RFTS, Inc. Medical and Community Advisory Boards

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We are pleased to announce the “Reaching For The Stars” Medical and Community Advisory Board. Our Advisory Board is comprised of an “All Star” team of leading medical professionals, scientists and community leaders from around the United States in the field of pediatric cerebral palsy. We have modeled our advisory board after a multi-disciplinary CP clinic reflecting the following disciplines: neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, physiatry and rehabilitation, physical therapy and the mind/body connection.

Research is one of the primary drivers of our mission and the RFTS medical advisory board – as individuals and in tandem in several cases – are conducting some of the most important pediatric CP research currently in progress.

Leland Albright, MD

University of Wisconsin – Madison
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Dr. Leland Albright, M.D. is Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and was Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh from 1992-2004. He holds the endowed Children’s Neurosurgery Chair, which will be named in his honor upon his retirement. Dr. Albright is one of the world’s leading researchers of movement disorders in children with Cerebral Palsy.

Dr. Albright has devoted much of his career to treating and researching Cerebral Palsy and is one of the pioneers in CP research in children related to the areas of Dystonia, Baclofen pumps, and deep brain stimulation. He earned his MD degree at Louisiana State University. After serving as clinical associate in neurosurgery at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, he completed the residency program in neurosurgery and a fellowship in immunopathology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He served as an assistant professor of neurological surgery at the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center in Kentucky before joining the staff at the University of Pittsburgh in 1981.

Dr. Albright has published approximately 160 papers in medical journals, 35 book chapters and has edited three textbooks. His publications can be reviewed through the National Library of Medicine’s publication database.

Janice Brunstrom, MD

St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Washington University

Dr. Jan Brunstrom is one of the most remarkable personal and professional success stories you will ever hear. She is Medical Director of the world-renowned Cerebral Palsy (CP) Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and a much-honored physician whose innovations in CP are unparalleled in the field.

She also has Cerebral Palsy.

Dr. Janice Brunstrom is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Neurology, Pediatrics and Cell Biology for Washington University, and serves as Director of the Pediatric Neurology Cerebral Palsy Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. She is a neurologist and neurobiologist.

The CP center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH) draws patients from all over the world that have heard of the success of this unique program, fostered by Dr. Brunstrom’s combination of professional expertise and personal experience. Dr. Brunstrom has focused her research on the development of the cerebral cortex and its disorders. Dr. Brunstrom’s clinical interest is newborn neurology with an emphasis on the motor disorders (Cerebral Palsy) arising from injury to the developing brain. She established the Pediatric Neurology Cerebral Palsy Center in June of 1998 that has grown into one of the leading Centers of its kind in the world. Dr. Brunstrom is presently investigating new methods of physical and drug therapy to improve motor function in patients with cerebral palsy. Dr. Brunstrom has launched several new programs for children with CP, including an innovative martial arts program and CP basketball camp. Dr. Brunstrom was the keynote speaker at this year’s National Institute of Health’s Disability Awareness Day program, is widely published and is actively involved in research.

Henry G. Chambers, MD

Children’s Hospital San Diego, University of San Diego

Specializing in pediatric orthopedic and sports medicine, Dr. Chambers is considered to be one of the leading experts in the field of clinical gait and motion analysis. He is a proven clinical and basic science researcher and, consequently, has significantly contributed to the improvement of various diagnostic and treatment methods, particularly in cerebral palsy and pediatric orthopaedic surgery.

Dr. Chambers is the Medical Director for the Motion Analysis Laboratory with Children’s Hospital San Diego and board certified in orthopaedic surgery. He is extensively published and an international lecturer in his field.  He is also the President of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine.

A graduate of Tulane University School of Medicine, Dr. Hank Chambers completed a residency in orthopedic surgery at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in Texas and a fellowship at Children’s Hospital San Diego under Dr. David H. Sutherland, a pioneer in his own right in clinical gait analysis.

Dr. Chambers also serves in the following roles: Staff Orthopedic Surgeon, Sharp Memorial Hospital, San Diego; Senior Staff Orthopedic Surgeon, San Diego Children’s Hospital; Director, Children’s Health, Athletic Medicine, and Performance in Sports (CHAMPS); Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, UC San Diego; Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, UC San Diego.

Diane Damiano, PhD, PT

National Institutes of Health

Diane Damiano is the NIH Clinical Center’s Director of Biomechanics. A physical therapist by training, Dr. Damiano holds a PhD in research methods/biomechanics from the University of Virginia, a Master of Science in physical therapy from Duke University, and an undergraduate degree in biological sciences from Catholic University. She joined the NIH Clinical Center from the Department of Neurology at Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Damiano’s area of expertise is in the investigation of both existing and novel rehabilitation approaches in children with cerebral palsy. Several years ago, she was one of the first researchers to recognize that spastic muscles were, in fact, weak and needed strengthening. Her work in this area has helped to revolutionize the treatment of these patients. Her most recent interest is in the role of physical activity in enhancing motor coordination and promoting neural recovery in those with brain injuries.

Her previous academic positions include an appointment at the University of Virginia Health Systems, where she she became an associate professor on the tenure track in the Department of Orthopaedics and also served as research director of the Motion Analysis and Motor Performance Laboratory.

Dr. Damiano is the recipient of numerous NIH grants, and has published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals. She is a permanent member of the Musculoskeletal and Rehabilitation Sciences (MRS) NIH Study Section. She currently sits on the editorial board of Clinical Rehabilitation, was the previous editor for review articles for Gait & Posture, and is a reviewer for major journals in the fields of biomechanics and rehabilitation. Dr. Damiano is a past president of the Clinical Gait and Movement Analysis Society and the current president—the first physical therapist to serve in the role in the organization’s 61-year history—of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. She is also a member of the scientific advisory board of the United Cerebral Palsy Research and Education Foundation.

Deborah Gaebler-Spira, MD, FAAP, FAACPDM

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

Dr. Gaebler-Spira is one of the leading pediatric physiatrists in the country and the Director of the Cerebral Palsy Program and Early Intervention Program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. She is also the Director for the Cerebral Palsy/Selective Posterior Rhizotomy/Spasticity Management Program for RIC and serves as an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern University Medical School.

Dr. Gaebler-Spira current serves a variety of professional organizations including the Medical Advisory Committee for the Easter Seal Society of Metropolitan Chicago, Professional Advisory Board for United Cerebral Palsy, Pathways Awareness Foundation board of directors, Steering Committee for the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago in Prosthetics and Orthotics, and the NIH taskforce on Childhood Hypertonia. She is actively involved several ongoing pediatric CP research studies and has been widely published.

Michael V. Johnston, MD

Dr. Michael Johnston

Kennedy Krieger Institute
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Dr. Johnston is a pediatric neurologist and Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Chief Medical Officer/Senior Vice President of Kennedy Kreiger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. He practices clinical child neurology and is one of the leading researchers in the U.S. on mechanisms of brain injury and plasticity. Dr. Johnston’s group has been especially interested in developing neuroprotective strategies against glutamate-mediated brain injury in the perinatal period. His work has been supported by the NIH and has won several awards including the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award. Recent work in collaboration with Dr. Alec Hoon at Kennedy Kreiger is examining the patterns of white matter injury in children with cerebral palsy using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Click here to view an abstract of Dr. Johnston and Dr. Hoon’s research.

Dr. Johnston graduated from Franklin and Marshall College and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and did residency training at Johns Hopkins Hospital. During residency he also spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow with Joseph Coyle in the Department of Pharmacology at Hopkins. After completion of training he moved to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he became a Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology prior to returning to Johns Hopkins in his current post.

Sidhartha Tan, M.D.

Northwestern University

Dr. Tan received his medical education at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in India, his pediatric training in Chicago, with a final stint at the University of Chicago, and his neonatology fellowship at the University of Miami. Dr. Tan then became Assistant Professor to the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he first started his research into oxidative biochemistry and fetal brain injury. Since 1998, Dr. Tan is Associate Professor at Northwestern University and a practicing neonatologist at three hospitals in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Dr. Tan’s research work has been funded by the March of Dimes and NIH since 1991 to the present time. He is also on the editorial board of the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology.

Dr. Tan has served on two NIH Study Sections. He is passionate about the health of babies, expecially their brain status, and his leading-edge research is devoted to preventing and treating fetal brain injury from hypoxia-ischemia and inflammation. Dr. Tan’s laboratory actively collaborates with other researchers in the fields of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, mitochondria, oligodendroglial and white matter development, axonal injury, development of MRI markers, and neurobehavioral tests in rabbits.

Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, M.D.

Medical Epidemiologist; Chief, Developmental Disabilities Branch; National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Since coming to CDC in 1981, Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp designed and implemented the first U.S. population-based study of developmental disabilities in school-age children in an urban area. It has served as the basis for an ongoing CDC developmental disabilities surveillance system, which identifies children with cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, hearing loss, vision impairment and autism.

Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine; she was one of the original members of the State of Georgia Interagency Coordinating Council for Early Intervention Services (for children from birth- 2 years) and is the medical director of the Clayton Early Intervention Program in metropolitan Atlanta. She is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the National Alliance for Autism Research/Autism Speaks and a member of the Board of Directors for the Marcus Institute, a program in Atlanta that provides services to individuals with developmental disabilities. She was the CDC liaison to the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Children with Disabilities and is a member of the AAP Autism Expert Panel. She is on the Editorial Board of the new journal, Developmental Epidemiology and has published extensively on the epidemiology of developmental disabilities.

Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp received her B.A. degree in biology from Sweet Briar College in 1968 and M.D. degree from Emory University in 1972. She was on the faculty of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine from 1975-1981 and completed a fellowship in Developmental Pediatrics at the Rose F. Kennedy Center of Yeshiva University, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is board-certified in Pediatrics and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities.