We're excited about the formation of our blog team and below you can find short biographies of our team members. (Click on the member's name to jump to their bio) We will be adding more bios as we receive them and we are looking forward to the knowledge and resources that these members will be adding to the blog!

After the team member's name it will say either "FCE" or "ERG" or both "FCE/ERG". This means that this member contributes articles in relation to either Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) or Ergonomics (ERG), or both topics.

James Clouse - FCE

Jonathan Harrison - FCE/ERG

Christina Howe - FCE

Min Trevor Kyi - FCE

Louise Lynch - FCE/ERG

Nicola MacNaughton - FCE

Leonard Matheson - FCE

Roy Matheson - FCE

Lorraine Mischuck - FCE

James Orrange - FCE/ERG

Sonia Paquette - FCE

MaryBeth Plummer - FCE

Learn About Our Blog Members:

James Clouse, COTA, CWCE: Jim currently works at ProRehab in Evansville, IN. He is a graduate of the University of Southern Indiana with an Associate of Science degree in Occupational Therapy. He is a member of the AOTA and is credentialed as a Certified Work Capacity Evaluator with more than 8 years of experience. His professional interests include Work Conditioning, Functional Capacity Evaluations, Job Analysis/Job Description Preparation, Post-Offer/Pre-Placement Test Construction, and Workplace Injury Reduction.

Jonathan Harrison, MBA, OTR/L, CWCE, CEES, CPAM: Jon is currently the owner of Northwest Work Options, an outpatient industrial rehabilitation company that works with a variety of individuals and businesses in the Pacific Northwest to prevent work related injuries and assist people in returning to work. Jon has completed over 700 FCEs and over 200 Ergonomic Evaluations for a variety of conditions in a variety of industries. He is preferred by the state’s worker’s compensation system and some self insured carriers, multiple vocational counselors and physicians, local attorneys, and companies across the Northwest. He has authored articles for publication on the subjects of work conditioning , work hardening, and returning the “older worker” to work. He has served as a resource to OT faculty lecturing nationally and serves as a resource to many of his peers across the country.

Christina Howe, OTR, CWCE: Christina has specialized in the field of Occupational Rehabilitation for 24 of her 25 years in practice. Her career has included the design and development of Occupational Rehabilitation Programs including physical plant design, product and business development, business management, marketing, consulting with industry and clinical practice. For 5 years Ms. Howe was responsible for clinical support for the Matheson System. Ms. Howe has been an instructor for a variety of courses for Matheson for 16 years. As a consultant, Ms. Howe is involved in various areas of occupational rehabilitation for companies nationwide.

Min Trevor Kyi, OT, CWCE, CDA, DipFCE: Min is an occupational therapist who practices in the field of functional capacity evaluation (FCE). He is the director of Functional Outcomes Rehabilitation Services Inc. in Vancouver, B.C., and a Clinical Associate Professor with the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Medicine. In addition to his OT degree, he also holds a post-graduate diploma through the University of Florida in Functional Capacity Evaluation, and is the first non-physician recipient of the Faculty of Medicine Award for outstanding clinical teacher, for the University of British Columbia. Mr. Kyi has lectured extensively in the arena of Functional Capacity Evaluation, throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe and is a Senior Disability Analyst and Diplomate with the American Board of Disability Analysts (ABDA). Having taught the Matheson CWCE certification program for over 10 years, he has also trained and certified in various other FCE systems used both nationally and internationally. He is a qualified expert witness, having provided Supreme Court testimony in the fields of Functional Capacity Evaluation, Occupational Therapy, Ergonomics, and Brain Injury for nearly 20 years.

Louise Lynch, PT, CWCE, CEES: Louise is the co-owner of Injury & Health Management Solutions, Inc. (IHMS) located in Colchester, Vermont, a townnearBurlington. IHMS provides on-site services at companies including Burton Snowboards, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Bombardier Transportation, Ben & Jerrys, State of Vermont Agency of Transportation, and Twincraft Soap. These services include onsite physical therapy, Ergonomic Evaluation, all levels of injury prevention and ergonomic training; direct problem solving of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), wellness, post-offer pre-employment screenings, ADA job analysis, and computer ergonomics.

Nicola MacNaughton, BSc, OT, MSc(OT-Post-Professional), OT(C), CDMP: Nicola is the owner of Occupational Concepts. She earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Occupational Therapy from McGill University in 1990. She continued her studies, completing a Master of Science Degree in Occupational Therapy from Dalhousie Universityin 2002. Nicola is registered and a member in good standing with the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists and the New Brunswick Association of Occupational Therapists. Nicola has been practicing Occupational Therapy in the field of work rehabilitation since 1990. Nicola MacNaughton is one of the first in Canada to achieve the designation of Certified Disability Management Professional through the International Disability Management Standards Council. She is an instructor for the National Institute of Disability Management and Research’s Return to work Coordinator Certificate Program andcontinues to consult to the Institute in the area of return to work coordination. Nicola MacNaughton is licensed to administer and interpret the consensus Based Disability Managment Audit supported by the International Disability Management Standards Council.

Leonard N. Matheson, PhD, CVE, CRC: Len is a psychologist, author and inventor who was a pioneer in the field of occupational rehabilitation. He is the Research Scientist and Founding Director of EpicRehab. He is the originator of work hardening, work tolerance screening and work capacity evaluations and has participated in setting the national standards of practice for work hardening and functional capacity evaluation. Among more than 120 scientific papers and chapters in textbooks are the chapters on functional capacity evaluation in the American Medical Associations definitive textbook, Disability Evaluation. He has designed many of the tests and treatment models that are in use in Occupational Rehabilitation today. His tests have been translated into more than two dozen languages and has been a consultant to several Fortune 500 employers, the Social Security Administration, the United States Congress, and hundreds of rehabilitation centers and governmental agencies in the United States, Canada and in other countries. Dr. Matheson has testified before the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC and consulted to both House and Senate committees on disability and rehabilitation. Dr. Matheson has been a professional in rehabilitation for more than 35 years, as a licensed psychologist, certified vocational evaluator, and certified rehabilitation counselor. His doctoral work at the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of Southern California focused on cognitive function and among his current projects is the development of new methods to evaluate and treat people who have brain injury and the reliable measurement of physical functional ability with self-report measures. He served on the editorial board of Spine for ten years and currently serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation and is on the editorial board of Work. Recently retiring after 15 years as an Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy and Neurology at the Washington University School of Medicine, Dr. Matheson maintains an active consulting practice in Chesterfield, Missouri, working with people who have physical, neurological and psychological disabilities, as well as businesses and professionals on career satisfaction and employee selection. He uses a cognitive behavioral approach to assist his clients to learn positive psychology strategies to manage their lives optimally. Having been mentored by many outstanding people, Dr. Matheson is especially pleased to be a mentor to numerous young rehabilitation professionals, who help him bring to life his motto: To recognize and develop the value in each of us.

Roy Matheson, BS, CMTM: Roy, founder and president of Matheson System (Roy Matheson & Associates, Inc.), sees his life’s calling as “stretching people to learn.” From the thousands of allied professionals that he has trained across the globe, to his nationwide network of instructors, to his staff in Keene, NH, Roy is all about “helping people learn the ropes.” Roy not only learned the ropes in workplace safety and work injury evaluation, but he built the course. Matheson System is the leading provider of training and certification for occupational and physical therapists performing functional capacity evaluation, post-offer testing and ergonomic evaluation services around the world. Working with his brother Leonard, Roy was a pioneer in the development of work evaluation training. He has assembled a team of practitioners and trainers who share his vision of a safe workplace manned by workers whose physical abilities match those of the job. Combining his natural talent for teaching with his background in business administration, Roy has created a unique business which provides complete solutions for equitable work injury evaluations, improved workplace safety, and post-offer testing and job assessment. Roy has transformed his hands-on knowledge into a full range of industry-leading software, equipment and education programs. Roy shares his life and work with his wife Karen. When not traveling, training and solving client problems, Roy is known to throw a mean tennis ball for Molly, his adoring lab.

Lorraine Mischuck, OT, CWCE: Lorraine began her career as an Occupational Therapist in the public sector in 1989. She gained extensive experience with upper extremity trauma injuries and cumulative trauma disorders, and was also involved in the research, development, and implementation of group education programs for clients with chronic back pain. Following this, Lorraine expanded her career to the private sector as corporate Occupational Therapist with the Canadian National Railway in its main shops. While at CN she was responsible for the development and implementation of occupational therapy services at an industrial site. The main areas of service included employee early intervention, prevention programs, and ergonomic assessments. Here she gained extensive experience with functional capacity evaluation, worksite assessments and the accommodation of injured workers at a large industrial site. Next, Lorraine worked at a multi-disciplinary rehabilitation clinic as part of a team that offered occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychology, medical consultation and chiropractic consultation. Here she gained extensive experience working with individuals who sustained complex multiple trauma injuries, affecting the individual physically, cognitively, and psychosocially. Since 1997 Lorraine has operated Maximize Human Capabilities (MHC) - Ergonomics and Occupational Therapy. Lorraine regularly attends industry training programs and seminars across North America ensuring she maintains the highest level of professional standards. She is a fully Certified Work Capacity Evaluation (C.W.C.E.) with the Matheson Functional Capacity Evaluation System. She is also trained in the Progressive Goal Attainment Program (PGAP) with the University Centre for Research on Pain and Disability, and provides community-based programming for individuals experiencing disability associated with pain, depression, cancer and other health conditions. She has lectured at the University of Manitoba for the School of Medical Rehabilitation. Lorraine is currently Co-Chair of the Manitoba Society of Occupational Therapists - Private Practice Group; and was formally the Chair of the Occupational Therapy Practice Committee, a national committee on private practice with the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists.

James Orrange, OTR/L: We will be adding this biography shortly.

Sonia Paquette, OTD,OTR/L, CPE, ABVE-D: Sonia received her Occupational Therapy degree from McGill University in 1987, a graduate degree in ergonomics in 1993 from the Montreal Polytechnic Engineering Institute and a doctorate in occupational therapy from Rocky Mountain University in 2007. Since 1990, she has helped workers maintain their work status or get back to employment after an injury or a disease, using their own work and personal activities as core therapeutic modalities. She is primarily involved, as a clinician and as a research professional, with people having sustained musculoskeletal injuries. She also works with people with neurological impairments following a brain injury, a stroke or other neurological disorders and with people with non-severe mental health transient disorders. Since 1999, she has served as an expert witness in diverse legal arenas for many cases. Her interests include ergonomics, measuring workers' capacities, the functional impact of pain, as well as the work psychosocial and organizational contexts and their impact on workers' return to work. She published and presented for rehabilitation, medical and legal audiences.

MaryBeth Plummer, PT, CSFA: MaryBeth has been a licensed Physical Therapist for 25 years. She owns MBPT, LLC in Albuquerque, NM which specialized in Functional Capacity Evaluations and ergonomics. She obtained her certification as a Certified Specialist in Functional Assessment in 2005. She has been performing FCE’s for 22 years. She has been a Clinical Instructor for the University of New Mexico’s Physical Therapy program. She currently assists the University in interviewing applicants for their PT program. MaryBeth has practiced in the Industrial Rehabilitation setting for 23 years gaining experience in the management of acute injuries, chronic pain, ergonomics and employer education for the prevention of injuries. She is currently working towards her CWCE certification with Matheson. She plans to expand her practice to include a Work Conditioning Program.