Message From the Chair, Kristen Dams-O’Connor
Kristen Dams-O’Connor, PhD, FACRM
Dear BI-ISIG Colleagues,
It has been an honor to serve this incredible professional community, and it’s hard to believe I’m writing my last message to you as the Chair of the BI-ISIG. Things have changed quite a bit since my last Chair’s Message. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly every corner of the globe, and our BI-ISIG members have been impacted both personally and professionally. We are keenly aware that people with brain injury may be uniquely impacted by COVID-19 (the disease caused by SARS-CoV2), stay-at-home orders, and interruptions in care. Our BI-ISIG community is stronger than ever, as we share resources, ideas for care delivery and research initiatives, and support services during these unprecedented times.
As we prepare for our first-ever virtual ACRM annual conference, I’m reminded that the BI-ISIG was founded by creative and resourceful people who brought colleagues together for meaningful collaboration long before teleconferencing software existed. When I joined ACRM in 2008, the BI-ISIG Mid-Year Meeting consisted of a bunch of brain injury clinicians and researchers who met somewhere in the middle of the United States to work on projects in whatever random space we could find – the coffee shop, the bar, the floor of the hotel lobby. We postdocs pooled our meager funds and shared hotel rooms, four or five of us to a room, just so we could be a part of the action. People from different disciplines and of all career stages came together with a shared mission of advancing brain injury rehabilitation. I was amazed by this group wherein the famous people, the leaders of our field, worked alongside the students and postdocs, and treated us as equals. We left these meetings exhausted and invigorated, and since our members are located across the world, most of the work of the BI-ISIG has been done remotely. This approach to collaboration has resulted in tremendous productivity. We are an innovative and capable team, and this won’t be the first time the BI-ISIG makes great things happen over telephone wires and internet cables. I hope you will join us next week, 19-24 October, at the ACRM 2020 VIRTUAL Annual Conference.
Thinking back over the past two years as your Chair, I’m smiling to myself as I sit at my socially distanced desk. I loved seeing so many of our early career members take on leadership roles, winning scholarships and awards along the way. As a community group, we celebrated several “wins,” such as piloting a vertical programming conference schedule to reduce competing content at the annual conference. We even carved out time for our Task Forces to meet during the core 2020 conference, which will prevent our west coast colleagues from having to Zoom in to meetings at 7am EST. Speaking of our Task Forces – did you know that our colleagues led a Cognitive Rehabilitation Manual training workshop in Qatar? Or that the Disorders of Consciousness Task Force has spearheaded a collaboration with the American College of Surgeons to unite the trauma and rehabilitation communities? We have celebrated BI-ISIG members’ countless achievements in the form of publications, promotions, and national awards. I’ll always remember the joy of presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of the BI-ISIG to Dr. Donna Langenbahn and Dr. Lance Trexler at the 2019 BI-ISIG Summit.
I am tremendously grateful to the 2018-2020 BI-ISIG Executive Committee – our Past Chair Dr. Jenny Bogner who provided much-needed guidance and encouragement, our Secretary Dr. Lillian Flores who filled this important role even after a career change (also, she remembers everything!), our Treasurer Dr. Michael Fraas who always has our best interests in mind, our Communications Officer Dr. Monique Pappadis who makes sure we can remain in direct contact with our members against all odds, our Early Career Officer Dr. Shannon Juengst who simply will not settle for less-than-great, our Program Officer Dr. Julie Haarbauer-Krupa who has once again curated an excellent lineup of BI-ISIG speakers for Virtual 2020, and our Awards Officer Dr. Dawn Neumann whose impeccable executive functioning skills guide multiple awards committees to recognize our colleagues’ achievements. As of the Virtual BI-ISIG Summit, next Thursday, 22 October, I will pass the torch to my colleague and friend Dr. Tom Bergquist, whose dedication to serving people with brain injury will guide him in upholding the strong legacy of the BI-ISIG.
Kristen Dams-O’Connor, PhD, FACRM
Chair, Brain Injury Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group (BI-ISIG)
Director, Brain Injury Research Center
Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine and Neurology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
