Dr. Ana Allegretti is an occupational therapist with a doctoral degree in rehabilitation sciences. She holds an assistant professor position in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Texas Health Sciences in San Antonio. Currently Dr. Allegretti is working on a research project related to provision of power mobility to young children with cerebral palsy. Dr. Allegretti is a member of AOTA, TOTA and RESNA. She has an Assistive Technology Professional credential and has presented in several national and international conferences.

Based on a broad experience of vehicle crash testing at Millbrook Proving Ground, Bob is a specialist in the dynamic testing of Healthcare Sector products, including wheelchairs, wheelchair and seating systems and wheelchair tie-downs and occupant restraint systems. Experience also includes the dynamic testing of road ambulance vehicles and their associated equipment.
Bob’s has worked as a technical advisor for a major UK wheelchair tie-down and occupant restraint system manufacturer providing support to UK transport providers in a broad range of wheelchair accessible vehicle environments.
Bob now acts as an independent consultant with Mobility Support Services Ltd. providing transport advisory services, training in the use of tie-downs and occupant restraints and support to manufacturers with crash test activities. A recent project undertaken was the 1st revision of the Posture and Mobility Group Best Practice Guidelines for the Transportation of People Seated in Wheelchairs, made available in July 2019.

Paul has an MSc in Clinical Engineering and has been working in the area of posture and mobility since 1991, Now he is Joint Head of Rehabilitation Engineering at Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust with a team working across the South of England.
Alongside the clinical service delivery, he has a particular interest in rapid manufacturing techniques for custom made devices, custom made seating and medical devices management
He is involved with the drafting of ISO Standards and is the current RESMaG representative for the UK National Standards Body BSI committee, CH173/1 for wheelchairs.
Paul has recently been one of the editors/project lead for the revision of the Posture and Mobility Group, Best Practice Guideline on Transportation of People Seated in Wheelchairs (BPG1)

Dr. Heather Feldner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington, in Seattle, WA, USA. Her research centers on the design and implementation of mobility technology and its effects upon activity and participation within a variety of personal and environmental contexts, including how perceptions of disability and identity emerge and evolve through technology use. Her current work incorporates multidisciplinary, mixed methods approaches that draw from her background as a pediatric physical therapist, doctoral work in disability studies, and postdoctoral research in user-centered rehabilitation and design in mechanical engineering.

https://impactco.rehab.washington.edu/

https://www.physicaltherapy.uw.edu/academic-experience/faculty/

Fiona Bolger is CEO of Spinal Injuries Ireland, a role she has held since 2014. Prior to that she ran her own communications consultancy for 20 years specialising in travel and sailing both in Ireland and internationally. She started her career in marketing in Rehab Lotteries after graduating with a BA from UCD. She also held the role of Commercial Director of Dublin Zoo. Fiona has a great love of the sea and has sailed in Dun Laoghaire for over 30 years. She served as a Director of Irish Sailing and is currently a Council member of World Sailing. She is the mother of three adult children who all love the sea too.  

Claire Hickey is a Chartered Physiotherapist working in the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH), Dublin. Since graduating in 2012 from University College Dublin, Claire has worked in rehabilitation both in Ireland and the UK, including Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust, where her work with the Stroke Early Supported Discharge Team earned her shortlisting for 3 awards within the Trust. Claire is currently working as Senior Physiotherapist in the NRH Sports and Exercise Physiotherapy Department and studying for and MSc in UL. Claire and her team feel passionate about providing a service that allows people of all abilities to access ways of exercising, not just to meet their immediate rehabilitation needs, but also for the long term benefits for physical and mental wellbeing, secondary prevention and social integration. Throughout the years, the NRH Sports and Exercise Physiotherapy Department has inspired many of its patients to pursue careers in sports and exercise. In the last years, Claire has been involved in the transition to of the service from its original sports hall to a new purpose-built, state of the sports hall and gym complex.

Cultivating and maintaining the characteristics of leadership and resilience in life is a constant challenge for all of us. In others we can often find the courage and inspiration to lead a more fulfilled life. So we are pleased to have Jack Kavanagh join us to share his story. Jack sustained a spinal cord injury in 2012 only weeks before entering his second year of Pharmacy in TCD. As a result, he is paralysed from the armpits down with 15% muscle function remaining. However, this did not deter him from achieving success in a number of fields. In 2014 Jack gave the acclaimed TEDx Talk, Fearless Like A Child, overcoming adversity. Having completed a BSc in Pharmacy in May 2017 he completed the Masters of Pharmacy in RCSI in 2018 and joined the professional register in December 2018. At the same time through talks and workshops, Jack continues to deliver to audiences on the concepts of well-being, resilience, personal leadership, the power of choice and personal development. He was included in a list of “50 Incredible People Who Are Shaping Modern Ireland” in 2017 and was awarded as one of “Ten Outstanding Young People of the Year” in 2019 as someone who is doing inspirational work, citing an award-winning documentary Breaking Boundaries that he and friends made based on a road trip around America. Jack has spent time working in clinical practice, research, external affairs and innovation environments. He is currently serving on the board of the National Disability Authority and working to release the latent potential of people as a performance coach and speaker.
As he says himself: “There is no right or wrong path, just a series of events that gives us a flavour of what it is that sets our hearts alight or dampens our soul. What I do know to be true is that in a life that is not always a smooth ride and a world that’s more disillusioned, disconnected and full of people wearing masks than ever before, the bravest thing a person can possibly do is to be their authentic selves despite the challenges they may face that is when the magic will happen.”

Dr Kenyon (PT, DPT, PhD, PCS) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dr Kenyon heads the Grand Valley Power Mobility Project, an inter-professional research and service project that provides power mobility training for infants, toddlers, children and young adults who are not typically considered to be candidates for power mobility use. Dr Kenyon presents nationally and internationally on topics related to pediatric physical therapist practice and has published multiple peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters pertaining to power mobility and pediatric topics. Dr Kenyon currently serves on the Committee of Content Experts for the Pediatric Specialty Council of the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties.

Tara Lyons is a Sports Scientist, graduating with a BSc from I.T. Tralee in 2000. During her studies, Tara developed an interest in adaptive physical activity and completed a thesis in the accessibility of leisure centres in Ireland. Tara began working with the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) in the Sports and Exercise Physiotherapy Department in 2002. Tara’s initial role was as a Sports Therapist working with clients with a broad range of disabilities. Over the years Tara played a pivotal role in the development and expansion of this department before taking up her present role with the NRH Hospital Planning Team. This team was appointed to carry out the planning, design and construction of a new, state of the art National Rehabilitation Hospital, serving the people of Ireland. Her current role has incorporated her knowledge and understanding of working with people with disabilities and her dynamic approach to modernising rehabilitation services.

Ginny Paleg is a pediatric physiotherapist from Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.  For the past 17 years, she has worked with children aged 0-3 years in homes and childcare.  Ginny earned her master’s degree in physical therapy at Emory University and her DScPT at the University of Maryland

Baltimore.    Ginny specializes in posture and mobility assessment and interventions for children at GMFCS Levels IV and V.  She is certified in Prechtl General Movement Assessment (GMA) and the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Exam (HINE) and trained in Routines Based Interventions

(McMaster) and coaching (Sheldon and Rush).She has published over 15 peer-reviewed journal articles on standing, gait trainers, and power mobility.She is the lead author for the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy Hypotonia Care Pathway. She is Chair of the AACPDM Communications Committee (2021-2023).

Dr Teresa Plummer, PhD, OTR/L, ATP, CEAS, CAPS is an Associate Professor in the School of Occupational Therapy at Belmont University in Nashville, TN USA. She holds a PhD in Occupational Therapy, credentials in AT through RESNA is a certified ergonomics specialist and Certified Aging in Place Specialist. Teresa has over 40 years of OT practice. She has presented and published nationally and internationally in the area of assistive technology and pediatric mobility. She is a reviewer for the American Journal of Occupational Therapy. Teresa is actively engaged in research, teaching, mentoring and consulting.

I suffered a spinal cord injury when I was 16 during gymnastics training in 2013. I am now a C5/6 incomplete quadriplegic. After my injury, my parents told me that education came first so I finished school with 3 A-levels in Physics, Art and PE, I then went to Birmingham City University and graduated with a 2:1 in Product Design. My final project was a flexible 3D printed electrical stimulation device to strengthen the muscles in quadriplegic users hands.
Whilst studying I continuously attended Physiotherapy as it is my goal to one day walk again. I am extremely lucky to have my own personal ReWalk exoskeleton, which was fundraised for me, and have the opportunity to stand, walk and just be at eye level to people.
I have a Facebook page ‘Jennifersjourneytowalkagain’ which follows my progress.

Having worked with Enable Ireland since 2001, John currently manages Enable Ireland’s Specialist Seating Service, SeatTech. SeatTech is one of the two leading seating services with a national remit in Ireland. John has previously worked with NovitaTech at Novita Children’s Services in Adelaide, with the Rehabilitation Engineering Centre (REC) at the Royal Brisbane Women & Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, and as a consultant to the Prosthetics, Orthotics and Podiatry Service (POPS) at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. John project-managed and convened the working group for the first edition of the International Best Practice Guidelines on the Transportation of People Seated in Wheelchairs, published in 2012, and contributed to the 2019 revision of same. John’s current primary focus is on exploring the potential of 3D printing for the manufacture of custom contoured seating at SeatTech.

Rachael started her career commissioning community health and social services, including wheelchair services. She has worked in local government, central government and the UK’s national health service and has held several non-executive roles for organisations that include The Social Care Institute for Excellence, the UK’s leading disability charity Scope and the Government Office for Disability Issues.
Inspired by a 3d printed prosthetic hand she saw while backpacking around Asia, Rachael started running hackathons to explore how new manufacturing techniques and user-led design could transform wheelchairs. In 2016 she founded Disrupt Disability that designed the first wheelchair you can continuously customize to your body, environment and personal style.
Last year Rachael graduated from Stanford University with a Masters in Business Administration. She is now the CEO of Limber, a startup developing the aspirational assistive mobility devices that smart as well as beautiful: embedded sensors detect how the person is moving; haptic feedback helps people optimise the way they move; sharing an analysis of their movement with their physiotherapist allows data to drive their treatment.