Jerry C. Parker, Ph.D., is the associate dean for Clinical Research and Development and a clinical professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the MU School of Medicine. Parker is the director of Research Projects and principal investigator for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC).

He has served as a member of the National Advisory Board for Arthritis and Musculorskeletal Diseases, and he is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Health Psychology). Parker has been awarded the Arthritis Health Professions Association (AHPA) Merit Award for Outstanding Scholarship, the Outstanding VA Research Psychologist Award from (APA Psychologists in Public Service), and the Outstanding VA Administrator Psychologist Award (APA Psychologists in Public Service).

Willard Downs, Ph.D., is program chair for the Agricultural Systems Management Program in Food Science and Engineering Unit at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He serves as Unit Extension Program Leader for Unit Extension Programs. Downs, principal investigator for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC), is conducting a study on arthritis prevention and self-management for migrant and seasonal farmworkers.

Downs is also the principal investigator for the Missouri AgrAbility Project, and provides leadership for the Farm and Rural Safety and Health Program. As professor and extension specialist in the Unit, his research and extension efforts emphasize both indoor and outdoor air quality, health and safety, and machinery management.

Margaret Duffy, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. She is a principal investigator for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC). Duffy is utilizing civic journalism approaches to launch a strategic communication campaign focused on improving media coverage of disability issues throughout the United States.

Duffy served as associate professor at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn., before joining the Missouri School of Journalism faculty in August 2001. At Austin Peay State University, Duffy taught graduate and undergraduate courses in organizational communication, marketing communication, consumer behavior, public relations, advertising, integrated marketing communication and media business management and was the creator and director of the university's Institute for Corporate Communication.

Michael J. Grinfeld, J.D., an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, studies media effects on conflict and dispute resolution processes. Grinfeld, a principal investigator for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC), is currently working on a project to coordinate care for children with juvenile arthritis. He teaches courses in writing, journalism and conflict, and media, law and the courts. Grinfeld is also an adjunct associate professor at the MU School of Law, and a senior fellow at its Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution, where he collaborates on projects relating to media and conflict/dispute resolution issues.

Emphasizing topics in law and medicine, Grinfeld is currently a contributing editor for California Lawyer and Psychiatric Times magazines. His work has also appeared in other magazines, including House Counsel, Global Journalist, Medicine & Behavior, Parenting, Healthcare Business, Geriatric Times, and the Forensic Echo.

Kristofer J. Hagglund, Ph.D., is the associate dean for Health Policy and Professor of Health Psychology at the MU School of Medicine. He serves as director of the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC) Capacity Building, Dissemination and Health Policy Projects. Hagglund, co-principal investigator for MARRTC, is conducting a study of reducing disability for persons with arthritis in rural America.

Hagglund was a 2000-2001 Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in the Office of Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), where he worked on legislation addressing patient’s rights, mental health parity, rural health care, health professions workforce, community health centers, and the National Health Service Corps. Hagglund has published in the areas of adaptation to chronic illnesses and disabilities, health care delivery systems, and professional issues.

Hagglund is currently active in other projects which include a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to evaluate a consumer-driven personal assistance services program being implemented by the State of Missouri. He is also the principal investigator of the Missouri Model Spinal Cord Injury System, a five-year research and demonstration project funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.

Hagglund directs a post-doctoral training program in rehabilitation research funded by the National Institutes of Health. Hagglund obtained a B.A. in psychology from Illinois State University and a Ph.D. in Clinical (Medical) Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

John E. Hewett, Ph.D., is the director of Biostatistics at the MU School of Medicine. Hewett is the senior biostatistics adviser for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC), and Principal Investigator for Project 5, involving capacity-building for consumers of disability research.

He has been a statistical reviewer of numerous NIDRR and NIH grant review panels, and he has been the recipient of the ARHP Merit Award for Distinguished Scholarship. Hewett’s areas of specialization include multivariate analysis, distribution theory, and biostatistics.

Brick Johnstone, Ph.D., American Board of Professional Psychology, is a professor and chair of the Department of Health Psychology. Johnstone is a principal investigator for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research Training Center(MARRTC) is studying worksite (VR) vocational rehabilitation intervention to improve employment outcomes for persons with arthritis.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Duke University and his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the University of Georgia. He completed his internship at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, where he also completed a two-year fellowship in clinical neuropsychology. He has been employed at the University of Missouri-Columbia since 1990.

Marian A. Minor, P.T., Ph.D., is an associate professor and chair of Physical Therapy in the MU School of Health Professions, and director of Research and Graduate Studies. Minor is co-principal investigator for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC), and she is principal investigator on the study researching exercise and physical fitness for persons with osteoarthritis of the knee.

She has been the recipient of the AF National Service Citation, the AHPA Merit Award for Outstanding Scholarship, the Governor’s Fitness and Health Leadership Award from the State of Missouri, and the AF Engalitcheff Award for the Impact on Quality of Life; she also has served as President of the Association of Rheumatology Health Professions (ARHP) and as the Chair of the Missouri Arthritis Advisory Board.

Laura Schopp, Ph.D., American Board of Professional Psychology, is a board-certified neuropsychologist specializing in adult neuropsychology and rehabilitation psychology. She is an assistant professor in the MU Department of Health Psychology, and conducts research on traumatic brain injury, telerehabilitation and disability informatics. Schopp, a principal investigator for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research Training Center (MARRTC), will conduct a state-of-the-science conference on "Reducing Disability for Persons with Arthritis in Rural America."

She has served as the principal investigator and co-principal investigator of a number of other research projects from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and has completed NIH fellowships in both neuropsychology research and health informatics. She has been the recipient of several national awards, such as the Mary Switzer research fellowship from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, as well as the Young Investigator Award from the Brain Injury Association of the United States.

Gordon C. Sharp, M.D., senior science adviser for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC), is Curator’s Professor Emeritus. He has been Einbender Distinguished Professor of Internal Medicine and Pathology, director of the Antinuclear Antibody Laboratory, and director of the Central Missouri Regional Arthritis Center (CEMRAC).

He has had a distinguished career as director of the MU Division of Immunology and Rheumatology and the MU Multipurpose Arthritis Center. He has served as chair of both the Missouri Task Force on Arthritis and the Missouri Arthritis Advisory Board.

Karen L. Smarr, Ph.D. is a psychologist and clinical researcher at the Harry S Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital in Columbia, Mo. She is also a clinical assistant professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the MU School of Medicine and adjunct assistant professor in the Sinclair School of Nursing. Smarr, principal investigator for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC), is conducting a study of an online self-management program for older adults with rheumatoid arthritis.

She has written 22 abstracts, 35 research publications in peer-reviewed journals, and 37 research papers. Smarr has been a member of the Grant Review Panel for the American College of Rheumatology, an Editorial Board Member for Arthritis Care and Research and an Ad Hoc Reviewer for Arthritis Care and Research and Social Science and Medicine.

Sara E. Walker, M.D., is a professor of Internal Medicine at the MU School of Medicine. She is co-investigator for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC). Walker has served as director of the MU Fellowship Program in Immunology and Rheumatology. She has 94 research publications in peer-reviewed journals, 23 reviews and book chapters, 23 clinical publications and 102 abstracts. She has authored 29 papers with Internal Medicine residents and Rheumatology fellows.

She has been a member of the VA Merit Review Board on Immunology and the NIH Study Section on Immunology and Virology. Walker is a past president of the American College of Physicians and Einbender Distinguished Lecturer in Medical Research on Lupus.

Gregory M. Worsowicz, M.D., MBA, is chair of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the MU School of Medicine. Worsowicz is co-principal investigator for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC).

He has been elected to the Board of Governors of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, and he has been the recipient of the Volunteer Faculty Award and the Teacher of the Year Award at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.