Current Ambassadors

My professional experience is in the rehabilitation field of children with different kinds of disabilities. However, my main interest is the assessment and rehabilitation of patient in developmental age after an ABI. As an IPBIS Ambassador I will propose and support the actions of IPBIS in favour of these children.

As a member of the Paediatric Rehabilitation Group of Italian Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (SIMFER) I may contribute to the dissemination of the IPBIS’s activities in Italy. As Director of the Department of Neurorehabilitation of the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, the largest paediatric polyclinic in Europe, I have the opportunity to organize scientific events and webinars which receive great attention from rehabilitation professionals. They can be under the aegis of IPBIS, to promote its vision and support its actions in favour of children with ABI. Finally, with Sandra Strazzer, member of the IPBIS Board, we can keep IPBIS updated on the Italian initiatives in favour of children with ABI.

Peter G. Rumney, MD, FRCPC, Physician Director, 24 Hour Rehab & Complex Continuing Care Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital

Dr. Rumney is a native of Toronto who completed his medical school training at the University of Toronto in 1981, did a Family Practice residency through University of Toronto at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and then his Paediatric training through Dalhousie University in Halifax and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

His first true clinical and rehabilitation experience began at the then named Ontario Crippled Children’s Centre as a 3rd Year medical student. His practice began in 1987 in the field of Paediatric Rehabilitation at the then named Hugh MacMillan Rehabilitation Centre as the Adolescent Unit physician and Program Director of the Head Injury Rehabilitation Program.

Currently he is the Physician Director of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Team at the now Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. The centre has the largest inpatient Brain Injury rehabilitation program in Canada. His practice is focused entirely on acquired brain injury and adolescent rehabilitation.

He holds a position as Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto, a consultant position within the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto in Neurology and Co-director in the Centre For Leadership in Brain Injury at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital through the Bloorview Research Institute as well.

Married to Shelley (a special education teacher), father of two young adults Katie & Thomas, with 2 Welsh Corgi’s living at home & various other pets (African Pygmy hedgehog & Gecko).

Dr. Ron Savage has worked with children, adolescents and young adults with neuro-developmental disabilities (i.e., acquired brain injuries, autism, developmental disabilities and other neurological disabilities) for over 45 years.

He is currently the Clinical and Strategic Advisor for NeuroInternational Brain Injury Programs and Chairman of the Professional Advisory Board for Pink Concussions. Previously, Dr Savage was the first Chair of IPBIS and remains on the Board of Directors, President of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation and the International Academy of Hope (IHope), Chairman of the North American Brain Injury Society (NABIS), Editor of Brain Injury Professional, and served on the Board of Governors for the International Brain Injury Association (IBIA).

Dr. Savage served as Executive Vice President for the Bancroft Neurosciences Institute and directed the pediatric services division for Bancroft NeuroHealth in New Jersey. He is the former Senior Vice President of Behavioral Health and Rehabilitative Services at The May Institute in Massachusetts and the former Director of Clinical Services for Rehabilitation Services of New York. In addition, Dr. Savage has started, directed and consulted with numerous specialized brain injury programs (inpatient and post-acute) for children and young adults throughout the United States.

Roberta DePompei, Ph.D. is a recently retired Distinguished Professor, Interim Dean of the College of Health Professions, and Director of the School of Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Akron.

Her major area of research and interest is in cognitive-communicative challenges to the individual with brain injury and the impact of brain injury on the family system. An advocate for the needs of youths with brain injuries and their families, she is on numerous national and international task forces and committees. She has helped to develop support groups and a community based collaborative of agencies to problem solve issues for this population.

Widely published, and a national and international presenter, Dr DePompei is recognized for her unique and innovative approaches for functional community inclusion. Although she has completed research about individuals and their families after TBI, she says she has learned the most from families who have shared their lives with her over the years.

She was awarded the Sheldon Berrol, M.D. Clinical Service award by BIAA in July, 2002. She received the Robert L. Moody Prize for Distinguished Initiatives in Brain Injury Research and Rehabilitation in March, 2004 ; Fellow of the American Speech-Language –Hearing Association in 2006; the Legends Award from the North American Brain Injury Society in 2008, award for lifetime achievements in TBI from the National Task Force on Children’s Issues after ABI in 2012 and was honored with the Mark Ylvisaker Distinguished Lecturer award from the Ontario Speech and Hearing Association in October, 2015.

Dr Ingela Kristiansen MD, Pediatric neurologist Department of Pediatric Neurology Uppsala University Hospital

Dr Ingela Kristiansen got her medical degree in the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm 1988. She became a pediatrician in 1995 and a pediatric neurologist in 2004. Currently she works in the department of Pediatric Neurology, Uppsala university hospital with acute and planned in- and outpatient care as well as with rehabilitation. This includes postoperative neurosurgical care and early and late rehabilitation for children and adolescents with ABI. She is active in the work of creating rehabilitation programs on a national and regional level. Also she works with research concerning late neurological effects for children and adolescents with brain tumors.

Dr Kristiansen is a member of the board of the Swedish network working with ABI rehabilitation and also a member of the Rehabilitation group of NBCNS (Neural Child cancer network in Sweden), a network organized by the Swedish Childhood cancer foundation to promote research about rehabilitation of children with late effects after brain tumours.

Dr Anderson is Director, Clinical Sciences Research, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; Head, Psychology, The RCH; Professorial Fellow, Paediatrics & Psychology, UoM; and a NHMRC Senior Practitioner Fellow. She leads the Australian Centre for Child Neuropsychology Studies. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia, the Aust Psychological Society and the Aust Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

Dr Anderson has 350+ peer reviewed publications and $30M in competitive grant funding. She is an Associate Editor for Neuropsychology (APA) and the J Neuropsychology (BPS, UK). She has been a member of the NIH Common Data Elements Working groups for concussion and child TBI, the NIH National Children’s Study, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the International Consensus on Concussion in Sports.

Her research and clinical interests are in disorders of childhood that impact on the brain, including both developmental and acquired disorders. Her recent work has focussed on translating her early career findings into clinical practice to optimise child outcomes from brain injury. Major translational achievements include: i) publication of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children, used by psychologists across the world; ii) development of easily accessed, low burden, e-health approaches to parent-focused psychosocial treatments as a means of maximising child outcomes and improving family function; iii) development of a novel, comprehensive iPad delivered assessment tool for social competence (PEERs: patent pending); iv) digital health tools for monitoring child post concussion symptoms (endorsed in a partnership with the Australian Football league); and v) authorship of the first-ever international paediatric sports concussion guidelines of the International Consensus on Sports Concussion.

Jennifer Lundine, PhD, CCC-SLP, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science at The Ohio State University (USA) and is the director of the Childhood Cognition, Communication, and Brain Injury Lab (CABI Lab). Dr. Lundine completed both her B.A. in Speech and Hearing Science and M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology from The Ohio State University. She then worked as a speech-language pathologist on the rehabilitation unit and in acute care at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus for more than a decade before returning to OSU for her doctoral work. She graduated with her Ph.D. in Speech & Hearing Science in 2016. She joined the faculty at OSU in the fall of 2017, and she remains an affiliated clinical researcher at Nationwide Children’s. She is board certified by the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences.

Dr. Lundine teaches courses in Cognitive-Communication Disorders, Pediatric Medical Speech-Language Pathology, and Language Acquisition. Her clinical, teaching, and research interests include impairments associated with complex pediatric medical diagnoses, especially cognitive-communication disorders associated with acquired brain injury (ABI). Specifically, her research focuses on improving gaps in access to and utilization of services designed to support children with ABI and identifying specific approaches that would improve assessment and treatment practices following pediatric ABI.

Nina Rohrer-Baumgartner, PhD, is a specialist in clinical neuropsychology and has extensive experience within the fields of developmental psychology, neuropsychology, and rehabilitation psychology. Early on in her career, she developed a strong interest in neurodevelopment and the often under diagnosed comorbid conditions and disorders of young children with ADHD. This resulted in her PhD at the University of Oslo in 2015 about neurocognitive functions and ADHD symptoms in young preschoolers.

Since 2015, Dr. Rohrer-Baumgartner has worked within the field of brain injury rehabilitation and currently holds a postdoc position at Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital in Norway. Together with colleagues, she developed the Child in Context Intervention (CICI) Study, a randomized controlled trial that tests the effects of an individualized, goal-oriented intervention for children and adolescents (6-16 years) in the chronic stage of acquired brain injury (ABI). The intervention focuses on the everyday challenges of the children in different contexts. The therapists work closely with the children and adolescents, their families, and schools. The study includes children and adolescents with a wide range of etiologies. The goal is to provide evidence-based, holistic, yet individualized rehabilitation to children in the chronic stage of ABI who have unmet health-care needs.