About the Team

Allen W. Brown, M.D., leads a group of faculty and staff with expertise in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and brain rehabilitation, biomedical statistics, and collaborative research in the TBI Model System at Mayo Clinic.

Allen W. Brown, M.D. Project Director, Principal Investigator

  • Consultant, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
  • Research director, Section of Brain Rehabilitation.
  • Professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.
  • Dr. Brown has extensive acquired brain disorders research experience and publications in:
    • Population-based epidemiology and outcome prediction.
    • Studying community-based randomized pragmatic clinical trials testing complex behavioral interventions.
    • Using telemedicine and web-based interaction.
    • Employing artificial intelligence applied to digital imaging to identify neuroanatomic biomarkers to predict outcome after TBI.

Dmitry Esterov, D.O. Medical Director, Co-Principal Investigator

  • Consultant, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
  • Assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.
  • Research interests include population-based epidemiology of brain injuries encompassing the understanding of both the risk factors and protective factors that can influence cognitive and psychiatric recovery after brain injury.

Thomas Bergquist, Ph.D., L.P. Co-Investigator

  • Consultant, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Department of Psychiatry and Psychology.
  • Associate professor of psychology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.
  • Research interests include cognitive rehabilitation after brain injury, coping with disability and telerehabilitation.

Anne M. Moessner, APRN, M.S., R.N.Co-Investigator

  • Research manager, Mayo Clinic TBI Model System center.
  • Assistant professor of nursing, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.
  • Research interests include community-based clinical trials and telemedicine.

Nicole L. Dernbach, B.S., CCRP

  • Certified clinical research coordinator.
  • Site-specific and collaborative studies coordinator, Mayo Clinic TBI Model System center.

Cynthia (Cindy) Kallis

  • Associate clinical research coordinator.
  • Primary data collector, Mayo Clinic TBI Model System center.