Foundation for Life Care Planning Research

Foundation Board of Directors

Paul M. Deutsch, Ph.D. - Chair
Susan Grisham, - Vice-Chair
Christine Reid, Ph.D.
Terry Winkler, M.D.
Carol Walker, Ph.D.
Debbie Berens
Lewis Vierling

Board of Directors - Emeritus and Founders

Patricia McCollom, M.S., RN (2002-2007)
Roger Weed, Ph.D.

Paul M. Deutsch, Ph.D., CRC, CCM, CLCP, FIALCP

Dr. Deutsch is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Counseling and Counseling Psychology. He has been in practice for more 35 years and specializes in catastrophic disability, resulting from either a birth or traumatic onset. Dr. Deutsch is best known for having developed the basic tenets, methodologies and processes of Life Care Planning. He first published on life care planning as a fundamental tool of case management in his 1981 text, (Damages in Tort Actions, Deutsch & Raffa). This was followed by the 1985 work, (A Guide to Rehabilitation, Deutsch & Sawyer) and the 1986 text, (Innovations in Head in Rehabilitation, Deutsch & Fralish). Dr. Deutsch has contributed 12 volumes and more than 85 peer reviewed journal articles and chapter contributions. He is president of the Foundation for Life Care Planning Research and courtesy faculty at the department of Rehabilitation Counseling at the University of Florida, lead faculty in Kaplan Universities Life Care Planning program and holds an appointment as a Clinical Professor of Rehabilitation at the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Life Care Planning and is a reviewer for the Journal of Brain Injury. He along with his co-authors and many other leading Life Care Planners formed the Foundation for Life Care Planning to initiate and support research in reliability and validity of the Life Care Planning process. In addition to leading the development of the Kaplan University Life Care Planning curriculum he has lead the development of their Case Management and Elder Care Management Curriculum. He teaches in Kaplan's Life Care Planning Program. Dr. Deutsch has also acted as lead curriculum developer for the University of Florida’s Life Care Planning Certificate Program.

Dr. Deutsch is the recipient of the 1993 International Association Of Rehabilitation Professionals Rehabilitation Educator of the Year Award.

In 2003 Dr. Deutsch was presented with a: Life Time Achievement Award- "In recognition of your dedication and countless contributions to the field of Life Care Planning."- Presented by the International Conference of Life Care Planners; The International Academy of Life Care Planners; The University of Florida; Virginia Commonwealth University; Kaplan University; The American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants; and The National Rehabilitation Association - October 11, 2003.

In 2007 he received a Life Time Achievement Award in Rehabilitation from the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals.

He has twice been name the Alumnus of the Year, (1988 and 2006) for the University of Florida’s College of Public Health and Health Professions.

Susan Riddick-Grisham, RN,CCM,CLCP

Susan Riddick-Grisham has greater than 20 years of experience working with patients, families and clinical teams. Known for her skills as a catastrophic injury nurse case manager, Susan is also a nationally respected figure in the Life Care Planning community.

In 1992, she participated in the development of the first comprehensive national training program for life care planners. Her passion for assisting individuals with chronic disabling health conditions continues to drive the development of innovative educational programs. These programs enable Ms. Riddick-Grisham’s colleagues to better serve their clients and families. In addition, she is a frequently requested life care planner, consultant, speaker, author, and mentor.

Ms. Riddick-Grisham is the Founder of The Care Planner Network, an online community which is dedicated to improving the reliability and validity of the life care planning process by narrowing the variance in practice patterns, and by providing resources and networking opportunities to all practicing life care planners. She is also President of Life Care Manager, LLC which provides care manager and life care planning services on a national level.

Christine Reid, Ph.D., CRC, CLCP

Dr. Reid is the Chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling at Virginia Commonwealth University where she teaches courses related to life care planning, career development, vocational evaluation, and research for the Rehabilitation Counseling master’s and Rehabilitation Leadership Ph.D. programs. Dr. Reid’s doctorate from the Illinois Institute of Technology is in Rehabilitation Psychology, with a minor in Psychometric Methodology.

Dr. Reid has over 15 years of experience as a Rehabilitation Counseling educator, researcher and service provider. She has developed and implemented service delivery systems including a university-based rehabilitation counseling clinic and an office of disability resources. She has also served as a vocational evaluator, counselor, and impartial hearing officer for a state vocational rehabilitation agency. Dr. Reid has written over 30 professional publications (primarily journal articles and book chapters) and has made more than 75 rehabilitation-related presentations to regional, national, and international audiences. Dr. Reid has served on the editorial boards of Rehabilitation Education and the Journal of Counseling and Development, and on the Board of Directors for several professional organizations and accrediting or certifying bodies. Dr. Reid is past President and Fellow of the National Rehabilitation Counseling Association.

Terry Winkler, M.D., CLCP

Dr. Winkler is a board certified physiatrist in private practice in Springfield, MO. He is a past Medical Director of Cox Hospital Rehabilitation Programs and past Medical Director of Springfield Park Care Sub-Acute Rehabilitation Program and Curative Rehabilitation Center. Dr. Winkler serves on committees reviewing grants relative to spinal cord injury research for the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the National Institute of Disability Rehabilitation Research. Dr. Winkler has authored several publications regarding life care planning and has written a college text on rehabilitation record systems. He specializes in traumatic/acquired brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputations, and life care planning. He holds academic appointments as clinical
associate faculty at the University of Florida in Gainesville and at LSU Medical Center, Department of Rehabilitation in New Orleans. Dr. Winkler’s undergraduate training was at Louisiana Tech University and his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation was in Little Rock, AR. Past honors include the America Award, Alumnus of the Year at Louisiana Tech University, Who’s Who Among Young Americans, and the Jean Claude Belot Award for Academic Achievement from Harvard University.

Carol Walker, Ph.D., ABPP-CN, CLCP, MSCC, CFE

Dr. Walker is a Board Certified Neuropsychologist, certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology, a Certified Life Care Planner, a Certified Medicare Set-Aside Consultant, and a Certified Forensic Examiner, certified by the State of Alabama.

She received her graduate training from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed her internship at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia. She is the owner of NeuroLife, LLC, her private practice, with offices in Huntsville, Alabama and Birmingham, Alabama.

Dr. Walker also serves as the Fund Raising Chair for the Foundation of Life Care Planning Research. She has also created Life Care Planning Training Modules for the University of Florida Online Life Care Planning coursework. She has authored numerous articles and book chapters in the field of Life Care Planning, and is a frequent lecturer at professional conferences including conferences for Life Care Planners.

Debbie Berens, MS, CRC, CCM, CLCP

Debra E. Berens is a certified rehabilitation counselor, certified case manager, and certified life care planner in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia. Her practice specializes in disability and rehabilitation consulting, care coordination, and assessment, research, and development of life care plans for adults and children with catastrophic injuries and disabilities. She also is an instructor in the graduate Rehabilitation Counseling program at Georgia State University and served a five year term as Commissioner to the national Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC) which included appointments to the Ethics Committee and Chair of the Standards and Credentials committee. She is a member of the International Academy of Life Care Planners and served on a five person task force responsible for revising the Code of Ethics, Standards of Practice, and Competencies for the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (IARP).

Ms. Berens’ level of commitment and service to the rehabilitation community is reflected in her contributions over the years to writings, publications, trainings, and presentations on the topics of life care planning, rehabilitation counseling, ethics, and case management. Her research activities include participation in research related to assessing the reliability of life care plans as well as ongoing and current research into long-term community support programs for individuals with traumatic or acquired brain injuries and other neurological disorders. She has served as moderator of the annual Life Care Planning conferences for the past five years and has actively participated in the planning and/or facilitation of the biennial Life Care Planning Summits since the original Summit in 1997. She is one of the developers of the on-line life care planning certificate program offered by Kaplan College and, in 2006, was awarded the Outstanding Practitioner award from Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Professional Honor Society International. Ms. Berens currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Life Care Planning where she has been on the Editorial Board since its inception.

Lewis Vierling, MS, NCC, NCCC, CRC, CCM

Lewis Vierling is Vice President and Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant, Management Consulting & Rehabilitation Services, Inc., (Mc/RS) in Ankeny, Iowa. A graduate of the Masters program in Counseling, Drake University, Mr. Vierling has 29 years of experience in providing counseling and vocational services. He consults as a case manager for post-acute catastrophically injured individuals. Additionally, he was a member of a vocational rehabilitation advisory panel/project team, responsible for the development of a vocational rehabilitation program for a national managed care company. Mr. Vierling was elected in 2002 to serve a four-year term on the national Commission for Case Manager Certification.

In June 1999, the United States Supreme Court cited the results of his vocational evaluation in a landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) decision, Murphy v. United Parcel Services, Inc. When the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new instructions to address the definition of disability under ADA, Mr. Vierling's vocational research was cited from the Murphy decision providing examples of "Class of Jobs" relating to work as a major life activity. He has provided numerous vocational evaluations in ADA litigation and because of his interest in the process; he is a member of the Supreme Court Historical Society.

Mr. Vierling writes an “ADA Update” column for The Case Manager, The Official Journal of The Case Management Society of America. The Case Manager refers to him as their “resident ADA expert.” He is author of Court Decisions Involving the Americans with Disabilities Act: A Resource Guide For Rehabilitation Professionals, published in the Fall of 2002 by Elliott & Fitzpatrick, Inc. He has also authored a series of ADA articles in The Case Manager discussing the implications of Supreme Court ADA decisions on the practice of case management. Mr. Vierling has contributed chapters to multiple textbooks and presented nationally on ADA, catastrophic injury, return-to-work and vocational rehabilitation issues.

Mr. Vierling was appointed by Governor Terry Branstad to the Iowa Commission on Persons with Disabilities and served from 1984 until 1994. In 1988, he was elected chairperson of the commission and also became a member of The President's Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities. The Commission was actively involved in advocating for passage of the ADA legislation. As a result of those efforts, President George Bush invited him to the signing of the ADA bill at the White House on July 26, 1990. In September of 1992, he received a congratulatory letter from President Bush for efforts to promote full and harmonious compliance with the ADA legislation.

A National Certified Counselor (NCC), National Certified Career Counselor (NCCC), Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC), and a Certified Case Manager (CCM), he is also a Certified Instructor for the Career Development Facilitator Curriculum (CDF), a national training program for paraprofessionals seeking certification.

Patricia McCollom, RN, MS, CRRN, CDMS, CCM, CLCP

Ms. McCollom is President and Nurse Consultant for LifeCare Economics, LTD., and Management Consulting & Rehabilitation Services, Inc., and is CEO, International Academy of Life Care Planners, Ankeny, Iowa. A graduate of the Master's Program in Rehabilitation at Drake University, Ms. McCollom has extensive experience in care of individuals with head trauma, spinal cord injury, and other catastrophic injury. She is a past National President of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses, former Chair of the National Task Force on Case Management, and past Chair of the Commission for Case Manager Certification. She was elected by CCMC in 2003 to serve a five-year position on the Foundation for Rehabilitation, Education and Research. At the national level, she teaches case management practice and life care planning. She currently is Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Life Care Planning Research.

The author of many articles on rehabilitation, case management and life care planning, Ms. McCollom authored the chapters on Case Management, Burn Rehabilitation and Cancer Rehabilitation in the 2002 Mosby text Rehabilitation Nursing, 3rd Edition and the section on Life Care Planning in the 1997 Advanced Rehabilitation Nursing Practice Core Curriculum, published by ARN. She co-authored the section on Amputations in the Mosby publication, Case Management Clinical Practice Guidelines, and the chapter on life care planning in the September 2001, F.A. Davis text The Nurse and the Law. Ms. McCollom is a co-author of The Expert’s Role as an Educator Continues: Meeting the Demands Under Daubert (2002), contributed the chapter Application of Life Care Planning Principles in Elder Care Management to the Second Edition, Life Care Planning and Case Management Handbook (March, 2004), and contributed the chapter on Catastrophic Case Management in the 2004 publication Disease Management: A Guide for Case Managers. She is one of four principle developers of the certificate program in life care planning initiated by Kaplan College, July 2003. Ms. McCollom is the editor of the Journal of Life Care Planning.

Roger Weed, Ph.D., LPC, CLCP, CRC, CDMS, CCM, FNRCA, FIALCP (2007)

Roger O. Weed, Professor and graduate Rehabilitation Counseling Coordinator at Georgia State University, is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Life Care Planner, Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, Certified Disability Management Specialist, Certified Case Manager, Fellow of International Academy of Life Care Planners, and Fellow of the National Rehabilitation Counseling Association. He has authored or co-authored approximately 100 books, articles and book chapters. Dr. Weed has been honored with several awards including the 1997 and 1991 Outstanding Educator award by the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals, the 1993 National Professional Services Award from the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association, and the 2003 Research Excellence Award from the College of Education at Georgia State University. In addition, he is listed in several Who’s Who publications including the 2002 edition of Who’s Who in the World.

Dr. Weed is the Ethics Chair for the International Academy of Life Care Planners and Associate Editor of the Journal of Life Care Planning. He is one of the five founders of a national training program leading to life care planning certification. He is also past Chair of the Georgia State Licensing Board for professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, and social workers, as well as past President of the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (previously known as the National Association of Rehabilitation Professionals in the Private Sector).

Dr. Weed maintains a nation-wide private consulting practice specializing in catastrophic rehabilitation and rehabilitation professional training. In addition, he holds adjunct faculty status with the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access at the Georgia Institute of Technology and courtesy faculty status at the University of Florida.