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Even with increased awareness of safety measures such as seatbelts, use of air bags, nearly two million new traumatic brain injuries (TBI) occur each year.
Besides motor vehicle accidents causing TBI, other causes of brain injury include, but are not limited to, falls, assault, suicide attempts, concussion, and infections. While the vast majority are mild brain injuries, which may be categorized as concussions, many individuals experience persistent problems with physical, cognitive, and emotional functioning long after their injuries.
Early and ongoing involvement by a physiatrist and neuropsychologist decreases short-term complications and optimizes long term functional outcome and quality of life. Our multidisciplinary rehabilitation team works to ensure that persons with brain injury return to optimal functioning and quality of life.
Our department includes four attending physicians who are board-certified in both Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the subspecialty of Brain Injury Medicine and a board-certified neuropsychologist. In addition to their expertise in the rehabilitation of survivors of TBI, they are also adept in the treatment of complications of brain injuries, including spasticity, sleep/wake cycle dysfunction, cognitive impairments, agitation and emotional changes. In addition, our pediatric physiatrist provides specialized care to children recovering from head trauma.
In conjunction with Jackson Memorial Hospital, we offer a one-year ACGME fellowship in Brain Injury Medicine.
Gemayaret Alvarez-Gonzalez, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Board Certified and Fellowship Trained in Brain Injury Medicine
Lauren T. Shapiro, M.D., M.P.H.
Associate Professor
Board Certified and Fellowship Trained in Brain Injury Medicine
Adriana D. Valbuena, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Board Certified in Brain Injury Medicine
Joslyn Gober, DO
Assistant Professor (Pediatric)
David S. Kushner, M.D.
Professor
Doug Johnson-Greene, Ph.D., M.P.H., ABPP
Professor and Associate Vice-Chairman
Nicole Pontee, M.D., M.S.
Assistant Professor
Director of Comprehensive Services