Welcome to the AAPM&R Pediatric Rehabilitation/ Developmental Disabilities Council

Maureen Nelson, MD, Chair

As the chair of the Pediatric Rehabilitation/ Developmental Disabilities Council, I welcome all physiatrists who have an interest in serving children with special needs throughout childhood and as they become adults!

The transition to Councils from Special Interest Groups (SIGs) is now in place and each Council has three Advisory Groups: Education, Communication, and Membership Development. Councils were formed to take advantage of common interests and “strength in numbers,” effectively modeled after the success of PASSOR. Our Pediatric SIG was one of the largest and oldest specialty groups, but its transition to a Council offers several additional opportunities.

The objectives of the Council model include:

• Embrace the diversity of the specialty

• Foster a sense a community

• Tap into the collective expertise of the membership

• Create a formal mechanism for “voice” and input into the Academy

• Create a forum for leadership development

• Strengthen the Academy

• Advance the specialty of PM&R

The three Advisory Groups that comprise our Council and their goals are:

Membership Development
Stephanie Ried, MD, Vice-Chair

• Monitor the growth of membership

• Engage and activate the membership of the Council

• Build a community of experts to serve as a resource

Education
Robert Rinaldi, MD, Vice-Chair

• Submit one educational product idea per year that represents the Council’s clinical scope

• Serve as a resource for content and product development for the Annual Assembly, study guides, practicing curricula, enduring materials, and maintenance of certification

• For the Academy journal PM&R: produce one comprehensive review article annually, identify a group of manuscript reviewers, and encourage submission of manuscripts

Communication
Elizabeth Moberg-Wolff, MD, Vice-Chair

• Produce a quarterly information letter

• Encourage submissions to The Physiatrist

• Promote current research by physiatrists

• Promote positive information about physiatrists

• Maintain a list of research publications and grant awards

We will be determining a way to develop a research subgroup and encourage members to volunteer to participate in Advisory Group projects and online discussions. Members will meet in Austin, Texas for the first time as a Council. We look forward to seeing you there!

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