Mariann Moran
Mariann E. Moran, OTD, OTR, CHT, attended the University of Pennsylvania, receiving a certificate in Occupational Therapy in 1979, after graduating from Kean University with bachelors in Psychology. In 2000, Mariann graduated from Farleigh Dickinson University with an MBA in Health Systems Management. In 2010 Mariann received her doctorate in Occupational Therapy with a concentration in Hand Rehabilitation from Rocky Mountain University in Provo, Utah.
Professionally, Mariann has been an Occupational Therapist for over 20 years and has specialized in hand therapy almost the entire time. In addition to working in a variety of settings including acute care, home care, and school based therapy, Mariann has worked in several hand clinics with many hand surgeons in northern New Jersey prior to opening Accelerated Hand Therapy in 1994.
Mariann has represented both occupational therapy and hand therapy on several committees including Horizon Casualty (part of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield), New Jersey Occupational Therapy License Council and St. Elizabeths College Masters in Health Administration Advisory Council. She is a founding member of the New Jersey chapter of the American Society of Hand Therapists. She was president from 1996-1999. She is an active member of the American Society of Hand Therapists and is president of the New Jersey Occupational Therapy Association.
Mariann has developed a special interest in ergonomics. She has presented many lectures and workshops to companies, industries and the general public as well as other professions. Some of the more popular topics include: What is RSI?, How to Make Your Work Not Hurt and Setting Up Your Home Office. She has been an adjunct professor at Kean University since 2001.
Mariann is married and has three grown children. Her hobbies include gardening and quilt making.
Denyse Ignacio
Denyse H. Ignacio, OTR, CHT, graduated from the University of the Philippines with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Occupational Therapy. She became a Certified Hand Therapist in 1996.
Previously, Denyse was the Senior Hand Therapist at the Cornell Hand Rehabilitation Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. She was responsible for post-operative rehabilitation of traumatic and elective surgery cases for the upper extremities. She also developed treatment protocols and home programs for patients. Denyse presented numerous clinical case studies on complex hand fractures and tendon injury management at hand service meetings and case conferences between 1995 and 1999. In addition, she also presented "Rehabilitation of Total Elbow Replacements" at the Total Joint Arthroplasty course which took place at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan in 1997.
Denyse instructed in labs and lectures for rotating staff and students. She also taught a course for Physical Therapy students in Orthopedics, An Introduction to Hand Therapy at Hunter College. She coordinated the hand rehabilitation section of primary care clinical observations for Cornell University medical college students.
Denyse has a special interest in splinting complex hand and elbow injuries as well as rehabilitation of post-surgical injuries such as digital fractures, tendons and joint replacements.
Victoria Majcher
Victoria Majcher, OTR,CHT graduated with a bachelor's degree in Occupational Therapy from Columbia University.
She has been practicing Occupational Therapy since 1976
and became a certified Hand Therapist in 1991 when the first certification exam was given.
Previously, Victoria worked as a Certified Hand Therapist at North Jersey Hand Therapy. She treated acute traumatic hand and upper extremity injuries. She also managed therapy departments in two locations and performed on-site evalu-ations. She also worked at the New Jersey Rehabilitation Hospital as both an Occupational Therapist and staff super-visor. She performed treatment of a variety of disorders and supervised both Certified Occupational Therapy assistants as well as Occupational Therapists. Victoria has lectured on cumulative trauma disorders and ergonomic workstation design.
Carol Mansfield
Carol Mansfield, OTR,CHT graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor's degree in Occupational Therapy from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky. She has been a Certified Hand Therapist since November of 1998; however her experience as a Hand Therapist goes back more than 13 years when she first began working in a hand clinic at Good Samaritan Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Suffern, NY. It was at that time that Carol began working strictly with a hand population and at that time Carol established a major interest in hand therapy. She has been providing quality patient care to a variety of hand and upper extremity patients since.
Previously, Carol has worked at the Center for Hand Rehabilitation of Northern New Jersey in Waldwick, Nova Care Outpatient Rehabilitation in Fair Lawn and the JZV Center for Rehabilitation of the Upper Extremity in Clifton, NJ. Carol is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, American Society of Hand Therapists and North Jersey Occupational Therapy as a hand special interest group.
Jyoti Mehta
Jyoti Mehta, OTR, CHT is a certified Hand Therapist. She received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science Degrees in Occupational Therapy from Bombay University in India. She also has a Master's degree in OT from New York University. She has been a practicing therapist since 1982.
Jyoti has worked as a clinician treating a wide spectrum of patients needing Occupational Therapy services. She has also managed the Occupational Therapy Dept at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. She has helped establish and operate a private OT-PT practice in India. She has been treating patients with hand injuries throughout her career and her passion for hand therapy led her to achieving her hand therapy certification from The American Society of Hand Therapists in 2006.
Kara Ghedina
Kara Olivo, OT, CHT graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy. Kara became interested in hand therapy early in her career and became a certified hand therapist in 2005. She has worked at Accelerated Hand Therapy since 2004 and is currently the in-charge therapist at the Morristown office.
Prior to joining AHT, Kara worked at Beth Israel Medical Center for 5 years. While she was there, Kara headed the Brachial Plexus Clinic in the Center for Functional Restoration. She was in charge of evaluating and implementing treatment plans for children and adults as well as working with a team of doctors and other therapists to determine appropriate surgical or therapeutic options for these patients.
Joanne Petrunik
Joanne Petrunik, MHS OTR, CHT, graduated in 1985 with a bachelors degree in Occupational Therapy at the University of Alberta, Canada. Joannes interest in hand therapy was established early in her career and she became a Certified Hand Therapist in 1992. Her particular areas of interest are nerve compression syndromes and rheumatoid diseases. Joanne continued her education at Drexel University, Pennsylvania where she recieved a masters degree in Upper Extremity Rehabilitation.
Joanne has been on staff with Accelerated Hand Therapy since 2000. Prior to living and working in New Jersey, she ran a private hand therapy practice in Brooklyn, NY. The majority of her hand therapy training was obtained while working at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
Susan Pristas
Susan Pristas, OT, CHT, graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy in 1984. She became a Certified Hand Therapist in 1993.
Susan has worked in a wide range of settings including acute care, home care and inpatient rehabilitation. Since 1991, she has been a hand therapist at several outpatient hand rehabilitation centers both in California and New Jersey.
She has worked closely with hand surgeons to rehabilitate people with a variety of upper extremity injuries including traumatic injuries, arthritis and repetitive stress injuries. She has participated in patient rounds, journal club meetings and anatomy labs with physicians.
Susan has had the opportunity to observe numerous surgeries and present two workshops to beginning hand therapists. She enjoys fabricating custom splints and learning more about specific treatment techniques through continuing education courses.
Doris Schanzer
Doris Schanzer, OTR, CHT, graduated from Universidad de Chile and received her diploma in Occupational Therapy in 1971. She began working in the area of hand therapy exclusively in 1990. She has been a Certified Hand Therapist since 1994 and was re-certified in 1999 and again in 2005.
Previously, Doris was coordinator of hand services at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in Saddle Brook, NJ. She was involved in program development and implementation, direct patient treatment, marketing and administration of the Kessler Hand Center.
Doris has over 30 years of experience in several areas of physical rehabilitation and more than 15 years experience in the area of hand rehabilitation. This experience is helpful in looking at a patient as a whole functional being; thus integrating functional tasks and needs into treatment.
Doris is an active member of the American Society of Hand Therapists. She is also a member of the New Jersey chapter of the American Society of Hand Therapists. Doris has a strong interest in splinting design and innovation.
In 1996, Doris presented "Pattern-making For Hand Splints" at Kessler's Institute for Rehabilitation. That same year she published "The Crucial Role of the Hand Therapist" in New Jersey Rehabilitation Magazine. She also published a new splint design in the Journal of Hand Therapy in 2000.
Manisha Shroff-Duggirala
Manisha Shroff, OTR, CHT graduated from the University of Bombay, India with a degree in Occupational Therapy in 1987. She received her postgraduate diploma in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation form the All India Institute of Rehabilitation (Bombay). Her thesis focused on Hand Splints.
Manisha has been in the hand therapy field since 1991. She worked at the Lexington Clinic in Lexington, Kentucky with various hand and plastic surgeons. Manisha helped to establish and market their Work Conditioning and Ergonomics Program with great success.
Manisha has also worked at St. Claires Hospital in Denville, NJ in the outpatient center. There she developed the Work Hardening Program as well as managing all hand therapy and work conditioning referrals. She handled outside company contracts in relation to job site analysis for injured employees returning to work. This included the important task of rewriting specific job descriptions in effort to accurately describe various job duties for OSHA Compliance.
Manisha has over 16 years of experience in the area of physical medicine and rehabilitation and over 10 years in hand therapy. Her background in Work Conditioning, Work Hardening and Ergonomics provides her with the ability to treat the person as a whole and not be limited to hand or arm injuries.
Manisha has conducted a splint workshop which included lectures by a hand surgeon and a rheumatologist. She also taught a course in Splinting at the University of Louisville, Kentucky.
Audrey Stamm
Audrey Stamm, OTR, CHT, graduated from the Medical College of Georgia and received her Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy in 1996. She began working in a hand therapy setting in 1998. Audrey became a certified hand therapist in 2002.
In 2000, Audrey was a hand therapy fellow in the Evelyn J. Mackin Hand Therapy Fellowship, a prestigious six-month fellowship sponsored by the Philadelphia Hand Center, P.C. and Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA. This allowed her to work alongside experienced therapists and surgeons who are widely regarded as leaders in their fields, and provided opportunities to learn and practice the most current approaches in upper-extremity rehabilitation.
Audrey has a strong commitment to involving the patient as an active participant in his own rehabilitation process, with an emphasis on patient education.
Lauren Bird
Lauren Bird MS, OTR/L has been with Accelerated Hand Therapy for one year. She attended Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania where she earned her Masters in Occupational Therapy in August 2006 and a Bachelors in Health and Occupation in 2005. Before working at AHT Lauren worked in assisted living and subacute care facilities in 3 years.
Lauren has also worked in the Cecil County Public Schools in Maryland. In this school setting she helped develop and implement activities to improve fine motor control. Since graduating, Lauren has attended many continuing education courses. She particularly enjoyed the 12 week splinting course at The Hospital for Special Surgery in the fall of 2009 in Manhattan.
Outside of work Lauren enjoys traveling, running for enjoyment and participating in short races. She is also looking forward to her upcoming wedding. Currently Lauren is studying for her CHT exam which she will take in 2011.
Renee Ferraraccio
Renee Ferraraccio, OTR/L, graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1990 with a BA in Social Sciences, and earned an MS in Occupational Therapy from Seton Hall University in 2004. She has been a nationally certified massage therapist since 1997. Renee has worked in vocational settings and community worksites for supported employment for the disabled population. Her diverse background involved teaching undergraduates and coaching college basketball athletes.
Renee has worked full time at Kessler Rehabilitation as an Occupational Therapist since 2005, serving orthopedic and neurological patients. She is currently enrolled at Drexel University to obtain and Advanced Certificate in Upper Quarter Rehabilitation.
Renee began working at Accelerated Hand Therapy in 2005, and is an active member in the American Occupational Therapy Association, the American Massage Therapy Asso-ciation, and the American Society of Hand Therapists. She enjoys hiking and all outdoor activities.
Suet Lim, OTR, MA, CHT
Suet Lim, OTR, MA, CHT graduated with a Bachelors Degree (cum laude) from Northeast Louisiana University in 1992, and received a Masters of Arts degree in Rehabilitation Technology from Texas Womens University in 1998. Her master thesis was on the effects of BTE intervention on wrist strength, AROM, and self reported activities of daily living in Lateral Epicondylitis.
In 1994, Suet worked at Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston, Texas, where she developed her special interest in hand therapy. She was responsible for the wound care unit and attended bi-weekly outpatient hand clinics. In 1996, Suet worked at Texas Orthopedic Hospital which provided a great opportunity for her to work closely with many prominent hand surgeons in the Houston Medical Center. In 2002, Suet and her coworker published an article titled, A Carpometacarpal Stabilization Splint in the Journal of Hand Therapy. She began working at AHT in 2008. She enjoys making all kinds of static as well as dynamic splints. She recently received her CHT in 2009.
Suet enjoys cooking, cleaning, and traveling. She and her family lived for two years in London, UK, and traveled to several countries in Europe.
Melissa Roesch-Kanter
Melissa Roesch-Kanter, OTR, CHT, graduated in 1986 from Tufts University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupatioal Therapy. She became a Certified Hand Therapist in 1992.
Melissa received her training in New York City. She was a senior hand therapist at the Hand Rehabilitation Center affiliated with New York University Hospital as well as the New York Hospitcal Cornell Medical Center. Melissa was responsible for the evaluation and treatment of complex hand and upper extremity injuries and developed treatment protocols and home exercise programs for patients. She was responsible for the supervision of staff therapists and the education of occupational therapy students and surgical residents.
Between 1989 and 1992, Melissa presented numerous lectures on injury management and splinting techniques as hand surgical meetings and departmental conferences. In 1992, Melissa presented a poster at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Hand Therapists in Phoenix, Arizona on Controlled Active Metacapophalangeal Joint Motion Following Zone V Extensor Digitorum Communis Repair of the Middle Digit with the U Splint. Additional original research includes The Clamshell Digit Splint with Otoform Lining, published in the Journal of Hand Therapy in 1997.
Melissa has an expertise in the management of acute hand and wrist disorders. She has a special interest in the post surgical treatment of Dupuytrens contracture, tendon injuries, and wound care.
Melissa is married to Eric Kanter and has three daughters.
