Elizabeth K. Rasch, PT, PhD
Dr. Rasch is Chief of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics and a Staff Scientist at the NIH Clinical Center. She has been a physical therapist for more than 25 years and was one of the first clinical specialists in neurology to be board certified by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties.  She holds a Master's degree in Physical Therapy from the University of Southern California and PhD from the University of Maryland, Baltimore in Rehabilitation Science with a concentration in Epidemiology. Her research interests include the health of people with disabilities (specifically the development and impact of secondary conditions), functional trajectories, as well as the use, quality, effectiveness of, and access to healthcare services by persons with disabilities. She has been actively involved in research since 1985 and has published articles and book chapters on topics related to disability and rehabilitation.

Diane Brandt, PT, MA
Diane Brandt is a protocol manager in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the NIH Clinical Center. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from the University of Missouri-Columbia, a Master of Science from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and a Master of Arts from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She is currently a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, specializing in health policy. Her research interests include social welfare/health policy and implications for vulnerable populations; and, the geospatial implications of policy outcomes. She served as the designee liaison to the American Physical Therapy Association for the Mobility Chapter of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) clinical manual. She is currently under contract with Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the NIH Clinical Center to assist with administrative activities and assist in the execution of RMD health services research.

Gloria P. Furst, MPH
Gloria Furst is a research assistant in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the NIH Clinical Center. She received her BS in OT from Washington University in St. Louis, and MPH from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in Health Education. She has been an Occupational Therapy consultant to Rehabilitation Medicine at the NIH Clinical Center since 1978. She provides research support and statistical analysis for protocols initiated in Rehabilitation Medicine as well as collaborative work with various institutes.  While at the NIH, she developed the workbook "Rehabilitation through Learning: Joint Protection and Energy Conservation for Persons with Rheumatoid Arthritis", previously published by the Government Printing Office and currently available through her at the NIH. The workbook was revised in 1996 for use by any patient with debilitating fatigue (unpublished). She developed the NIH Activity Record (ACTRE), an evaluation used internationally to measure the effects of pain and fatigue on function. Her work with fatigue led to an interest in OT management for patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  She has developed an occupational therapy treatment protocol for CFS patients, which was presented at two AACFS national meetings. Ms. Furst has published articles and presentations relating to Rheumatoid Arthritis and CFS, the ACTRE and Energy Conservation workbook.

Stephen P. Gulley, PhD
Dr. Gulley is a statistical programmer and research associate in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the NIH Clinical Center. He holds a Master in Social Work degree from Boston University (1996) and a Ph.D. in social policy from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University (2006), where he is currently a faculty member in the Health, Science, Society and Policy concentration. He is also a federal contractor, having recently completed a consulting project with the National Center for Health Statistics (CDC) to investigate definitional/operational issues in disability measurement and access to health care services for adults with disabilities. Dr. Gulley has experience in both primary survey research and secondary data analysis.  He assisted in the fielding and analysis of the first large scale, national survey of children with special health care needs (CSHCNs) in the late 1990s, and has conducted secondary research on this population under the auspices of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). He is equally interested in health care policy and practice as they affect the working-age population with disabilities and chronic health conditions. Using data from the medical expenditure panel survey (MEPS: AHRQ), Dr. Gulley's dissertation work examined predictors and effects of gaps in insurance coverage among such individuals.  He is currently under contract with Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the NIH Clinical Center to develop and apply service-based criteria for defining adults with chronic health care needs, including those with long-lasting health conditions and/or disabilities.  Directed by Drs. Leighton Chan and Elizabeth Rasch, this project is now underway with a new analysis of MEPS data.  The results will provide population-level estimates of the size, demographics, functional abilities, health conditions, service needs, insurance status and associated costs of adults who require ongoing health care and related services in the United States.

Ching-yi A. Shieh, PhD
Ching-yi A. Shieh, PhD is a statistician and research associate in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the NIH Clinical Center. She received her doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2005 with concentrations in social demography and aging. She was an assistant professor at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina before joining the Rehabilitation Medicine Department at the National Institutes of Health. Her research interests include socioeconomic dimensions of health disparities, immigrant health, intergenerational transfers, and the later-life consequences of life course transitions. Her role in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Section of the Rehabilitation Medicine Department is to provide statistical support for staff conducting research. She also collaborates with Drs. Leighton Chan and Elizabeth Rasch in population-level research projects on disability and health services.