Chief
Functional & Applied Biomechanics Section
National Institutes of Health*

Diane L. Damiano, Ph.D, PT, is a tenure-track scientist and Chief of the Functional and Applied Biomechanics Section at National Institutes of Health* in Bethesda, Maryland. Her research focuses on the use of portable brain imaging during functional movement to elucidate the brain mechanisms underlying normal and impaired coordination and the design and investigation of activity-based rehabilitation programs to promote optimal motor functioning and enhance muscle and neural plasticity in children with cerebral palsy. She has published over 90 articles and book chapters and is on the editorial boards of Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, and the Journal of Pediatric Rehabilitation. She is Past President of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine and the Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society.

*Dr. Damiano is serving in a personal capacity.

Head of the Division of Developmental Paediatrics
Professor of Paediatrics, University of Toronto

Dr. Darcy Fehlings is Head of the Division of Developmental Paediatrics and is a Professor in the Department of Paediatrics, at the University of Toronto. She is the inaugural holder of the Bloorview Children’s Hospital Foundation Chair in Developmental Paediatrics. Dr. Fehlings is the Senior Physician Director of the Child Development Program at Holland Bloorview Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital and provides medical leadership for a large ambulatory program for cerebral palsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dr. Fehlings is a Senior Clinician Scientist in the Bloorview Research Institute. Her research focuses on the innovation and evaluation of interventions for children with cerebral palsy. She is the lead investigator of an Ontario Brain Institute integrated neuroscience network focused on children with cerebral palsy (CP-NET) and leads the CP Discovery Project in the Canadian NeuroDevNet Networks of Centres of Excellence. Professor Fehlings was the president of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM) in 2015.

Peter William Shapiro Chair
Director of Research & Education, UCLA Center for Cerebral Palsy

Dr. Fowler is a Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She received her degree in Physical Therapy from Northeastern University in Boston and her PhD in Kinesiology from UCLA with a major in Biomechanics and a minor in Motor Control. She holds the Peter William Shapiro Chair and is the Director of Research and Education for the Center for Cerebral Palsy at UCLA and the Director of the Kameron Gait and Motion Analysis Laboratory. She is a faculty member in the Tarjan Center for Disabilities at UCLA, a University Center of Excellence, and the Center for Duchenne Muscuar Dystrophy at UCLA.

Dr. Fowler has over 30 years experience in the evaluation and treatment of pediatric onset disabilities. She was a co-founder of the Center for Cerebral Palsy at UCLA, a multi-disciplinary program to meet the medical needs of children and adults. Her research examines the effect of exercise, pharmacological and surgical interventions on spasticity, strength, gait and function. She was lead investigator for a multi-site study: Pediatric Endurance and Limb Strengthening (PEDALS) for children with CP as part of PTClinResNet funded by the Foundation for Physical Therapy. A focus of her current research is reduced selective motor control in CP. Her team developed the Selective Control Assessment of the Lower Extremity (SCALE), a clinical assessment. In addition, her team uses dynamic systems modeling, biomechanical models and robotics to identify selective motor control strategies during gait. Her current research explores the effect of selective motor control intervenitons on motor function and corticospinal tract integrity, using brain imaging technology. Other areas of research in CP include gaming technology for children with dyskinetic CP and Women’s Health.

Dr. Fowler is the President of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine for 2015-2016. She is an Associate Editor for Pediatric Physical Therapy. She received the Jack Walker Award from the American Physical Therapy Association for the best clinical research article in Physical Therapy, which refuted the premise that strengthening exercise performance increases spasticity in children with CP (2001). She received the Research Award from the American Physical Therapy Association Section on Pediatrics (2006) and the White Swan Award from the AbilitiesFirst Foundation (2003).

Children’s National Health System
George Washington University

Anna Penn, MD, Ph.D, is a clinical neonatologist and developmental neuroscientist at Children’s National Health System in Washington DC. She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Fetal Medicine Institute, with additional appointments in the Division of Neonatology and the Center for Neuroscience Research. She is the director of translational research for Hospital Based Specialties and co-Director of the Board of Visitors Cerebral Palsy Prevention Program, a new multidisciplinary program at Children’s National aimed at improving neurological outcome in preterm infants while training the next generation of Cerebral Palsy investigators. In her laboratory, Dr. Penn conducts translational work aimed at understanding and ameliorating preterm brain injury. Specifically, she studies the role of placental function in fetal brain development and damage, with the goal of developing new therapeutic agents to protect the brain in sick newborns.

Ph.D Professor
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
University of Michigan

Seth Warschausky, Ph.D, is a Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Michigan. He has been Director of the Division of Rehabilitation Psychology and Neuropsychology since 2009. In 2002, he founded the Michigan Adapted Cognitive Assessment Laboratory (M-ACAL), continuously funded by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Speciation Education Programs (OSEP), DOED NIDRR, NIH, the Mildred Swanson Foundation, and University of Michigan faculty grants. M-ACAL studies center on the use computerized cognitive assessments, and more recently brain-computer interface adapted cognitive assessments in collaboration with the University of Michigan Direct Brain-Computer Interface Laboratory. Studies in collaboration with the University of Michigan RERC focus on identifying and addressing the health self-management needs of young adults with cerebral palsy or spina bifida. Post-doctoral fellows, graduate students in biomedical engineering and the neurosciences, and undergraduates have obtained research training in M-ACAL collaborative projects. Dr. Warschausky is on the Editorial Boards of Rehabilitation Psychology and the Journal of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine. He is a former President of the American Psychological Association’s Division 22, Section 1, Pediatric Rehabilitation Psychology and a Fellow in APA Division 22. He has served on the Executive Board for United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan and the Advisory Board of the American Psychological Associations Center for Psychology in Schools and Education.

Development Disability Branch
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, MD, is a Developmental Pediatrician, Medical Epidemiologist, and Chief of the Developmental Disabilities Branch in CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp joined CDC in 1981 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer and completed a Preventive Medicine Residency in 1984. After coming to CDC, she designed and implemented the first U.S. population-based studies of developmental disabilities among children. These studies laid the foundation for CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, which has been tracking the number and characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities in the U.S. since 2000.

Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp received her medical degree from Emory University and is board-certified in Pediatrics and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. She served as a CDC representative and Chair to the Interagency Coordinating Committee for the National Children’s Study; publishes extensively on the epidemiology of developmental disabilities; and speaks to audiences across the country and internationally about CDC’s work. She remains committed to making an impact on the lives of children, no matter their level of ability, and maintained her clinical experience by serving as the medical director of the Clayton Early Intervention Program in metropolitan Atlanta until 2013.

Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Ralph. She enjoys spending time with her two children and four grandchildren.