Global Partners for Rehabilitation (GPFR)

Julia To Dutka, Chief Global Health Workforce Development Institute at CGFNS International, brings an extensive background as a leader and assessment strategist in higher education, healthcare, and non-profit organizations. Julia provides CGFNS with strategic guidance and expertise across its assessment activities. As Executive Director of the TOEFL® program at Educational Testing Service (ETS), she guided its transformation with measurement and technology capabilities leading to the current TOEFL iBT®, which continues to set the global standard for English language assessment. From 2016 to 2018, Julia was chairperson of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES), after serving for four years as chair of its strategic planning committee. Coming from an interdisciplinary background between linguistics and cognitive psychology, she has served as a professor, dean, and associate provost and is widely published in the field of education, regulation, credential assessment and certification, and language teaching and testing, as well as global labor mobility. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Hong Kong University and a Master of Arts, Master of Education, and a Doctor of Education, all from Columbia University. She is CITI certified for social and behavioral science research.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Julia has lived the life of a PLD – person living with disability – with a childhood illness that compromised her musculoskeletal integrity and left her visibly disabled. She has devoted her life and her work to giving back to the global community of health workers and to bringing the message of hope and empowerment to others who may find strength in her story.

Dr. Rich Oliver is a recognized leader offering fresh insight into the world of higher education. He is a nationally known expert in health professions and higher education with over 40 years’ experience as a clinician, researcher, educator, and administrator. Rich has a proven track record in planning and launching a new school, departments, and programs within a public AAU institution of higher education. Rich has received numerous awards and accolades at the local, national, and international level in recognition of his excellence in leadership, higher education, and volunteerism.

Rich is an early creator and adopter of internet based educational resources. He launched the Virtual Health Care Team learning internet platform in the 1990s utilizing actual patient stories covering a wide range of health-related conditions. He built on this experience to expand involvement and application of digital storytelling for students, faculty, practitioners, and consumers.

Rich is the Dean Emeritus of the School of Health Professions at the University of Missouri where he led this school to national prominence. He is also the Past-President of the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) a professional organization comprised of 120 health professions schools and colleges across the country. He has also spend considerable time working with colleagues at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa in promoting community engagement, interdisciplinary education and clinical practice.

Bruce M. Gans, MD is Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. In addition, he is Senior Health Policy Advisor for Powers Law in Washington, DC. He is also the Chief Policy Officer of the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association (AMRPA), the trade association representing the rehabilitation hospital industry. He serves as a Trustee of Industrial Logistics Properties Trust (ILPT), a real estate investment trust that owns and manages industrial properties throughout the United States. He is a Life Director of the Foundation for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, a charitable organization that promotes the field of PM&R.

Dr. Gans served as the President of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R) in 2005. He served as Vice Chairman and Treasurer of the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He is a past President of the Association of Academic Physiatrists, past Chairman of the Governing Council of the American Hospital Association (AHA) Section for Rehabilitation Hospitals and Programs, past Chair of the Health Policy and Legislation Committee of the AAPM&R, and past Chair of the Injury Prevention Grant Review Committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.

Gans received his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia and an MS in Biomedical Electronic Engineering from the Moore School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds an MS degree from the University of Washington. He served his medical internship at the Philadelphia General Hospital and residency in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the University of Washington, Seattle. Dr. Gans received his BS degree in electrical engineering from Union College, Schenectady, New York.

Peter Preziosi is a leader in the global effort to strengthen health systems by improving career development and mobility for health workers. Recently appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of CGFNS International, the world’s largest credentials evaluation organization for the nursing and allied health professions, he is working to revitalize its leadership in developing and implementing credentialing solutions for a globalizing health workforce.
Prior to joining CGFNS in January 2023, Dr. Preziosi led quality, standards development and credentialing at the World Health Organization’s initiative to build a technology-driven global learning center, the WHO Academy, with a goal of upskilling millions of health workers worldwide.
After beginning his career as a registered nurse, Dr. Preziosi has spent nearly three decades in high-profile positions at corporations, government agencies and nonprofits. His work has included leading strategic innovation, partnership-building and healthcare reform initiatives for national and international organizations including Verizon’s healthcare innovation incubator, Concentrix Corporation, the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the National League for Nursing and the AMDEC Foundation, a New York-based biomedical research consortium. He also worked for the City of New York’s Health and Hospital Corporation and he directed the Mayor’s Office of Medicaid Managed Care.
Dr. Preziosi holds a PhD in health policy and a master’s degree in government administration from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a master’s in education from Columbia University’s Teachers College. His bachelor’s degree in nursing is from Florida State University. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of SONSIEL, a society of nurse scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs, and is a member of the American Society of Association Executives, where he is a Certified Association Executive.

Dr. Oh-Park is a physiatrist with 30 years of experience in clinical medicine, research and education, and healthcare management in rehabilitation. She serves as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, a member of Montefiore Health System, White Plains, NY, USA.

Dr. Oh-Park was the inaugural Chair of the Global Academic Physiatry Subcommittee of the Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) till Feb 2023 and an invitee to the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global Rehabilitation 2030 meeting. As a member of the Education Committee of the International Society of Physical Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM), Dr. Oh-Park has been promoting rehabilitation education with an extensive network of educators across the globe.

She is Editor-in-Chief for Current Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Reports and serves on the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation editorial board. She is a professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and the Department of Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She earned her master’s degree in Clinical Research Methods from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a master’s degree in Health Care Management from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Robin Hedeman is the Founder and CEO of CareRelations LLC, a post-acute care consulting company. Robin has a unique blend of clinical expertise and business acumen. She gained clinical expertise at one of the nation’s leading rehabilitation hospitals, Kessler Institute, where she served as an occupational therapist, operational leader and as VP for Business Development. Her profound commitment to improve lives of patients earned Robin a reputation as a compassionate clinician and effective leader. She leveraged her expertise in brain injury and stroke rehabilitation to create innovative programs and services that enhanced patient care and drove business growth.

She also served as a business development executive developing startups, joint ventures, and other strategic business opportunities for Select Medical. In this role she worked with healthcare providers nationwide, helping patients access needed quality rehabilitation programs and services. Robin co-authored several publications on selection of post-acute care discharge destination following hospitalization.

Margaret A. Turk, MD is State University of New York (SUNY) Distinguished Service Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PMR), Pediatrics, and Public Health & Preventive Medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical University and Vice Chairman of SUNY Upstate Medical University Department of PMR. Among her clinical contributions are establishing the PMR Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine clinical program, the spasticity and tone management program, and the brain injury rehabilitation program spanning the continuum from concussion to severe brain injury. As a medical educator, she has promoted integrating disability education within medical school curricula, locally and nationally. The Disability Integration Toolkit is a product of these efforts (https://www.upstate.edu/pmr/education/toolkit/index.php). Educational contributions globally include over twenty years of visiting professorships and invited participation in promoting rehabilitation in China through educational meetings nationally, regionally, and locally. SUNY Upstate Department of PMR also has hosted over 70 Chinese PMR physicians as visiting scholars. Dr. Turk’s research is focused on life-long disability, health care accessibility issues, and differences and disparities in health/health care for people with disability including peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the topics. She has been federally funded to explore disability and health concepts and has provided expertise as a member of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded project’s Data and Safety Monitoring Board, an NIH working group determining Rehabilitation Common Data Elements for funded research, and as a consultant for the National Council on Disability. Other professional service contributions include leadership in the field on professional organization committees and specifically on the American Board of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, also serving as Chair. She has also contributed to national/international reports on disability, rehabilitation services, health promotion, and disability research. Dr. Turk is a founding and present Co-Editor-in-Chief of Disability and Health Journal. Within New York State (NYS), she co-chairs the advisory group for the NYS Department of Health Disability and Health Program, serves on AccessCNY’s Board (a community board that supports person-centered services for people with disability), and is a member of the newly formed NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) Medical Taskforce to enhance quality services and patient safety for people served through NYS OPWDD programs. She has received numerous awards over the years for her contributions.

Peter Thomas is Managing Partner at Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville, PC, a Washington, DC-based law and lobbying firm that focuses on healthcare, education and the law of tribal nations. He has a federal law and legislative practice in the areas of healthcare and disability policy; Medicare coverage and reimbursement policy; access to medical rehabilitation services; coverage, coding and payment of orthotics, prosthetics, and assistive devices and technologies; and appropriations and policy advocacy involving rehabilitation and disability research and development. Peter has served on the President’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, the National Advisory Board for the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR) at NIH, the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Improving the Disability Decision Process. He also serves as a Co-Principal Investigator for a PCORI-funded research project on peer support for trauma survivors. Peter has also served on a number of non-profit boards including the Foundation for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the American Trauma Society, the Viscardi Center, the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), and the Center for International Rehabilitation/Physicians Against Land Mines. Peter recently joined the board of a new international rehabilitation organization known as Global Partners for Rehabilitation. He speaks nationally and internationally on rehabilitation and disability issues, routinely presents at national association meetings, and authors multiple articles in various publications annually. Peter served as Co-Chair of the Health Task Force of the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD) for over 30 years and is general counsel to the National Association for the Advancement of Orthotics and Prosthetics (NAAOP) as well as counsel to the Orthotic and Prosthetic Alliance. Peter has used two prosthetic legs since age 10 and is a co-author of The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Guidebook for Management and People with Disabilities. He graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1989, Boston College in 1986, and is licensed to practice law in New York State and the District of Columbia.

Dr. Tim Vidale is the CEO of Momentous Sports Medicine. He currently serves as a Physical Therapist for the Baltimore Ravens and was formerly the Physical Therapist and Assistant Rehab Coordinator for the Minnesota Twins. He was featured in Forbes magazine as one of the top 1000 Entrepreneurs of 2021.

Dr. Vidale is a graduate of Florida A&M University where he was a hurdler and decathlete on the track and field team. Dr. Vidale went on to attain his Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Rutgers University. Following graduation, Dr. Vidale relocated to Washington, D.C. where he earned his MBA from George Washington University. He completed his Sports Physical Therapy fellowship (FAAOMPT) at the Institute for Athlete Regeneration. Prior to that he served as an Assistant Professor in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Howard University. He was the Head Physical Therapist for the DC Slayers and DC Furies Rugby clubs from 2012-2016 and served Team USA as a Physical Therapist at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada with the United States Olympic Committee. He also served as the Physical Therapist for USA Softball National team.

Dr. Vidale is a published author, with publications in internationally distributed textbooks and scholarly journals and is also a content reviewer for the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. Dr. Vidale specializes in treating sports and orthopedic injuries. He sits on the State Board of Physical Therapy for Washington, DC, and currently serves as on the Nominating Committee for the American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy(AASPT). Dr. Vidale is also the chairman of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and serves on the Practice Committee in the AASPT, and is also involved in the American Physical Therapy Association, American College of Sports Medicine and the Private Practice Section. He resides in Washington, DC.

Kathleen is a value-based senior executive with a unique background of medical expertise and business financial acumen. She is a recognized healthcare leader and has developed niche expertise in the delivery of post-acute care health services. Having led the National post-acute trade Association, AMRPA, she has participated in impactful discussions with congressional leaders, which have produced policies supporting access and patient services. Her clinical background as a licensed RN, clinical specialist and Nursing Home Administrator has served as an integral resource in the financial turnaround of two Chicago area hospitals, where she previously served as President and CEO. She is an innovative strategist and skilled in collaborating and executing business ventures and management contracts between hospitals and health systems. Kathleen consultation skills include interim leadership, strategic planning, project management, fundraising strategies, and implementing turnaround strategies to reduce overhead and promote revenue growth. Kathleen has an MS from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Keller/DeVry School of Business. She also has earned a PhD in human behavior from I.A.S.H. She is a member of the boards of DuPage Health Coalition, College of DuPage, Morton Arboretum Advisory, and the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association. Her memberships include the Chicago Network, the Economics Club of Chicago, the International Woman Foundation, the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Chicago Private Director’s Association, and the American College of Corporate Executives.