Trauma recovery: new science and technology for mental and physical health

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Biography not yet available

Barbara O. Rothbaum, PhD is Executive Director of the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program. She is a Professor and Associate Vice Chair of Clinical Research at Emory School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Director of the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program and holds the Paul A. Janssen Chair in Neuropsychopharmcology. Dr Rothbaum specializes in research on the treatment of anxiety disorders, particularly PTSD. She was a member of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Study on Assessment of Ongoing Efforts in the Treatment of PTSD, and briefed the DOD, VA, House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs and Armed Services Committees on the IOM report results (June 17-18, 2014).

Dr Rothbaum has been studying PTSD treatments since 1986 and has developed, tested, and disseminated some of the most innovative and effective treatments available for PTSD. She is an inventor of virtual reality exposure therapy. She was a pioneer in applying it in the treatment of PTSD in combat veterans. She has authored over 350 scientific papers and chapters, has published 11 books on the treatment of PTSD and edited 4 others on anxiety, and received the Diplomate in Behavioral Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. She is a past president of the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), is currently on the Scientific Advisory Boards for the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA), National Center for PTSD (NC-PTSD), and the executive committee of the Warrior Care Network. She is a fellow of the ACNP (American College of Neuropsychopharmacology), the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), and American Psychological Association’s Division 56 (Division of Trauma Psychology) and was awarded the 2010 “Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Practice of Trauma Psychology” for APA Division 56 and the Robert S. Laufer Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS). Her outreach efforts include training community clinicians in evidenced based treatment for PTSD.

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Melinda Fitzgerald is Professor of Neurotrauma and Deputy Director of the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, jointly appointed by the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science. Professor Fitzgerald’s research goal is to improve outcomes for patients who have experienced traumatic injury to their central nervous system. She leads her pre-clinical research team in studies to understand how damage spreads following neurotrauma, and uses findings from these fundamental studies to design and test treatment strategies. She is working with her collaborators and clinical research team to facilitate translation of her pre-clinical findings, focusing on prediction of persisting post-concussion symptoms, in order to identify suitable patients for treatment.

The work is part of a broader national initiative to improve outcomes following traumatic brain injury of all severities, which has led to the establishment of a federally funded Mission for Traumatic Brain Injury, for which she is the provisional Chair of the Expert Advisory Panel. She has published over 85 scientific papers, including in discipline leading journals such as J Neuroscience, Nature Nano, ACS Nano, and Biomaterials. She is a Handling Editor for the Journal of Neurochemistry, the Australian representative for the Asia Pacific Regional Committee for IBRO and serves on NHMRC and MS Australia grant review panels as well as a range of scientific advisory committees and steering groups.

Daniel Freeman is an NIHR Research Professor, Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, a consultant clinical psychologist in Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, a fellow of University College Oxford, and leads the Oxford Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis (O-CAP) research group at the University of Oxford. Daniel has been working with virtual reality (VR) since 2001 and is a co-founder and Chief Clinical Officer of Oxford VR, a University of Oxford spinout company.

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Dr Anders Stengaard Sørensen is an electronics and robotics engineer, employed as Associate professor with University of Southern Denmark's department for Health Technology. As head of the Training Technology Lab, he is working closely with health professionals, training experts and humanistic researchers, to create real-world technology for better training. Using robotic devices and components to create bodily interaction with users play a major role in the development of new training methods, but are also employed in improving existing ones. Dr Sørensen and his lab are thus collaborating with Danish patient, elite sports and aerospace organizations to improve and renew training in general. From patients to athletes and even astronauts.

As Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Dr Andreas Goppelt has been in charge of Research and Development at Ottobock since September 2017. Goppelt was previously managing director of Otto Bock Mobility Solutions GmbH, the company’s wheelchair business. He joined the Ottobock Group in 2015 as managing director of nstim NeuroBionics GmbH.

Goppelt was a consultant for biopharmaceuticals and medical technology between 2013 and 2015. From 2005 to 2013, he served as head of R&D for the BioSurgery and Regenerative Medicine business unit at Baxter. Goppelt began his career in business in 1997 as co-founder and chief scientific officer of biotech company Switch Biotech AG, which specialises in curing wound healing disorders and skin diseases.

A native of Erlangen, he studied chemistry at Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich and earned his doctorate in biochemistry. After earning his doctorate, Goppelt worked as a postdoc at the LMU’s gene centre and the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany.

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Oliver Armitage is Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at BIOS, a leading neural engineering startup. Oliver has always had a vision that the human body could be repaired or made better through augmentative technology and how that can be used to improve people’s lives. He studied for his PhD at the University of Cambridge in Bioengineering, working in the world-renowned Nanoscience Centre. He specializes in tissue interfaces and engineering to allow technology to be fused with the body. Oliver was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2018.

Air Commodore Rich Withnall joined the RAF as a Medical Cadet in 1990. After GP vocational training, he undertook Senior Medical Officer appointments on fast jet, multi-engine and rotary flying stations, and the RAF’s recruit training unit. He has completed Command & Staff appointments at HQ Personnel and Training Command, HQ AIR Command, HQ Surgeon General and the Ministry of Defence (MOD). He won the Brooke-Popham Prize (Best Defence Research Paper) and the Sir Michael Howard Prize (Best MA student) on the Advanced Command & Staff Course in 2007/8. After a policy role in MOD, Rich returned to HQ AIR Command as Deputy Director Health Services (RAF) in 2010. He became the first RAF Defence Professor of General Practice & Primary Care in 2013. He was promoted to Air Commodore in 2017, becoming the first primary care clinician to be appointed as Medical Director of the UK Defence Medical Services.

Wing Commander Stow has worked all over the world in support of Operations and humanitarian crises. As an example, in 2011, he deployed to Afghanistan with the US Marine Corps and was responsible for the medical evacuation of 1100 sick and wounded people. He volunteered to support the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone and whilst there helped develop a novel method of moving infective casualties by land and air.

In 2016 Stow was invited into the Order of Saint John for his collective efforts to preserve life and reduce suffering for the good of humanity, and in 2019 Stow received the Worshipful Cutler’s prize for Innovation.

Marcus is currently the Chief Operating Officer of JhubMed, the Defence Medical Innovation Hub, working to bring world leading technology into the hands of the Military Medical User, at pace.