Kevin White, MD, Spinal Cord Injury & EMG

Samantha Mendelson, DO has been the medical director of the acute inpatient spinal cord injury rehabilitation program at the James A Haley VA Medical Center since 2010. She is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation, spinal cord injury medicine and brain injury medicine. She completed her PMR residency at North Shore / Long Island Jewish (now Northwell), and spinal cord injury fellowship at the University of Miami.

Her areas of interest include spasticity and bone health, and she has given presentations on her work in these areas at national SCI conferences. She is also a SCI board question writer with the ABPMR.  In her spare time, she enjoys juggling, unicycling and rock climbing with her 4 children.

Tommy Yu, MD joined the University of South Florida/James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital and Clinics in Tampa, FL as a spinal cord injury attending physician in 2015, and he became the deputy chief of the department in 2022. He is the physician for the innovative SCI Hospital-in-Home program. He became the Deputy Chief of the department of spinal cord injury center.

He is board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Spinal Cord Medicine, and is an active member of the American Spinal Cord Injury Professionals (ASCIP) and the American Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R), with multiple research publications.

Originally from Long Island, NY, John Cunneen, MD attended medical school at SUNY Upstate and subsequently completed his intern year at Stony Brook University Hospital. Completed residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Atrium Health (Carolinas Rehabilitation). Dr. Cunneen completed fellowship training in Spinal Cord Injury Medicine through the University of South Florida as well as an Advanced Clinical Research Fellowship at the James A. Haley VA. His clinical interests are Spinal Cord Injury and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. He currently serves in the SCI/D Outpatient Clinic at the James A. Haley VA in Tampa Florida.

Luis Alvarado, MD is the medical director of the acute ventilator unit at the James A Haley VA since 2019. Prior to this, he was a hospitalist for 10 years at the same facility. His main areas of focus are SCI ventilator weaning and management and advanced ALS care including goals of care discussion and initiating noninvasive ventilation and ventilator support. He is board certified in Internal Medicine. Hobbies include salsa and bachata dancing with his wife, playing video games with his kids, and gardening.

Lisa Ottomanelli, PhD is a clinical psychologist at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital and an Associate Professor at the University of South Florida, Morsani College of Medicine's Department of Neurology in Tampa, Florida. She has over 25 years of clinical and research experience working in the field of spinal cord injuries (SCI) and disorders.

She has authored 50 publications in peer reviewed journals, and her scholarly work was recognized by the prestigious Licht Award from the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. She has presented at over 100 national and international scientific meetings, including nearly 40 invited lectures and grand rounds such as the Distinguished Baird Lecture and the Essie Morgan Lecture. She is an international subject matter expert on SCI and vocational rehabilitation, and co-author of chapter on the topic in SCI Medicine (3rd & 4th Eds.).She also publishes professional guidelines, toolkits, and consumer educational materials.

She has served as PI or Investigator on 17 grants funded by federal and private organizations including VA, DOD, and Craig H. Neilsen. Her primary research focus is on rehabilitation outcomes for persons with SCI with a recent focus on implementation. She is an SCI Fellowship faculty member and supervises graduate level trainees in rehabilitation medicine and psychology in both clinical and research topics related to improving health, functioning, and quality of life after injury or illness.

She is the President of the Psychologists, Social Workers, and Counselors Section the Academy of SCI Professionals (ASCIP) and serves as an appointed member of the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Advisory Council on Rehabilitation.