Dr. Schneider is the Medical Director of Burn, Trauma, & Orthopedic Rehabilitation at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Division Chief of Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Associate Chair of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, and Director of the Rehabilitation Outcomes Group at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. His research focus is on long term effects of burn injury. He has published sentinel manuscripts in the field of burn rehabilitation, including works detailing the barriers to return to work and has authored chapters on burn rehabilitation in authoritative textbooks in the field. As the Program Director of the Boston-Harvard Burn Injury Model System, Dr. Schneider oversees all study activities at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and facilitates all recruitment efforts, data collection, analysis, interpretation of data, manuscript development, and dissemination activities.

Dr. Ryan is a general surgeon with thirty years of clinical experience caring for adults and children following burn injuries. She is the Director of Clinical Care at the Boston-Harvard Burn Injury Model System as well as an Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. In addition to her rich clinical experience, Dr. Ryan is a highly cited author of over 200 scientific publications. Dr. Ryan’s research expertise includes mortality prediction following burns (Ryan Score), patient reported outcome metrics such as the Life Impact Burn Recovery Evaluation (LIBRE) measuring social participation following burn injury, and the age-based Shriners Hospitals for Children/American Burn Association Burn Outcome Questionnaires (BOQs). She has multiple publications addressing burn recovery including social reintegration, employment and pain following burn injury. She has published research into innovative approaches to the treatment of infections following burns and trauma. Dr. Ryan is active in the American Burn Association and leads the Organization and Delivery of Burn Care Committee, developing guidelines for care and fostering national and international efforts for burn disaster preparedness.

Dr. Ross D. Zafonte is an internationally recognized expert in rehabilitation after catastrophic injury and is a Co-PI of the Spaulding Hospital-New England Regional Spinal Cord Injury Model System and the Spaulding-Harvard Traumatic Brain Injury Model System. He serves as the chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as Senior Vice President Medical Affairs Research and Education at Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. He has published over 300 peer review journal articles, abstracts and book chapters and has received 5 awards for his work in the healthcare community.

Dr. Kazis is a Professor of Health Policy and Management and Director of the Center for the Assessment of Pharmaceutical Practices (CAPP) at the Boston University School of Public Health. He received his doctoral degree from Harvard University School of Public Health in 1980. For over 25 years, he has been involved in the study of patient reported outcomes (PROs) and quality of life assessments and is a recognized national leader in PROs. Dr. Kazis conducts research projects for the Centers for Disease control (CDC) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) in the areas of quality of care and patient reported outcomes. He has also collaborated with Massachusetts General Hospital and Shriner’s Hospitals for Children on the evaluation and development of the Burn Outcomes Questionnaire and the Young Adult Burn Outcomes Questionnaire.

In 2010, Diana sustained a third degree burn injury to 91% of her body. Since her injury, Diana has devoted her time to supporting and advocating for the burn survivor community at the local and national levels. She is a certified Phoenix Survivors Offering Assistance in Recovery Peer Supporter and has completed over 120 in-person peer visits at MGH, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and Shriners Hospital for Children-Boston. She co-founded the Diana Tenney Burn Research Fund at MGH to support life-saving burn care research and outreach training programs for emergency teams in the New England Area. Currently, she serves on the Burn Survivors of New England Board of Directors and the Massage and Burn Scar Therapy Burn Foundation Board.

Dr. Slavin is a physical therapist with more than 30 years of experience in the rehabilitation field as a clinician, educator and researcher. Her interests include promoting evidence-based practice in rehabilitation and use of appropriate measures to assess rehabilitation outcomes. She has contributed significantly to two computer adaptive tests (CAT): the Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care (AM-PAC) and the Spinal Cord Injury Functional Index (SCI-FI). Dr. Slavin is currently the Director of Education and Dissemination at the Health and Disability Research Institute at the Boston University School of Public Health.