BrainLine's Subject Matter Experts

Ross Bullock, MD, PhD

Dr. Ross Bullock is presently a professor with the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and is also the director of the Clinical Neurotrauma Program. Past positions include Reynolds Professor of Neurosurgery and Director, Neuro-intensive Care Unit, Virginia Commonwealth University (1997-2007); associate professor, Neurosurgery, Virginia Commonwealth University (1992-1997); acting chairman, Neurosurgery, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK (1991-1992); senior lecturer/associate professor, Neurosurgery, University of Glasgow, UK (1986-1991); and senior lecturer in Neurosurgery, Natal, South Africa (1984-1986).

In 1975, he received his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Birmingham, England. In 1987, he received a PhD from the University of Natal, South Africa, in Neuroscience.

Dr. Bullock holds many professional memberships, among them chairman, American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Joint Section on Neurotrauma and Critical Care (1999-2001); chairman, Head Injury Committee, AANS Joint Section on Neurotrauma and Critical Care (1997-1998); Journal of Neurotrauma (2007-present); NeuroRx (2003-present); Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience (2002-present); and Neurological Research (2001-present). In addition, he has performed duties of a reviewer for the Journal of Neurosurgery, Journal Neuroscience, Surgical Neurology, British Journal of Neurosurgery, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, and the British Medical Journal, just to name a few.

Dr. Bullock's honors include the Olivecrona Award (Service to Neurotrauma Care and Research), Karolinska Institute, Sweden (2007); vice chairman, Brain Trauma Foundation (2002-present); president, National Neurotrauma Society (1998-1999); and vice president, National Neurotrauma Society (1994).

David X. Cifu, MD

Dr. David Cifu is the Herman J. Flax, M.D. Chair and Professor of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) in the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine and national director of PM&R Services for the Veterans Health Administration. He has been on the Board of Governors of the American Academy of PM&R (AAPM&R) since 2000 and served as president of the AAPM&R from 2007-2008. He graduated from Boston University Medical School in 1986 and received his residency training and served on the teaching faculty at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston before joining VCU in 1991. His areas of expertise in PM&R include geriatrics, stroke, brain injury, and polytrauma. He contributed to the AAPM&R's Self-Directed Medical Knowledge Program Study Guides in geriatric rehabilitation, stroke rehabilitation, and pain rehabilitation. He has been funded on 27 research grants totaling $45 million, including six active federal grants in TBI. He has more than 150 journal articles, 60 abstracts, and 16 book chapters published and has presented more than 375 lectures regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Dr. Cifu's CV: http://www.pmr.vcu.edu/directory/faculty/dcifu/dcifu_cv.pdf

Wayne A. Gordon, PhD

Dr. Wayne Gordon is the Jack Nash Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine and associate director of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM). He joined the faculty of MSSM in 1986 from the Rusk Institute of the New York University Medical Center. He is the Director of Research of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and the director of the Mount Sinai Brain Injury Research Center (BIRC). He is project director of MSSM's TBI Model System, the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on TBI Interventions, and the Mount Sinai Injury Control Research Center. Dr. Gordon is a Diplomate in Clinical Neuropsychology and Fellow, American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. In 2006, he received a special recognition award from the National Association of Rehabilitation Research Centers. In 2008, he was awarded the "Partners Award" from the National Association of State Head Injury Administrators and received the Robert L. Moody Prize for Distinguished Initiatives in Brain Injury Research and Rehabilitation in 2009. He was president of the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (NARRTC) from 2004 to 2006. Currently, he is president of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, a member of the Board of the Brain Injruy Association of America (BIAA), and board member of the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation and the Brain Trauma Foundation. He has published more than 100 articles and book chapters and has presented nationally and internationally on TBI research, stroke rehabilitation, cognitive remediation, and assessment of rehabilitation outcomes.

COL Jamie B Grimes, MD, MC, USA

COL Grimes has served as DVBIC's National Director since July 1, 2010. Previously, she had been the DVBIC Site Director at Wilford Hall Medical Center (WHMC) and Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), which are now combined as the San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC).

As national director, COL Grimes oversees all aspects of the organization's mission: to serve active duty military and veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI) through state-of-the-art medical care and care coordination, and innovative clinical research and educational programs.

With board certification in Vascular Neurology, Neurology and Psychiatry, COL Grimes leads DVBIC with integrated multidisciplinary approaches to care. While deployed in Afghanistan from March to September 2011, she served as Theater Neurology Consultant. In this capacity, COL Grimes oversaw standardization of care at 11 concussion care centers. Performing site visits allowed her to ensure that staff had appropriate training, education and resources. She reviewed cases, shared best practices, and work with theater providers to identify and close gaps in patient care.

In 2004 COL Grimes served a nine-month tour of duty as a member of 359th Neurosurgical Team in Baghdad, Iraq, during the period that included both major battles in Fallujah. She saw the highest number of neurotrauma cases and quickly became "one of the busiest members of the medical team," according to COL Rocco Armonda, Director of Cerebrovascular Surgery & Interventional Neuroradiology, National Capital Neurosurgery Consortium, Director Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Md.

COL Grimes has held multiple appointments and academic posts including neurology consultant for the Army Office of The Surgeon General (OTSG) and the Great Plains Regional Medical Command, and assistant professor of Neurology at USUHS and at the University of Texas Health Sciences-San Antonio, Texas.

COL Grimes received her MD with honors from USUHS in 1990 and was commissioned as an Army Captain. Following two years as a general medical officer in Vilseck, Germany, COL Grimes continued her training at National Naval Medical Center and at Walter Reed Army Medical Center where she completed residencies in both psychiatry and neurology.

COL Grimes is the fourth National Director of DVBIC, which is celebrating 20 years of service in 2012. A Department of Defense-funded collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs, DVBIC supports 17 care and treatment sites nationwide; conducts clinical research; educates service members, medical personnel and caregivers; and consolidates and reports all DoD TBI-related incidence and prevalence data.

COL Michael S. Jaffee, MD, MC, USAF, FS

COL Jaffee currently serves as the USAF Surgeon General Neurology Consultant. He is board-certified in both Neurology and Psychiatry. He also serves as the Department of Defense (DoD) liaison to two White House appointed panels of the Defense Health Board. COL Jaffee previously served as the National Director of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center. He came to DVBIC HQ after serving as the Neurology Program Director at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base, TX and as the DVBIC San Antonio Site Director.

COL Jaffee has served as an Aerospace Neurology Consultant at the Aerospace Consultation Service/United States Air Force (USAF) School of Aerospace Medicine and has served as the USAF Psychiatry Consultant on security clearance issues. He has academic appointments as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurology and an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, TX as well as holding the position of Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, MD.

COL Jaffee holds an MD degree from University of Virginia School of Medicine and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania as well as BS in Economics from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce. He completed residency training at Wilford Hall Medical Center where he was selected as chief resident for both the departments of Neurology and Psychiatry.

Jean Ann (Langlois) Orman, MPH, ScD

Jean Langlois Orman is currently the chief of Statistics and Epidemiology at the US Army Institute of Surgical Research in San Antonio, Texas. She is also Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Texas Health Science Center, also in San Antonio.  Her education consists of a BA in Speech Communication from the University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island (1979); an MS in Speech-Language Pathology at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana (1981); an MPH at The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (1987); and an ScD in Health Policy and Management and Injury Epidemiology from The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health (1991).

Dr. Orman has received many awards and honors, her most recent being the North American Brain Injury Society Public Policy Award (2006); Brain Injury Association of Ohio Awareness Award (2006); National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Director's Award (2005); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Service Award (2004); and National Center for Injury Prevention and Control - Research Agenda Group Award (2003). Her professional memberships include, but are not limited to, TBI Advisory Subcommittee of the Defense Health Board (member); Scientific Advisory Board, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems National Data Center, Denver, CO (member);  Brooke Army Medical Center Military Brain Injury Rehabilitation Research Consortium (member); and the Department of Defense/Department of Veterans Affairs Deployment Health Working Group (ex-officio member).

In addition, Dr. Orman has an extensive publication history and serves as a reviewer for multiple peer-reviewed journals. Her most recent publications include the "Epidemiology" chapter in the revised Textbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2011; "Common data elements for traumatic brain injury: recommendations from the interagency working group on demographics and clinical assessment" in the journal Neurotrauma, 2010; and "Challenges associated with post-deployment screening for mild traumatic brain injury in military personnel" in the Clinical Neuropsychologist, 2009.