legislation Committee of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and was chair of the Association of Academic Physiatrists Task Force on Chronic Disease and Disability Education. He is a member of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the American Burn Association, and the Association of Academic Physiatrists. In 2001, he won the Harborview Medical Center Service Excellence Award. Dr. Esselman was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Traumatic Brain Injury. He received an M.D. from the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Walter R. Frontera is a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) and physiology and former dean of the Medical School at the University of Puerto Rico. In 1995, he spent a sabbatical year at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, in the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, studying the effects of aging on the biochemical and contractile properties of single human muscle fibers. In 1996, he was recruited to Harvard Medical School to establish the Department of PM&R and was appointed Earle P. and Ida S. Charlton professor and chairman of the Department of PM&R at Harvard Medical School and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. He was also chief of service at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Frontera’s main research interest is study of the mechanisms underlying muscle atrophy and weakness in the elderly and the development of rehabilitative interventions for sarcopenia. He has authored more than 200 scientific publications, including more than 80 peer-reviewed articles and 12 edited books. Currently, Dr. Frontera serves as editor-in-chief of The American Journal of PM&R and regional vice president of the International Society of PM&R. He has received several awards, including Best Scientific Research Paper (three times), presented by the American Academy of PM&R; the Distinguished Academician (2005) and Outstanding Service (2010) awards, presented by the Association of
Academic Physiatrists; the Harvard Foundation Award for his contributions to the field of PM&R; the Joel DeLisa award (2011), presented by the Kessler Foundation; and the Sidney Licht award, presented by the International Society of PM&R (2011). In 2008, he was elected member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). He currently serves on the IOM Committee of Medical Experts to Assist Social Security on Disability Issues. Dr. Frontera completed his M.D. and residency in PM&R in 1983 at the University of Puerto Rico and his Ph.D. in applied anatomy and physiology at Boston University in 1986.
Glenn T. Fujiura is an associate professor of human development in the Department of Disability and Human Development and associate dean of the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Fujiura’s research has focused on the fiscal structure and demography of the disability service system, family policy, evaluation of long-term care services, poverty and disability, ethnic and racial issues in disability, and the statistical surveillance of disability. In addition, he has a long-standing interest in research methodology, statistical analysis, and philosophy of science. Dr. Fujiura teaches research methods, advanced research concepts, and statistics for the graduate program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Current major projects include analyses of family demographics, evaluation of state disability spending, cognitive testing of health surveys for persons with intellectual disabilities, evaluation of international disability statistical surveillance, health statistics and intellectual disability, and the application of knowledge utilization models in Americans with Disabilities Act technical assistance. He has worked extensively in both the creation of large national data sets on intellectual and developmental disabilities and the secondary analysis of national statistical surveillance systems. He has served as chair of the U.S. Administration on Developmental Disabilities Commissioner’s Multicultural Advisory Committee, and as a member of the President’s Committee on Mental Retardation during the Clinton Administration, the Cultural Diversity Advisory Committee for the National Council on Disability, and NIDRR’s Long-Range Plan Steering Committee. He was 1999 recipient of the National Rehabilitation Association’s Switzer Scholar award. Dr. Fujiura is the editor-in-chief of the journal Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Bruce M. Gans is executive vice president and chief medical officer for the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, based in West Orange, New Jersey. He is also national medical director for rehabilitation for Select Medical Corporation, the parent company for Kessler. In addition, Dr. Gans holds an appointment as professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R)
at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey–New Jersey Medical School and serves on the board of directors of the Allied Health Research Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on improving access to rehabilitation therapy. Dr. Gans has published extensively, and has held more than $10 million in research and educational grants from the public and private sectors. He is an editor of the major textbook DeLisa’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation: Principles and Practice (5th ed., 2010). He also serves as an associate editor of the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. His research has focused on pediatric trauma rehabilitation, quantitative assessment of motor performance, rehabilitation engineering, rehabilitation health services delivery, and primary care for the disabled. Dr. Gans has been honored with recognition as one of “The Best Doctors in America.” He has received the American Hospital Association’s prestigious Brent England Award for Excellence in Rehabilitation Management (1995) and the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association’s INDE Service Award (2005). The Association of Academic Physiatrists awarded him its Outstanding Service Award in 2000. In 2001, he was selected to deliver the 34th Annual Walter J. Zeiter Lecture to the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. In 2008, he was the recipient of that organization’s Distinguished Member Award. Dr. Gans received his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia and an M.S. in biomedical electronic engineering from the Moore School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds an M.S. degree from the University of Washington. He served his medical internship at the Philadelphia General Hospital and his residency in PM&R at the University of Washington, Seattle. He received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Union College, Schenectady, New York.
Ian D. Graham is vice president of the Knowledge Translation Portfolio at Canadian Institutes of Health Research, where he is responsible for knowledge translation, partnerships and citizen engagement, communication and public outreach, and pan institute affairs and initiatives. Dr. Graham is on leave from his positions as associate professor in the School of Nursing, University of Ottawa, and senior social scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Program of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. He holds cross-appointments in the Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology and Community Medicine and is an adjunct associate professor in the School of Nursing at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academies of Health Sciences. His research has focused largely on knowledge translation (the process of research use) and applied research on strategies to increase implementation of research findings and evidence-based practice. He has also advanced knowledge translation science through the development of two planned
action models, the Ottawa Model of Research Use and, more recently, the Knowledge to Action Model. His specific research projects have related to the adaptation, implementation, and quality appraisal of clinical practice guidelines, as well as the uptake of guidelines and decision support tools by practitioners. He is co-editor of Knowledge Translation in Health Care, published by Wiley-Blackwell (2009) and Evaluating the Impact of Implementing Evidence-Based Practice, published by Wiley-Blackwell (2010). Dr. Graham obtained a B.A. in sociology from McGill University, an M.A. in sociology from the University of Victoria, and a Ph.D. in medical sociology from McGill University.
Lisa I. Iezzoni is professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Iezzoni has spent more than two decades conducting health services research focused in three primary areas: risk adjustment methods for predicting cost and clinical outcomes of care, use of administrative data for assessing health care quality, and health care experiences and outcomes of persons with disabilities. She has personal experience in the latter area (having had multiple sclerosis since age 22). After spending 16 years as codirector of research in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Dr. Iezzoni joined the Institute for Health Policy as associate director in 2006. She has led numerous research grants with funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Institutes of Health, the Health Care Financing Administration, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and other private foundations. An internationally recognized expert in risk adjustment, she edited Risk Adjustment for Measuring Health Care Outcomes, with its fourth edition in press. Dr. Iezzoni began her disability research with a 1996 Investigator Award in Health Policy Research from RWJF, and the book summarizing this work, When Walking Fails: Mobility Impairments of Adults with Chronic Conditions, appeared in 2003. A book considering disability experiences more broadly, More Than Ramps: A Guide to Improving Health Care Quality and Access for People with Disabilities, was published in 2006. Another book, Multiple Sclerosis, which was published in 2010, explores the epidemiology of multiple sclerosis, describes its symptoms, reviews today’s treatments and research directions, and presents the experiences of persons living with multiple sclerosis. Dr. Iezzoni has also published numerous original articles, editorials, and commentaries in major medical and health services research journals. She has been a member of many Institute of Medicine (IOM) committees, including the Committee on Identifying Priority Areas for Quality Improvement; the Committee to Evaluate Measures of Health Benefits for Environmental, Health, and Safety Regulation; and the Committee on Disability in America: A New Look. Dr.
Iezzoni is a member of the IOM. She holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and an MSc in health policy and management from Harvard School of Public Health.
Alan M. Jette currently directs the Health & Disability Research Institute at the Boston University School of Public Health, where he also serves as professor of health policy and management. Dr. Jette’s research interests include late-life exercise; evaluation of treatment outcomes; and the measurement, epidemiology, and prevention of disability. He has published more than 180 articles on these topics in the rehabilitation, geriatrics, and public health literature. Dr. Jette is research director for the New England Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center based at Boston University Medical Center, serves on the Executive Committee of the Boston Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, and directs the Boston Rehabilitation Outcome Measures Center. His current work focuses on the development and dissemination of contemporary outcome measurement instruments for evaluating the quality of health care. Dr. Jette was a member of the National Research Council (NRC)-Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee to Review the Social Security Administration’s Disability Decision Process Research, was chair of the IOM Committee on the Future of Disability in America, and was chair of the NRC Steering Committee to Design and Conduct a Public Workshop on New Survey Measures of Cognitive and Functional Disability: Going Beyond ADLs and IADLs. He received his M.P.H. and Ph.D. in public health from the University of Michigan.
Thubi H.A. Kolobe is the Jill Pitman Jones professor of physical therapy in the Department of Rehabilitation Science at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Her research in early identification of children with or at risk for disabilities, efficacy of robotics in the early mobility of young infants, cultural and environmental influences on development, and measurement has been funded by foundations and federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health. She is a co-developer of the Test of Infant Motor Performance for preterm infants, a norm-referenced test that is used worldwide and has been translated into several languages. Dr. Kolobe has served as chair of the Research Committee of the Section on Pediatrics, chaired a task force to develop a research agenda for the American Physical Therapy Association’s Section on Pediatrics, served on a recent task force to revise the research agenda for the American Physical Therapy Association, and has been appointed to serve on the Scientific Review Committee for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Kolobe has extensive clinical experience in pediatrics and community-based interventions. Over the past 30 years, her roles in this area have ranged from direct patient care in various settings, clinical
education, and staff development, to program consultation. Her consultation roles have focused largely on program evaluation and development for community-based programs that serve children and families with disabilities and on funded undergraduate and graduate training programs. She serves on the Evaluation Committee for the Oklahoma SoonerStart program, a statewide early intervention program funded through the Part C program of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Amendment Act of 2004. She holds a Ph.D. in pediatric physical therapy (with a minor in family therapy) from Hahnemann University.
Pamela Loprest is a labor economist and director of the Center on Income and Benefits at the Urban Institute. Her research focuses on low-wage labor markets and barriers to work among disadvantaged populations and on policies to address these issues. Dr. Loprest is a nationally known expert in welfare policy and research. Her recent work examines how to structure programs and policies to better support work among persons with disabilities and former welfare recipients with work-related challenges. Past studies include examination of the Family and Medical Leave Act, the role of employer accommodations, public policies to support job search and training for persons with disabilities, and the impact of the Supplemental Security Income program on young adult recipients transitioning to work. Dr. Loprest is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters, as well as three books. She received her Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Kathryn E. Newcomer is the director of the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University. She teaches public and nonprofit program evaluation, research design, and applied statistics. She routinely conducts research and training for federal and local government agencies and nonprofit organizations on performance measurement and program evaluation, and has designed and conducted evaluations for several U.S. federal agencies and dozens of nonprofit organizations. Dr. Newcomer has published five books, including The Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation, and numerous articles in journals, including the Public Administration Review. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and currently serves on the Comptroller General’s Educators’ Advisory Panel. She served as president of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, 2006-2007, and currently serves on the board of the American Evaluation Association. Dr. Newcomer received the Elmer Staats Award for Achievements in Government Accountability, awarded by the National Capital Area Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration, May 8, 2008. She has been a member of the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on
Approaches for an Evaluation of the NIST/NRC Postdoctoral Research Associateships Program, the NRC Review of United States Institute of Peace Senior Fellows Program, and the NRC Committee on Laboratory Security and Personnel Assurance Systems for Laboratories Conducting Research on Biological Select Agents and Toxins. She received her Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Patricia M. Owens is a senior disability expert for the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Ms. Owens has more than 30 years of experience in health- and disability-related programs and policy. She has an unusual set of qualifications, having held executive, policy development, and administrative positions in both the public and private disability sectors. Her experience serves as the basis for in-depth understanding of the multidimensional and interactive nature of health and disability in terms of social policy and risk management. She has consulted with both private- and public-sector organizations on health and disability issues, programs, and products. Organizations for which she has consulted include the Social Security Administration, the Veterans Administration, the Urban Institute, the National Academy of Social Insurance (board member), Rutgers Disability Income Studies, and the Government Accountability Office. She helped UNUM, UK (an insurance company in Great Britain) launch a study of the cost of disability in 2000-2001. Ms. Owens is a member of the board of directors of Village Care of New York, a multimillion dollar AIDS treatment network and community nursing and rehabilitation services provider for persons with impairment. She was a member of the National Research Council-Institute of Medicine Committee on Veterans’ Compensation for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. She earned an M.P.A. degree from the University of Missouri.
Robert G. Radwin is a professor and founding chair of Biomedical Engineering, and a professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Radwin has received numerous grants from government agencies, private foundations, and industry and he is a regular consultant on human factors engineering. His research is concerned with ergonomics aspects of the design, selection, installation and use of manually operated equipment and products; investigating the causes and prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders; developing novel measurements and methods for assessing exposure to physical stress in the workplace; and quantifying functional deficits associated with musculoskeletal and neuromuscular disorders for medical surveillance, rehabilitation, and prevention. Dr. Radwin is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the Hu
man Factors and Ergonomics Society (U.S.), and the Institute of Ergonomics (U.K.). He was a member of the National Research Council (NRC)-Institute of Medicine Panel on Musculoskeletal Disorders and the Workplace and the NRC Committee on Human-Systems Integration. He earned a Ph.D. in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan.
STAFF Jeanne C. Rivard is a senior program officer with the National Academies’ Division on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE) and was co-study director of the project. She earned a Ph.D. in social work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she received a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct her dissertation study investigating factors promoting change in interagency collaboration. While she was serving on the faculty of the Columbia University School of Social Work, her research included a developmental study examining the implementation and intermediate outcomes of a trauma-focused intervention for youth and an evaluation of the implementation and outcomes of an interagency initiative designed to integrate vocational and supportive housing services for homeless persons with mental illness, substance abuse, HIV, and other disabilities. Before coming to DBASSE, she worked at the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute, where she led initiatives to promote the dissemination of evidence-based practices, was a team leader for the national impact component of the cross-site evaluation of the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, and coordinated pilot studies to increase the utilization of multistate administrative data sets to address mental health policy questions. She has also holds an M.S.W. degree (University of South Carolina) and an M.S.Ed. (Mount St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles).
Mary Ellen O’Connell is deputy director of the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive and Sensory Sciences and the Board on Human-Systems Integration, and was co-study director of the project. She has served as study director for five consensus studies at the National Research Council: on prevention of mental disorders and substance abuse, on international education and foreign languages, on ethical considerations for research on housing-related health hazards involving children, on reducing underage drinking, and on assessing and improving children’s health. She also served as study director for the Committee on Standards of Evidence and the Quality of Behavioral and Social Science Research, a Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education-wide strategic planning effort; developed stand-alone workshops on welfare reform and children and gun violence; and facilitated meetings of the national coordinating committee of the Key National Indicators Initiative.
She came to DBASSE from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she spent 8 years in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, most recently as director of state and local initiatives. Previously, she worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on homeless policy and program design issues and for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as director of field services. She holds a B.A. (with distinction) from Cornell University and a master’s degree in the management of human services from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.
Tina Winters is an associate program officer with the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. She returned to the National Academies to work with the Committee on the External Evaluation of NIDRR and Its Grantees. Prior to rejoining the National Academies, she worked on an initiative to spread innovative health care practices and with the coordinating center for a medical registry on islet cell transplantation. In her previous tenure at the National Academies, she worked with the Committee on Social Science Evidence for Use and supported numerous studies that produced reports, including Scientific Research in Education, Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment, and the National Science Education Standards.
Matthew D. McDonough is a research associate with the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. In 7 years of working at the National Research Council, he has staffed the Board on Life Sciences; the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences; the Board on Human-Systems Integration; and the Board on Children, Youth, and Families. He has supported studies that have produced such reports as Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research; Human-Systems Integration in the Design Process: A New Look; Human Behavior in Military Contexts; Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How; Intelligence Analysis for Tomorrow: Advances from the Behavioral and Social Sciences; and Intelligence Analysis: Behavioral and Social Scientific Foundations. He is a graduate of George Washington University, with an M.A. in anthropology and a concentration in international development.
Barbara Wanchisen is director of the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive and Sensory Sciences and the Board on Human-Systems Integration. She is a long-standing member of the Psychonomic Society, the Association for Behavior Analysis, and the American Psychological Association. In January 2004, she became a fellow of Division 25 (Behavior Analysis) of the American Psychological Association. She has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and The Behavior Analyst
while also serving as a guest reviewer for a number of other journals. From November 2001 through April 2008, Dr. Wanchisen was executive director of the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, & Cognitive Sciences in Washington, DC. In 2004, she was instrumental in the founding of the Federation’s Foundation for the Advancement of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, a nonprofit organization that assumed the educational mission of the Federation. Previously, Dr. Wanchisen was professor in the Department of Psychology and director of the college-wide Honors Program at Baldwin-Wallace College, near Cleveland, Ohio. She received a B.A. in English and philosophy from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, an M.A. in English from Villanova University, and her Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Temple University.
