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Allen Heinemann, PhD, Director of the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, has been appointed to the Standing Committee of Medical and Vocational Experts for the Social Security Administration's Disability Programs.
The Health and Medicine division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine established the committee to discuss ongoing and emerging disability policy issues and to assist the Social Security Administration in improving its disability programs. The committee reviews relevant evidence, research, and clinical practices, and collects and analyzes data related to disability. Topics the committee has addressed include physical and mental impairments in adults and children, prescribed treatments and therapies, assistive technology and developmental milestones for children.
Heinemann’s research interests focus on health services research, psychosocial aspects of rehabilitation including substance abuse, and measurement issues in rehabilitation. He is the author of more than 300 articles in peer-reviewed publications and is Co-Editor-in-Chief, Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.
Since 1985, Heinemann has worked at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC)) where he directs the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research. The Center manages a $9.85 million portfolio of research projects funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research, the National Institutes of Health, the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, the Department of Defense and other sources. The Center also manages the Rehabilitation Measures Database, a free online resource with more than 550 summarized rehabilitation measures as well as educational resources to help users get the most out of the database.
Heinemann, who is also Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Emergency Medicine and Medical Social Sciences in the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, earned his doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of Kansas with a specialty focus in rehabilitation. He completed an internship at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and then accepted an assistant professor position in the Department of Psychology at Illinois Institute of Technology.
Heinemann is a diplomate in Rehabilitation Psychology (ABPP), and a fellow of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) and the American Psychological Association (APA Division 22). He is a past president of ACRM and the Rehabilitation Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Psychology. He is the recipient of the APA Division 22 Roger Barker Distinguished Career Award.
