Who Are We?
The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Community Integration of Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) was awarded to researchers at TIRR (The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research) and Baylor College of Medicine by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) on November 1, 2003.
Directors and Investigators
Angelle M. Sander, Ph.D., Margaret A. Struchen, Ph.D. and Karen A. Hart, Ph.D.
Co-Principal Investigator: Angelle M. Sander, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine and is the Residency Research Director for the Department. She is Associate Director of TIRR’s Brain Injury Research Center. She is also the Neuropsychologist for the inpatient rehabilitation unit at Quentin Mease Community Hospital, in the Harris County Hospital District. She was awarded a Mary E. Switzer Rehabilitation Research Fellowship from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) and has been Principal Investigator on grants from NIDRR and the National Academy of Neuropsychology. In addition to the RRTC, she is currently Principal Investigator on an NIH/NCMRR pilot study investigating predictors of health care utilization in minority stroke patients. Research interests include efficacy of rehabilitation interventions, family adjustment to TBI, environmental factors impacting outcome, and impact of injury on persons from diverse backgrounds.
Co-Principal Investigator: Margaret A. Struchen, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine and Neuropsychologist at the Brain Injury Research Center of TIRR. Her research interests include assessment and treatment of social skills impairments following traumatic brain injury, understanding efficacy of rehabilitation interventions, and outcome measurement following acquired brain injury. Dr. Struchen is currently Principal Investigator for a NIDRR-funded Field-Initiated grant on Assessment of Social Communication Abilities following Traumatic Brain Injury and Co-Investigator for the NIDRR-funded Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Rehabilitation Interventions Following TBI. Dr. Struchen also serves as President-Elect for the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association of Texas and as Vice-President of the Board of Directors for the Texas Brain Injury Network of Houston.
Director of Training: Karen A. Hart, Ph.D., is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) and Vice President for Education at TIRR. Dr. Hart is also Director of Education for the Departments of PM&R at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas-Houston Medical School and in that capacity oversees the residency and fellowship training programs for the largest PM&R residency program in the United States. She has been Director of Training for four NIDRR-funded RRTC's during the past 19 years (RRTC for Community-Oriented Services for Persons with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), RRTC on Community Integration of Individuals with SCI, RRTC on Rehabilitation Interventions Following TBI, and RRTC on Community Integration in Persons with TBI). She served as the Center Co-Director for the RRTC for Community Integration of Individuals with SCI and is currently the Project Director for the NIDRR Model SCI Systems Dissemination Center. Dr. Hart is a past President of the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers, is a past President of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, and is a Board Member of the American Spinal Injury Association. Dr. Hart oversees the day-to-day operation of the training projects.
Medical Director: Sunil Kothari, M.D., is a board-certified physiatrist and Attending Physiatrist for the Brain Injury and Stroke Program at TIRR. Dr. Kothari is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for Baylor College of Medicine and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Texas School of Medicine-Houston. Dr. Kothari completed his residency at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, where he served as Chief Resident. He completed a Fellowship in Brain Injury at TIRR and joined as Attending Physiatrist in 2000. Dr. Kothari has research interests in the area of traumatic brain injury and quality of life. He was voted Teacher of the Year 2000 for the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine and received the R. Edward Carter, Jr., M.D. Award for Continuing Contributions and Accomplishments for the BCM/UT PM&R Alliance. He was recently honored as the 2003 Texas Rehabilitation Association Physician of the Year.
Co-Investigators:
Jerome S. Caroselli, Ph.D.Lisa Keenan, Ph.D.
Carol Gill, Ph.D.
Sharon A. Brown, Ph.D.
Dan Graves, Ph.D.
Nina Robins, M. A.
H. Julia Hannay, Ph.D.
Timothy Atchison, Ph.D.
Mark Sherry, Ph.D.
John Corrigan, Ph.D.
Jennifer Bogner, Ph.D.
Faye Chiou-Tan, M.D.
Les Young
Claudia Robertson, M.D.
Monica Rosel, BSN
Collaborating Institutions and Agencies
- The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research
- Baylor College of Medicine/University of Texas Medical School Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Alliance
- National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
