VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY

Jeffrey S. Kreutzer, Ph.D., ABPP is a Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Medical College of Virginia Campus. He serves as Director of Virginia's federally designated Traumatic Brain Injury Model System and coordinates VCU Health System outpatient services for families and persons with brain injury. Dr. Kreutzer is a neuropsychologist and family therapist with more than two decades experience developing and implementing brain injury family support services. He has published more than  40 papers on families after brain injury and is the primary developer of the Brain Injury Family Intervention, an empirically based education, skill building, and psychotherapeutic program for families.

Emilie Godwin, Ph.D., LPC is a licensed professional counselor with a specialty focus on couples and family counseling. Currently, she serves as the Family Support Program Coordinator for the Virginia Commonwealth University TBI Model System projects. Areas of focus include coordinating and implementing the Brain Injury Family Intervention (BIFI) and providing intervention services for the federally-funded TBI inpatient family education program, “Biig Facs.”  Additionally, Dr. Godwin is involved in the development of new lines of scholarly inquiry related to traumatic brain injury and family functioning. She has published peer-reviewed manuscripts in both the counseling and rehabilitation fields, has presented at national, regional, state and local professional conferences, and has provided BIFI training internationally.

Katy Wilder Schaaf, PhD is a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Virginia Commonwealth University. As part of her fellowship she is helping to implement and evaluate interventions for survivors of brain injury and their families in both outpatient and inpatient settings. In addition, she provides individual, couple, and family therapy. Dr. Wilder Schaaf received her M.S. in Marital and Family Therapy from the University of Maryland- College Park and PhD in Counseling Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Wilder Schaaf’s research interests include the use of family systems based intervention to both improve patient outcomes and improve family/caretaker experiences within medical systems of care. As a graduate student at VCU, she received a Predoctoral Rehabilitation Research fellowship to complete her dissertation work assessing similarities and differences in family needs among family members of TBI patients in military and civilian settings. She also completed a one year predoctoral internship with the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center working with veterans in mental health and rehabilitation settings.

Laura K. Artman, Ph.D . is a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Virginia Commonwealth University. As part of her fellowship, she is conducting neuropsychological assessment of adolescents and adults with neurological disorders, including brain injury, late effects of chemotherapy/radiation, dementia, stroke, and seizure disorders, among others. In addition, she provides individual therapy. Dr. Artman received her B.S. in Psychology (with minors in Women's Studies and Business) at Penn State University, M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling at West Virginia University, and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at West Virginia University. Her research interests include employment outcomes after traumatic brain injury, psychological and neuropsychological effects of cardiac arrest, and disability/employment law. Dr. Artman's dissertation focused on work adjustment of survivors of traumatic brain injury. She completed an internship at Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County, working with underserved populations on the South Side of Chicago in outpatient therapy and inpatient comprehensive rehabilitation settings.

Matt Wetsel, B.S., B.A. graduated from VCU in May 2008 with majors in both Psychology and Religious Studies, with a concentration in Applied Psychology. As a research specialist, he works with patients for recruitment, data collection, and follow-up interviews for research purposes on behalf of the VCU Traumatic brain Injury Model Systems (TBIMS) Project. An ongoing study for more than 20 years, the TBIMS Project provides crucial information to help better understand brain injury and recovery. Wetsel has also worked on other studies investigating the prevalence of headaches post-TBI, as well as research concerning drugs which may improve the rate of recovery and function after brain injury. He also provides support to the BIFI as Website Coordinator.

Brittney Chappell, B.A., is a research specialist and psychometrist for the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at VCU. She administers neuropsychological evaluations to patients with neurological disorders, including, but not limited to, brain injury, stroke, seizure disorder, and Parkinson’s. She is also involved with many research projects in the Department including the Brain Injury Family Intervention program (BIFI), which aims to promote effective coping strategies for families experiencing significant emotional and behavioral changes post-injury. The Brain Injury Inpatient Guide for Family and Caregivers (BIIG FACS), an intervention program designed to improve families’ knowledge and understanding of life after brain injury is another project on which she is involved. In addition, Ms. Chappell is on the Bridge project, a pilot program designed to be part of a multidisciplinary assessment of community readjustment in individuals diagnosed with HIV and recently released from incarceration. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 2010, where she received a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in English. She was involved in many aspects of research at UVA and received an award for “Excellence in Research” for her work with the Human Dynamics Lab and the Center for the Advance Studies of Teaching and Learning.