Kelli Williams Gary, PhD, MPH, OTR/L
Dr. Gary is an assistant professor in the department of rehabilitation counseling at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, VA. Twenty-eight years ago, her dreams of becoming a commissioned officer in U.S. Army while at Florida A & M University were dashed when she sustained a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) from a major car accident, which resulted in a coma for over two weeks and a hospital stay for nearly five months with extensive physical and cognitive injuries. After her injury, she returned to school and obtained a Bachelor of Science in OT from Chicago State University in Chicago, IL, a Master of Science and Master of Public Health from Columbia University in New York, NY, and Ph.D. from VCU all while having residual cognitive and emotional deficits. She has 24 years of clinical practice, 11 years of research, and eight years of teaching experience in OT and rehab counseling. She is a member of the leadership team for the Culture, Race, and Health Core in the VCU Institute on Inclusion, Inquiry, and Innovation.
Dr. Gary has authored/coauthored more than 24 peer-reviewed journal articles and 3 book chapters primarily focused on racial and ethnic minorities and caregivers with TBI and other disabilities. She has written grants and secured funding to develop an after-school program in Petersburg, VA, develop her research in TBI and health disparities, and to pay off her student loans. She was recently selected as the president of the board of directors for the Brain Injury Association of Virginia (BIAV), volunteers for the conference planning committee, and co-facilitated a brain injury support group for over 10 years. Additionally, she is on a national committee for Veterans with special disabilities that reports directly to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in Washington, DC. Recently, she became nationally-certified as a brain injury specialist and has been invited as a keynote speaker around the nation and internationally, including Puerto Rico, Texas, Toronto, Canada and Johannesburg, South Africa, to present on her research on brain injury, her experience of living with a TBI, and relying on education and training to become successful and productive.
She is proud to be a life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. As a recent widow of her dearly beloved husband Frank Gary, a decorated retired navy war veteran, she has begun speaking about overcoming painful, insurmountable odds by being resilient, generating positive energy, and living a fulfilling life. She is advancing her body of work towards helping individuals avoid, overcome, and understand adverse childhood experiences.
Maheen Mausoof Adamson, PhD
Dr. Adamson is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford School of Medicine and Clinical Research Director in the Department of Rehabilitation at VA Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS) in Palo Alto, CA. She further serves as Senior Scientist to the Headache Center of Excellence at VAPAHCS. She is also Director of PhD Fellowships, Polytrauma at VAPAHCS where she serves as primary mentor to PhD postdoctoral fellows with affiliated appointments in Psychiatry and Neurosurgery departments at Stanford School of Medicine.
Dr. Adamson finished her Advanced Levels through Cambridge University, UK from Karachi Pakistan and came to Los Angeles, CA for higher education. She completed her undergraduate degrees in neurobiology and women studies at University of California, Irvine with her senior thesis titled as “Plasticity of gender roles in urban society”. She completed her Ph.D. in neuroscience with a focus on neurolinguistics and interhemispheric processing in older adults from the University of Southern California. Before starting her postdoctoral fellowship in Psychiatry at Stanford School of Medicine in 2005, she trained with neuroimaging experts for investigating Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive aging at University of California, Davis and San Francisco. During her postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Adamson investigated cognitive expertise and skill learning in older pilots and conducted studies using flight simulation models inside MRI scanners. In 2008, the newly founded War-Related Illness and Injury Center (WRIISC) at VAPAHCS hired her as Deputy Director for Database Coordination. Within five years, she became Director of Research at WRIISC and moved from instructor to Clinical Assistant Professor and Clinical Associate Professor in Department of Psychiatry at Stanford School of Medicine. During this time she developed the research neuroimaging infrastructure related to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and its related chronic symptoms, established the clinical and research database for WRIISC patients and mentored numerous postdoctoral fellows as Director of PhD Fellowships at WRIISC.
In 2015, Dr. Adamson became the Senior Scientific Research Director for Defense Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) at the VAPAHCS and Clinical Associate Professor in Department of Neurosurgery at VAPAHCS. She supervised DVBIC VA Palo Alto’s clinical research program in tandem with multidisciplinary Polytrauma System of Care (PSC), National DVBIC headquarters and its network as well as Stanford School of Medicine departments of radiology, neurology, psychiatry and other departments emphasizing clinical research coordination, comprehensive education and outreach. She developed innovative techniques to diagnose mild and moderate TBI-related deficits through state-of-the art neuroimaging, genetic and proteomic analysis, and cognitive and neuropsychological testing. She became a leader in neuromodulation for TBI and currently serves as PI, Site-PI, and Co-I on six funded Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation clinical trials that aim at improving TBI-related symptoms such as pain, cognition and depression in Veterans and civilians. She combines advanced neuroimaging including PET MRI, and molecular biomarker (e.g., lipid, genetic and proteomic) research to further our understanding of precision medicine approaches. VAPAHCS recently became Headache Center of Excellence and she is leading the main research efforts, as Clinical Research Director of Rehabilitation, to bring in collaborators and innovation for treatment and management of TBI-related headaches. This involves working with academia, government and industry stakeholders for in-home use of therapeutic devices, digital health platforms, Human AI, and virtual and augmented reality. The underlying theme for all her work in diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation is to focus on gender/sex, older/younger and marginalized populations within the VA. In addition to mentoring postdoctoral fellows and residents, Dr. Adamson also hosts a summer student volunteer program to introduce young minds to innovative healthcare research.
Dr. Adamson has authored or co-authored over 55 peer-reviewed publications, professional articles and chapters on cognitive and neural basis of Alzheimer’s disease and TBI, and has received recognition in national and international settings. She is a senior/associate editor for Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and a co-editor for Frontiers in Neurology: TBI. She currently serves on the board of California Department of Rehabilitation as Co-Chair on the TBI Advisory Committee, Brain Injury Association of California and Academy of Certified Brain Injury Specialists. She is a nominated member of the Sigma Xi Society, a member of Women in Neuromodulation Society and has received several awards for her research. Internationally, she has given numerous inspirational keynotes and works diligently to harness global diversity through her research. Recently she conducted a worldwide survey on stress levels during the first month of stay-in-place orders due to COVID-19. She is now actively collaborating with researchers from Italy, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan on various projects bringing expertise on neuromodulation, neuroimaging and psychiatric problems in brain injured populations across the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. To enhance the global research outreach and impact, Dr. Adamson is now part of the accepted class of 2022 for an Executive Masters in Healthcare Leadership at Brown University.
Dr. Adamson became involved with ACRM when she received the best poster award from the Military and Veteran Network Group in 2015. She then joined two other task forces (Neuroplasticity and Disorders of Consciousness) and the programming committee. As Co-Chair of the Neuroplasticity Task group, she consistently developed innovative symposia for four years and evolved the task group. She has been an active member of the ACRM family for five years and has mentored several ACRM trainees.
Dr. Adamson attributes most of her success to her late father, Muhammad Mausoof, who passed away after suffering from two consecutive strokes in 2008 and always encouraged her to “stay above the mean”. She attributes her energy and motivation to her wonderful husband, Bryan Adamson and the two loves of her life, her children Arman and Anayah. She is thankful to ACRM leadership and the exceptional network it offers and is looking forward to serving the community in any capacity she can.
Mark Ashley, PhD
Dr. Ashley is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Centre for Neuro Skills, a post-acute rehabilitation provider that has offered brain injury and stroke treatment programs since 1980. Dr. Ashley holds the position of Chairman Emeritus with both the Brain Injury Association of America and the California Brain Injury Association (BIAA). He also served on the Advisory Panel of BIAA’s project for the development of Guidelines for the Rehabilitation and Disease Management of Adults with Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.
Dr. Ashley received a Master of Science degree in Speech Pathology and a Doctor of Science degree from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. He also received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from State University of New York at Geneseo. He is a licensed Speech Language Pathologist in California and Texas and is both a Certified Case Manager and Certified Brain Injury Specialist Trainer. Dr. Ashley is also an adjunct professor at the Rehabilitation Institute of the College of Education at Southern Illinois University.
He is a past Chair of the Corporate Advisory Committee of the American Academy for Certification of Brain Injury Specialists, and has served on the California Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Council. He is a past member of the Advisory Committee for the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology, and a member of the Advisory Board for the Applied Neuroscience and Neurobehavioral Research Center, University of Cyprus. He participated in preparation of Traumatic Brain Injury Medical Treatment Guidelines for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and serves on several grant review committees.
In 2011, Dr. Ashley established the Clinical Research and Education Foundation, a nonprofit research organization that advances public and clinical understanding of brain injury causes and treatment. He has also participated in the Blue Ribbon Panel on Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress convened by Generals Peter W. Chiarelli and Joseph Dunford. His work has been published in many professional and research publications, and he has written four books. He has also published numerous research papers in peer-reviewed journals. He has also given numerous presentations to clinicians, researchers, and other stakeholders. Dr. Ashley has been a member of ACRM since 1981 and the BI-ISIG since 1995 and served as Chairman on the ACRM Subcommittee for Post-Acute Care and Rehabilitation Standards with Head Injury Task Force from 1983 – 1986.
