Eileen Elias

Promoting cognitive support technology use and employment success among postsecondary students with traumatic brain injuries

OBJECTIVE: This article applies positive psychology principles to the purpose and objectives of a five-year, federallyfunded initiative to provide cognitive support technology (CST) training and career preparatory services for undergraduate college students with mild and moderate traumatic brain injuries (TBI). METHODS: A total of 48 students with TBI have participated in the project during its first 18 months of operation – 14 of whom are military veterans with disabilities who were in the Iraq and/or Afghanistan theaters. CONCLUSION: Positive psychology interventions such as Best Possible Self, Intensely Positive Experiences, and Assetbased Assessments provide a framework for examining the activities of this multi-site development project.

Lessons learned from women in leadership positions

BACKGROUND: Eileen Elias has decades of experience in leadership positions within government and nongovernmental organizations. As the first female Commissioner for Mental Health in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the US in the early 1990s, Elias gained experience on navigating gender-based challenges to attain recognized performance outcomes. OBJECTIVE: From lessons learned from women leaders, educate young women entering their careers on attaining leadership positions. METHODS: Comprehensive research of literature from 2012 through 2017 and interviews with women leaders representing non-Fortune 500 companies including academia, research, non-profit, for-profit, and primary and secondary education. Interviewees included:1. Gail Bassin, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Treasurer, JBS International Inc.2. Jeri Epstein, Executive Director, The Ambit Foundation3. Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director, Institute for Human Centered Design4. Christine James-Brown, President and CEO, Child Welfare League of America5. Daria Mochly-Rosen, PhD, Professor and Fellow, Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine6. Eileen O’Keefe, MD, MPH, Clinical Associate Professor and Director, Boston University Health Sciences7. Jeri Shaw, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer, JBS International Inc. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: A comprehensive understanding of key women leaders’ lessons learned and recommendations targeting young women as they assess leadership opportunities in the public or private sectors.

Project Career STAR web portal provides key information on supporting college students with traumatic brain injury

Project Career is a multi-site, multi-disciplinary demonstration grant funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). Kent State University serves as the program’s prime contractor with additional operational sites at Boston University and West Virginia University. JBS International, LLC is the fourth partner, managing the project’s data collection and analysis efforts. Project Career’s goal is to improve academic outcomes of college students who have incurred a traumatic brain injury, ultimately leading to enhanced employment opportunities. The project’s web portal is divided into stakeholder-driven categories for students, veterans, educators, service providers, and employers. Each section provides information pertinent to that specific audience. Referred to as STAR, the portal provides information about:

Cognitive Support Technology Approaches for Postsecondary Students With a Traumatic Brain Injury

Increasingly, traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious public health problem affecting ~1.7 million Americans each year. Over 75% of TBIs are classified as mild and these rates are most likely underestimated. Despite the low severity rating, 5-15% of individuals go on to develop chronic, persistent TBI-related symptoms causing functional limitations. Project Career is an interprofessional demonstration providing continued support and services to 2-year and 4-year college students with a history of TBI. This program is designed to improve the employment success through a combination of assistive technology on iPads and individualized career counseling services as undergraduate students transition from university settings to the workplace. This demonstration presentation will engage participants in understanding the Project Career assessments and iPad Apps. Using a case study approach, participants will appraise appropriate Apps and advance their understanding of how the iPad can be used an an educational tool and cognitive support technology (CST).

Investigation of a Consumer Focused Health IT System: The Role of Claimant Information in the Social Security Determination Process

This paper examines a system driven government process and articulates how this system can be transformed into a consumer driven process through the use of Health Information Technology (Health IT). In order to achieve this, expert interviews were conducted with stakeholders familiar with the process, followed by a convening meeting to review status and directions. The findings identified a range of Health IT uses that would facilitate enhanced consumer access and active benefit and health management.