Alarcos Cieza is a senior scientist at the ICF Research Branch of the Institute for Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (IHRS) located at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. She leads the working group “ICF Core Set Development for Chronic Conditions” and heads the Human Functioning Sciences Division at the Swiss Paraplegic Research in Nottwil, Switzerland.

Cieza was born in 1970 in Ciudad Real, Spain. She received her diploma in psychology in 1994 from Pontificia Comillas University in Madrid, Spain, and went on to finish her PhD at Ludwig-Maximilian University’s Department of Medical Psychology in the fields of neuropsychology and health-related quality of life. She also obtained a master’s degree in public health from the same university.

Her main research interest is the development of patient-oriented tools and concepts to optimize outcomes for patients with chronic conditions.

Cieza is a lecturer in medical psychology and rehabilitation sciences at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ludwig-Maximilian University

alarcos.cieza@paranet.ch

Alexandra Rauch heads the project “Case Studies Describing Persons with Spinal Cord Injury and their Health Care Based on the ICF and the Rehab-Cycle” at the Swiss Paraplegic Research institute.

Born in 1968 in Bad Kissingen, Germany, Rauch finished her physical therapy education in 1990 at Ludwig-Maximilian University’s School for Physical Therapy in Munich, Germany. She gained experience in clinical practice at both in- and outpatient rehabilitation facilities; her specific expertise in clinical practice is the treatment of cardiological, musculoskeletal and neurological diseases.

From 1998 to 2006, Rauch worked as a teacher at the School for Physical Therapy at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. In collaboration with the ICF Research Branch of the World Health Organization at the Institute for Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilian University, she developed her special interest in teaching and applying the ICF in education and clinical practice for physiotherapists. She founded the Working Group of the German Physical Therapy Association for Teachers at Schools for Physiotherapy in Bavaria, which she still heads.

In 2006, Rauch finished her bachelor’s degree in Applied Health Sciences at the University for Applied Sciences in Magdeburg-Stendal, Germany. Since 2006, she has been working at the Swiss Paraplegic Research with a primary interest in developing ICF-based tools for clinical practice.

alexandra.rauch@paranet.ch

Dr. Inge Eriks-Hoogland is the Medical Officer of the Study Center at the Swiss Paraplegic Research. Since October 2006, she has led a team of health professionals overseeing all interactions with the study participants, taking charge of their health and adherence to clinical standards.

A physician in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) with a specialization in spinal cord injury, Eriks-Hoogland obtained her medical degree in 1998 and worked in the department of neurology and the emergency room of the Kennemer Gasthuis, Haarlem, The Netherlands.

In 1999, she started her specialization in PM&R in Amsterdam and served at the University Hospital of Amsterdam, where she specialized in neuromuscular diseases, stroke and traumatology.

She also worked at Jan van Bremen Institute in Amsterdam, specializing in the rehabilitation of patients with chronic pain and rheumatology, and at the Rehabilitation Center in Amsterdam, where she studied spinal cord medicine, stroke, traumatic brain injury and amputees.

In 2003, Eriks-Hoogland finished her specialization in PM&R and worked as a resident physician in the Department of Spinal Cord Injury at the Rehabilitation Center in Amsterdam. In addition to her clinical background, she has training in epidemiology and statistics.

Eriks-Hoogland participated in the project “Case Studies Describing Persons with Spinal Cord Injury and their Health Care Based on the ICF and the Rehab-Cycle” at the Swiss Paraplegic Research under the supervision of Alexandra Rauch.

Since 2001, Eriks-Hoogland has been lecturing in the Netherlands at the PAOG (training for medical doctors specializing in rehabilitation medicine) on the subject of rehabilitation in spinal cord injuries.

inge.eriks@paranet.ch

Gerold Stucki is Director of Swiss Paraplegic Research in Nottwil and Professor and Chair of the Seminar of Health Sciences and Health Policy at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland. He is also director of the ICF Research Branch of the WHO Collaborating Center for the Family of International Classifications, Germany (DIMDI) at the Institute of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, LMU. He serves as president-elect and liason officer to WHO for the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM) and is active in a number of scientific societies and boards related to rehabilitation internationally.

After his clinical training in physical medicine and rehabilitation and rheumatology he completed a research fellowship and obtained a Master of Science in Health Policy and Management and a Diploma in Biostatistics and Epidemiology.

From 1994-1999 Prof. Stucki worked as physician in rheumatology and later as Head of the Institute of Physical Medicine at the Department of Rheumatology at University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland.

During his appointment as Chair of the Department of PRM at the Ludwig-Maximilian University from 1999-2009, Prof. Stucki pursued clinical research in PRM and musculoskeletal medicine, and developed a new research agenda for human functioning and rehabilitation research. His clinical research focused on the development of concepts and programs for multidisciplinary rehabilitation service and care provision in the acute hospital, inpatient rehabilitation, post-acute community care and prevention programs. The new research agenda in human functioning and rehabilitation research addresses the need to move from a medically-centered perspective in outcomes research to a more comprehensive understanding of the human experience in order to provide a truly person- and community-centered service and care.

In the context of Prof. Stucki's new research agenda he has been collaborating with the WHO a member of its Classification, Terminology and Standards team in an international effort to implement the new International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in rehabilitation and the health sector in general.

With the same goal of facilitating a more comprehensive understanding of human functioning, Prof. Stucki is currently developing academic training programs focusing on human functioning, disability and health which integrate a wide range of scientific disciplines including social, psychological and biomedical sciences. Since 2005, he has been assigned the task of developing the Swiss Paraplegic Research (SPF) into a research institution with a comprehensive perspective. The goal of the SPF is to contribute to optimizing the quality of life of people with spinal cord injury (SCI) as well as "to learn for and from SCI" for the benefit of people with SCI and other health conditions.

With his teams at the ICF Research Branch and SPF, Prof. Stucki has been playing a key role in WHO´s ICF implementation activities. The aim of these implementation activities is to support WHO in achieving its mission: "to enhance the quality of life for person with disabilities through local, national, regional and global efforts" and hence to realise WHO´s vision that "all persons with disabilities live in dignity, with equal rights and opportunities".

gerold.stucki@paranet.ch

Since 2006 Mirjam Brach is the research manager at the Swiss Paraplegic Research.

She was born in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1959. In 1982 she finished her qualification as a state registered nurse at the School of nursing in Nürnberg, Germany. From 1982 until 1998 she worked in full- and part-time employment in different fields of nursing. During this time she gained clinical experience at cardiac, abdominal surgery and traumatology wards. In 1995 she finished her studies in business administration with a master's diploma. She also obtained a master's degree in Public Health at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich in 1998.

Following her career as a clinical practitioner Mirjam Brach worked from 1998 until 1999 as Research Scientist at the Bavarian Public Health Research Institute, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany and afterwards from 1999 until 2005 as clinic manager at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany.

Mirjam Brach is a lecturer in health policy, health economics and health administration at the medical faculty, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany, the Bavarian Academy for Nursing, in Gauting, Germany, and previously at the Master Program in Physiotherapy Sciences, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland and at Master Program in Health Sciences, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Innsbruck, Austria.

mirjam.brach@paranet.ch

Vincent J. Wong is a biologist, public health expert and medical writer.

Born in San Francisco, California, he grew up in one of the multi-cultural epicenters of the United States. He completed his Bachelor's of Arts in Integrative Biology at the University of California Berkeley in 1995.

In 1999, he relocated to Berlin, Germany to take up a position as a researcher at the German-American Institute for Applied Biomedical Research developing rapid HIV testing systems. He later joined their management team. In 2005, he completed a Masters of Science degree in International Health with a focus on HIV prevention.

Since then, Vincent has worked as a consultant to the World Health Organization’s HIV Department in the area of policy and research in HIV testing and counselling expansion.

He is currently developing and writing twenty case studies on the application of WHO’s  international classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF) to spinal cord injury patients for Swiss Paraplegic Research.

He lives with his wife and daughter in the Kreuzberg District of Berlin.

www.vincentjwong.com