top of page

About us

​This website aims to help people with spinal cord injury (SCI), their caregivers, and health care team understand and make informed decisions about surgery options to improve arm and hand movement after a cervical SCI. It was created as part of a research project with partners at:

Research team members

  • Ida Fox, MD

  • Catherine M. Curtin, MD

  • Jana Dengler, MD

  • Aimee James, PhD

  • Carie Kennedy, BSN

  • Deborah Kenney, MSOT

  • Allison L’Hotta, OTD, PhD

  • Kelley Chadwick Mansker, BHS

  • Corinne Merrill, BSN

  • Christine Novak, PhD

  • Doug Ota, MD

  • Mary Politi, PhD

  • Katherine Stenson, MD

  • John Steeves, PhD

  • Katharine Tam, MD

  • Michael Berger, MD, PhD

  • Daniel Eaton, MPH

  • Jody Newman, MA

  • Derek Ng, MScBMC, PhD

  • Sara Malone, PhD

  • Candace Tefertiller, DPT, PhD

  • Toby Huston, PhD

  • Harvey Wu, MD

​

Lived Experience Consultants

  • Kathy Calhoun, BS

  • DeAndre Hobbs

  • Mathew Szymanowski

  • Ronald Duffy

  • John Shepherd

Advisory board

A special thank you to our Advisory Board, whose personal and professional experience with spinal cord injury helped shape this work. The Advisory Board included people throughout the United States and Canada:

  • Lisa Beck, APRN, MS

  • Pam Deale

  • Kim Anderson Erisman, PhD

  • Toby Huston, PhD

  • Lorna Kahn, BSPT, CHT

  • Bill Metzger

  • Joshua Miller, BS

  • Mary Jane Mulcahey, PhD, OTR

  • Allan Peljovich MD, MPH 

  • Craig Trimmell

  • Kim Vonder Haar, MSW

  • Allan Belzberg, MD

  • Anne Bryden, PhD

  • Ian Burkhart

  • Charlene Caburnay, PhD, MPH

  • Cathy Craven, MD

  • Amanda DeRasmi, DO

  • Allison L'Hotta, OTD, PhD

  • Chris McBride, PhD

  • Philippe Mercier, MD

  • Robin Nabi, PhD

  • Christine Novak, PhD

  • Lindsay Perlman, MPH

  • Cheryl Vines, MS

EMSCI members

We are indebted to the European Multicenter Study about Spinal Cord Injury (EMSCI), a scholarly network of health centers that maintains an ongoing database of assessments of people with spinal cord injury over time. A special thank you to these EMSCI members who contributed to a scientific article on the retrospective data analysis that influenced the SCI outcomes in this decision aid:

  • Armin Curt, MD

  • Doris Maier, MD

  • Rainer Abel, MD, PhD

  • Norbert Weidner, MD, PhD

  • Rüdiger Rupp, PhD 

  • Joan Vidal, MD

  • Jesus Benito, MD

  • Yorck-Bernhard Kalke, MD

  • Frank Röhrich, MD

  • Martin Schubert, MD

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Defense:

  • W81XWH-17-1-0285—Supporting Patient Decisions about Upper-Extremity Surgery in Cervical SCI (PI: Ida K. Fox, MD)

  • W81XWH-22-1-0908/-0909—Expanding Knowledge and Information Delivery Around Improving Upper Extremity Function after Cervical SCI (PIs: Ida Fox, MD & Jana Dengler, MD).

​

The contents of this work do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.

Terms of use

Copyright © 2026, “Nerve & Tendon Transfer Surgery Decision Aid”, is a copyrighted instrument of Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
All Rights Reserved.

bottom of page