American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) Brain Injury Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group (BI-ISIG)
The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) Brain Injury Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group (BI-ISIG) promotes high standards of rehabilitation practice, education, and research among interdisciplinary professionals with common interests in brain injury.
(ACRM) Disorders of Consciousness Family Education Project
The mission of the Disorders of Consciousness (DoC) Task Force is to advance scientific knowledge, develop standards of practice, and advocate for the appropriate care of persons with disordered consciousness and their families. Projects developed fall under the umbrellas of clinical research, advocacy, and education about this patient group.
One of the projects was to create a reliable, accurate, and easy-to-navigate source of information to support education, questions, and advocacy about their loved one's needs. In addition, a resource for hospital clinicians to help families get reliable and accurate information at the right time to advocate for their needs.
Our Sponsors
JoJo's Cause
The purpose of JoJo's Cause is to help raise money for both Brain Injury Research and families in need at the local level. We intend to hold various fund raising events throughout the year and with that money, we will donate to local organizations throughout NY and NJ that provide for families in need. We also intend to donate to organizations that focus on Brain Injury Research. JoJos cause was founded in memory of JoAnne Geier who suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury from a car accident in 1998 and never was able to recover from her injuries. We lost JoJo in Feb of 2022. JoJos quality of life was not something anyone should have to endure and these injuries prevent families from ever getting closure. If we can help just one family recover from an injury like JoJos these efforts will all be worth it.
Shepherd Center
Extraordinary care for extraordinary outcomes
Shepherd Center is where people in need of personalized rehabilitation after severe neurological injury or illness find care and compassion to begin again. We specialize in the rehabilitation for patients with the most complex spinal cord and brain injuries, traumatic stroke, and other neurological conditions.
You have a voice in where you go for rehabilitation care, and that starts with choosing a place with the best support, outcomes, and heart.
Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals
Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals leads the nation in providing medical and physical rehabilitation for adults and children. Our hospitals in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, specialize in rehabilitating patients who have suffered a stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury, complex medical issues and a variety of other conditions or traumatic events. Patients and families nationwide seek out Madonna for our ability to handle cases of varying complexity.
The Madonna family consists of highly trained experts in physical medicine and rehabilitation, led by our team of physiatrists. Hospitalists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, recreation therapists, respiratory therapists, rehabilitation nurses, and other clinical staff provide industry-leading medical treatment and therapies. Our teams focus on holistic rehabilitative care and may include neuropsychology, pastoral care, rehabilitation engineers, and others who are relentlessly motivated to help patients regain their highest level of independence. Established relationships with acute care hospitals across the nation allow Madonna to provide patients with a seamless transition into rehabilitation.
Contributing Committee Members
Susan Johnson MA, CCC-SLP (Retired)
Susan Johnson MA, CCC-SLP (Retired) is the past Director of Brain Injury Services at Shepherd Center in Atlanta Georgia. Susan helped start the Brain Injury Program at Shepherd to where it is today with a 60-bed inpatient program, a Disorders of Consciousness program, a day and residential program, a Family Peer Support Program, a mild concussion program and the Share Program for veterans with TBI and PTSD. She was active with the ACRM BI-ISIG DoC Task Force where she led the initiative for Family Education specific to DoC and its implementation. She has published and has spoken nationally and regionally on brain injury and DoC and patient-centered care. She has been a strong advocate for people with brain injuries and their families to get services and support. When Susan retired, she started a nonprofit called the Georgia RSVP Clinic for uninsured and underinsured people with brain and spinal cord injuries. It is an all-volunteer clinic that provides comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation services one time a month in Atlanta, Georgia. For outcomes and stories go to www.garsvpclinic.org.
Amy Shapiro-Rosenbaum, Ph.D., FACRM
Amy Shapiro-Rosenbaum, Ph.D., FACRM has a background in clinical psychology, school psychology, and clinical neuropsychology, and over 20 years of clinical and research brain injury experience. Currently, she is Director of the TBI Rehabilitation Program at Park Terrace Care Center. She also serves as a TBI Model System Investigator and adjunct faculty for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and is co-owner of BrainMatters Neuropsychological Services, a community-based practice for persons with brain injury and their caregivers. Dr. Shapiro-Rosenbaum’s clinical and research interests include disorders of consciousness, confusional states, cognitive rehabilitation, evidence-based practice, and psychotherapy after brain injury. She has numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals, textbooks, and on-line, and her work has been presented at professional trainings and conferences nationally and internationally. She contributed to practice guideline development for disorders of consciousness care management and cognitive rehabilitation for persons with TBI and stroke. Additionally, she has spearheaded a wide range of cross-disciplinary knowledge translation and professional education activities, through collaborations with multiple organizations including the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM), TBI Model Systems, Brainline WETA Public Television, and the Curing Coma Campaign. She has received several awards and recognitions for her significant contributions to ACRM including Service Commendation Awards (2023 & 2021), Exemplary Leadership Award (2022), Fellow of the ACRM (2018), and Cognitive Rehabilitation Manual and Training Program Special Appreciation Award (2015).
Brooke Murtaugh, OTD, OTR/L, CBIST
Brain Injury Program Manager, Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals, Lincoln NE
Dr. Brooke Murtaugh received her Clinical Doctorate in Occupational Therapy from Creighton University in 2004. She has practiced brain injury rehabilitation for 17 years. Brooke serves as Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals brain injury program manager and continues to practice as a clinician, primarily consulting on and treating the DOC population. Dr. Murtaugh is a member of the Disorders of Consciousness Task Force and Brain Injury Special Interest Group through the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the International Brain Injury Association DoC Special Interest Group. She has played an active role within the ACRM DoC TF Family Education Committee. She is also the co-chair of the International Curing Coma Campaign Care of the Coma Patient Work Group in partnership with the Neurocritical Care Society and sits on the Coma Campaign’s Technical Work Group Committee. She is also a member of the International Brain Injury Society’s DoC Special Interest Group and participates in the Family Education Task Force. Dr. Murtaugh is a member of the American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement Program’s TBI Best Practice Recommendations committee leading the development of the rehabilitation best practice recommendations.
Kathryn Farris, OTR/L
Clinical Education Coordinator, Shepherd Center, Atlanta GA
Kathryn has been practicing as an Occupational Therapist since 1993, specializing in acquired brain injury. She works at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Her current role as the Clinical Education Coordinator across the brain injury program entails professional education development and dissemination, development and management of patient/family education platforms, facilitation of competency-based training for staff, and brain injury program development. She works collaboratively with Shepherd Center’s brain injury leadership team and the community to identify and provide resources to enhance the care of people with brain injuries, facilitate evidence-based standards of care, and to support quality improvement initiatives. She is also a contributing member of several collaborative groups who network across rehabilitation settings in the US in the interest of expanding awareness of innovative programming and clinical care. Kathryn’s career has included being a member of the interdisciplinary rehab team providing bedside care, clinical management of the Occupational Therapy team in ICU & rehabilitation settings, and as the lead and/or participant in numerous program development initiatives to address clinical practice and quality improvement needs. Her clinical specialties include therapeutic management of complex rehab patients from disorders of consciousness to mild traumatic brain injury to stroke; interdisciplinary assessment and treatment of vision and perception; and integration of rehabilitation technologies into rehabilitation programming. Kathryn is active in the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) Brain Injury Task Force and has presented regionally and nationally on many brain injury and rehabilitation topics.
Shanti Pinto, MD
Dr. Pinto is currently an Assistant Professor in the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and O’Donnell Clinical Neuroscience Scholar at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX, USA. She completed her medical education at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School as part of the Physician Scientist Training Program. She completed residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in 2016, where she received the Excellence in Brain Injury Medicine award, followed by fellowship in Brain Injury Medicine at UPMC in 2017. She has presented at numerous national conferences and received the Best Paper Award for current fellows at the Association of Academic Physiatrists Annual Meeting as a fellow in 2017 and as a faculty physician in 2020. In October 2020, she was awarded the inaugural Atrium Health Excellence in Research Award for Early Career Scientists. She serves as co-project director for the North Texas Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems site, and she is funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to study the link between autonomic nervous system dysfunction, cerebrovascular autoregulation impairments, and outcomes after traumatic brain injury.