Board of Directors

Carmen P. DiGiovine, PhD, ATP/SMS, RET, has been working in the fields of rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology for over 20 years. Currently he is a Rehabilitation Engineer and Clinical Associate Professor in the Occupational Therapy Division-School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The Ohio State University. He is also the Program Director for the Assistive Technology Center at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, where he is developing a state-of-the-art and comprehensive program to expand existing assistive technology and rehabilitation technology services. Dr. DiGiovine’s current research and development interests include assistive technology commercialization, manual wheelchair propulsion biomechanics, power wheelchair driving and pressure ulcer development. He is an active member of RESNA, where he has served as Chair of the RESNA Professional Standards Board (PSB), and holds RESNA certifications as an Assistive Technology Professional (ATP), Seating and Mobility Specialist (SMS) and Rehabilitation Engineering Technologist (RET). He is also a member of the IEEE Engineering and Medicine and Biology (EMB) Society and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). Dr. DiGiovine was recently recognized by RESNA with the 2015 Samuel McFarland Memorial Mentorship Award, for his past and continuing efforts to mentor emerging professionals and students.

James A. Lenker, PhD, OTR/L, ATP is an Associate Professor in the Rehabilitation Science Department, and the Program Director for the Advanced Graduate Certificate Program in Assistive & Rehabilitation Technology. Lenker earned his PhD in Industrial Engineering, with an emphasis in the area of Human Factors.

Daniel Cochrane, MA, MS, ATP, is a clinical instructor for the Assistive Technology Certificate Program at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) and director of the QIAT-PS project for the Great Lakes ADA Center. He teaches courses related to assistive technology practice in the PreK12 educational context, the setting where he spent over 20 years as a special educator and district-wide assistive technology coordinator. For the QIAT-PS project, he is leading a team to develop a curriculum to train transition students to self-advocate for assistive technology. Dan has been involved in RESNA since 2009 and served as chair of RESNA’s Professional Standards Board from 2014-2017. His primary interest is the process of AT consideration and assessment in schools. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in disability studies at UIC.

Ed Giesbrecht PhD is an Associate Professor in the department of occupational therapy at the University of Manitoba, where he has been involved in teaching and research related to assistive technology since 2003. Prior to his academic appointment he had 10 years clinical experience working in SCI/neurological rehabilitation, including specialization in a wheelchair seating clinic and coordinating an assistive technology clinic. He is responsible for development and delivery of wheelchair and seating-related content in the Master of Occupational Therapy and the Master of Physical Therapy programs at the University of Manitoba. Ed is a member of the RESNA Board, Finance Committee, Conference Committee, was co-chair of the Student Scientific Paper Competition from 2015-2020 and received the RESNA Emerging Leader award in 2017. He also volunteers on the Board of Directors for ISPO Canada, is an associate editor for the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy and Assistive Technology journals, and is actively involved with the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals. His interests related to AT include wheeled mobility training (particularly telehealth), allied health education, and winter mobility issues.

Ana L. Allegretti, PhD, OTR, ATP, has been working in the field of assistive technology for over 20 years. Currently she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at UT Health Sciences in San Antonio, TX. She has presented in many national and international conferences and symposiums. Dr. Allegretti’s current research interests include the use of outcome measures in wheelchair service delivery in Latin America and the use of mobility equipment throughout the lifespan. She is an active member of RESNA, where she has been serving as a chair of the LATIN America Outcome measure project under the International Sig and holds RESNA certifications as an Assistive Technology Professional (ATP). She is also a member of the AOTA. She holds an Occupational Therapy degree from PUCCAMP (Brazil), and a PhD in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Pittsburgh.

Tara Chay is a Speech-Language Pathologist in the Outpatient Rehabilitation Center at Barrow Neurological Institute (Phoenix, Arizona) and the Rehabilitation Program Coordinator in the Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s Center & Movement Disorders Clinic. She is responsible for the evaluation and treatment of swallowing, speech, voice, language, and cognition in individuals with Parkinson’s disease, movement disorders, and other progressive neurological diseases. Ms. Chay was awarded the Emerging Leader award through RESNA in 2018, is a judge for the Student Design Competition and presenter during the annual RESNA conference, is the Chair of the Speech-Language Pathology Professional Specialty Group (SLP PSG), sits on the Governance Committee at RESNA, and is a member of the Augmentative and Alternative Communication Special Interest Group (SIG) for the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA). She is also a site visitor and former board member for the Committee on Accreditation for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Education (CoA RATE) and a member of the Barrow Adaptive Technologies (BAT) committee. Ms. Chay has been working in assistive technology for more than 15 years and an Assistive Technology Professional (ATP) since 2006 with expertise in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), cognition, and computer access.

Anne Cronin an occupational therapist and assistive technology professional, is a professor in the West Virginia University School of Medicine. Dr. Cronin enjoys longstanding support from the West Virginia Department of Education and provides post-professional courses for school personnel on assistive technology topics. Dr. Cronin participates in the Occupational Therapy PSG, the research committee and on COA-RATE. Dr. Cronin has been awarded the status of Fellow with the American Occupational Therapy Association, the University of Missouri Department of OT Outstanding Occupational Therapy Alumni Award of 2019, the 2018 Vice President’s Award for Service- WVU Vice President and Executive Dean for Health Sciences, and the 2018 Liz Devereaux Lectureship West Virginia Occupational Therapy Association. Dr. Cronin has been working with assistive technology since 1978, starting in the field of seating and wheeled mobility. Currently her focus is on assessment, ethical considerations for assistive technology decision-making, and interprofessional collaboration on assistive technology application for persons with developmental delays and developmental differences.

Julie Faieta, PhD, MOT, OTR/L, is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Université Laval where she continues to carry out clinical research focused on assistive technology for a variety of healthcare consumer populations. Her primary area of research is in the development and evaluation of assistive and pervasive technology-based interventions to address health span and quality of life in neurodegenerative and caregiver populations. With a specific interest in Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Faieta is working to develop interventions that can be effectively implemented with those at risk of disease development, and across each stage of the disease progression. During her doctoral studies in health and rehabilitation sciences, Dr. Faieta completed a minor in neuroscience to facilitate enhanced understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms and disease pathologies associated with neurodegenerative conditions in order to support her research goals. In addition to academic pursuits, she has also maintained active involvement in the American Congress of Rehabilitative Medicine’s Neurodegenerative Networking Group as the chair of the Alzheimer’s Disease Task Force and as the Social Media Officer. In addition, Dr. Faieta currently sit on the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America’s board of directors, serves as the Student Scientific Paper Competition chair, and as an associate editor of the Assistive Technology Journal. Dr. Faieta has worked in various aspects of assistive technology for over 4 years and remains highly interested in the evaluation of smart personal device applications to support community-based health.

Mary Goldberg, PhD serves as the Education & Outreach Project Director at the Human Engineering Research Laboratories and is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Goldberg's research focuses on the development of model interventions for capacity building in assistive technology to support the full inclusion and participation of people with disabilities in society. Dr. Goldberg currently serves as Co-PI for the USAID-supported "Development of the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals" project and the National Institute for Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research Initiative to Mobilize Partnerships for Successful Assistive Technology Translation (IMPACT) Center. Dr. Goldberg teaches 4 courses related to technology translation and assistive technology; two of which are available open-source on Coursera and have collectively engaged >4,000 learners. Dr. Goldberg was recognized in 2016 as a "Top Tech Innovator in Higher Education" by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Mr. Perry S. Loh is founder and CEO of Loh Medical www.lohmedical.com, a provider of physical rehabilitation equipment and assistive technology devices in Latin America. He is a RESNA certified Assistive Technology Professional (ATP), past Chair of the RESNA International Special Interest Group (SIG) and serves on the Professional Standards Board of the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals (ISWP). Mr. Loh holds an MBA degree from the Escuela de Negocios in Valparaíso, Chile and an undergraduate degree in Economics and International Business from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota and the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, Spain. Mr. Loh is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Prior to the formation of Loh Medical, Mr. Loh was President of International Salt Company and held executive positions with Timberland Inc. in the Caribbean, and Cargill Inc. in the U.S. and Latin America.

Seong-Hee Yoon, BS ATP is the Senior Rehabilitation Engineer at the Rehabilitation Engineering Program at Michigan Medicine, the Director of Technology & Innovation of an adaptive sports program UMAISE (University of Michigan Adaptive & Inclusive Sports Experience), and the founder & owner of an inclusive education and play company braillebot, LLC. She received her Biomedical Engineering degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has spent 9 years in the world of AT as of 2021. Seong-Hee was first introduced to RESNA through the Student Design Competition in 2012, at which her team was the 1st place winner as well as the winning team for the award “Technology Most Likely to be Commercialized” sponsored by TREAT (Center for Translation of Rehabilitation Engineering Advances and Technology). With this award, Seong-Hee started her commercialization of brailleblox, the flagship product of her company braillebot, LLC. Seong-Hee’s involvement within RESNA also include the Professional Specialty Group for Rehabilitation Engineers & Technologists and the Board of Directors. Additionally, in 2018, she received the “Emerging Leader Award” from RESNA. Some of Seong-Hee’s special interests include adaptive sports, adaptive gaming, smart technology, and dispelling the divide between universal design and aesthetic design. Seong-Hee is currently based out of Ann Arbor, MI.

Maureen Linden is a research engineer at the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). She received a Master of Science in biomedical engineering from the University of Virginia in 1993, and has since managed clinical programs and research projects both in seating and wheeled mobility within the medical model, and job accommodations through the vocational rehabilitation model. Her current research interests include job accommodation use and related employment barriers, seating support surface development and characterization, mobility device use characterization, and facilitators for post-secondary education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) for students with disabilities. Within RESNA, Linden has served on the Meetings committee and Standards board, and has chaired the Student Design Competition committee. In 2012, she received of the RESNA Distinguished Service Award.