Dr. Hursh directs original research and consulting efforts on fatigue, cooperative team performance, behavioral economics and drug abuse. His patented SAFTE™ (Sleep, Activity, Fatigue and Task Effectiveness) model has been accepted by the US Department of Defense as the standard warfighter fatigue model, validated and calibrated by the Department of Transportation as a fatigue risk management tool, and is currently used by the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to assess fatigue in transportation operations. He is the co-inventor of the FAST (Fatigue Avoidance and Scheduling Tool) computer application used by government agencies and industries to assess and manage fatigue. For more than 23 years, Dr. Hursh managed research in the US Army as Consultant to the Army Surgeon General for Research Psychology, Director of the Division of Neuropsychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and as a medical staff officer in the Pentagon, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army. Dr. Hursh is also Professor of Behavioral Biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and has more than 35 years experience as a researcher, is author of more than 65 articles, book chapters, and books, and is a former associate editor of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
Dr. Roma oversees the scientific development and daily operations of ongoing laboratory studies of cooperative team performance while collaborating with other members of the IBR science team on study design, logistics, and data analysis for IBR’s fatigue, behavioral economics, and drug abuse research and consulting efforts. In addition to fatigue science and experimental behavior analysis, Dr. Roma’s broad training and interests include behavioral pharmacology, animal behavior, neuroscience, behavioral genetics, and applied statistics. Dr. Roma is also Assistant Professor of Behavioral Biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Adjunct Scientist at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Dr. James has more than 10 years experience conducting behavioral and physiological studies of human sleep, circadian rhythms and fatigue management in the workplace. As Associate Scientist at IBR, Dr. James implements operational field research on human performance and fatigue. She is an author on a dozen peer-reviewed scientific publications on topics including shift work, jet lag, sleep disorders associated with neurological trauma, and circadian clock genes and has presented more than forty abstracts at local, national and international scientific conferences. Dr. James received her Ph.D. in neuroscience at McGill University in Canada and has earned numerous scholarships and academic awards in sleep and neuroscience.
Mr. Blank has more than 18 years of business development and administrative operations experience in sleep and fatigue management. He was founder of The Big Sleep Show®, the first-ever consumer health event for sleep and alertness, and served as Vice President of Alertness Solutions, a private fatigue management consulting firm, and Associate Executive Director of the non-profit National Sleep Foundation. Mr. Blank is responsible for marketing, communications and contract management. He received his MBA in International Business Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, AZ.
Ms. Walters is the program director for the substance abuse services program, REACH Health Services, at the Institutes for Behavior Resources. She oversees the daily operations of the program, insures quality clinical services and fiscal responsibility for the program. In addition, Ms. Walters is responsible for program development within the substance abuse program and is actively engaged in the process of program expansion. Ms. Walters has more than 25 years of experience in the addiction field and prior to joining IBR was the program director at the Center for Addiction and Pregnancy at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center for eight years.
Charlie Rouse has more than 15 years experience in drug and alcohol counseling and administration. As a drug and alcohol counselor, he has worked in both methadone maintenance and drug-free treatment programs. Mr. Rouse has developed many computerized assessments and counselor programs to expedite counseling services and organize client records. As an administrator, he is presently the Director of Operations for IBR and manages the day-to-day operations of the facility. He is also the data analyst for IBR’s REACH Health Services. Mr. Rouse received his MSW from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, and holds a MBA from Fontbonne University in St. Louis, MO.
Roshni Patel has been IBR's Director of Finance since 2006 and has more than 10 years experience in corporate accounting. Ms. Patel is responsible for all financial reporting and analysis, annual audit preparation, non-profit financial administration, and oversight of financial accounting for all IBR programs and services. She is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and a graduate of the University of Texas with a B.A. in Business Administration in Accounting.
Melva Williams has been the Director of Human Resources and Administration for 11 years and serves in numerous capacities, including eight years in the role of H.R. Generalist.. She is certified as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR).