Anita Vasavada, PhD
Associate Professor
Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering
Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience
Washington State University, Pullman, WA

Dr. Anita Vasavada holds joint appointments in the Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering and the Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience at Washington State University. She received a B.A. in Mathematics/Physics from Whitman College, a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University, and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Following that, she worked as an engineer in the Biomechanics Laboratory in the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at Yale University. She then received a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University. After graduation, Dr. Vasavada was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neurology at Emory University. In January 2001, she joined the faculty of Washington State University.

Dr. Vasavada’s research interests are biomechanics and neural control of the musculoskeletal system, utilizing anatomically-based models complemented with experimental data. Most of her research is focused on the human head and neck system, addressing areas such as ergonomics, concussion, whiplash injury and sex differences in neck biomechanics.

Her work has been funded by the Whitaker Foundation, Centers for Disease Control, National Science Foundation CAREER award, and the Office Ergonomics Research Committee.

Her keynote presentation will be about "Neck Biomechanics for Ergonomics: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead".

Leslie Pickett, PT, DPT, CPE
World Wide Senior Manager of Occupational Health
Amazon, Seattle, WA

Leslie Pickett is a doctor of physical therapy and certified professional ergonomist native to the Pacific Northwest. Leslie began her career with ergonomics in part to find solutions for patients with reticent injuries that despite treatment would fail to heal. The missing piece was consideration of the nature of the job and ability to control the repeated exposure. She discovered this holistic approach to patient care and injury prevention is needed for total worker health.

Leslie spent 10 years developing injury prevention programs in the medical community with Safe Patient Handling and hospital ergonomics. She has a private consulting company, Practical Ergonomic Solutions, LLC (15 years) which is now on hold since taking a position with Amazon as their World Wide Senior Manager of Occupational Health. At Amazon, she continues her efforts in caring for employees from across the globe and applying ergonomic solutions.

Leslie holds a BA degree in Psychology from University of Oregon, a BS from University of Washington in Physical Therapy, a Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professionals, and a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt from Purdue University.

Her dinner talk presentation will be about "From Patient Handling to Materials Handling – A Journey of an Ergonomist".

Jeff Fernandez, PhD, PE, CPE
Past President of BCPE 2015-2016

Dr. Jeffrey Fernandez is the Managing Principal at JFAssociates, Inc. based in the Washington, DC area. He has a MS and PhD in industrial engineering from Texas Tech University. He is a registered professional engineer (PE) and a certified professional ergonomist (CPE) and is known for his expertise in occupational ergonomics and classical industrial engineering.

Dr. Fernandez is a fellow of the Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors, and a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, the International Society of Occupational Ergonomics and Safety, and the Society for Industrial and Systems Engineering. From 2010-2016 he was on the board of directors of the Board of Certification of Professional Ergonomics (BCPE) and in 2015-2016 he was the President of the Board of Certification of Professional Ergonomics. In 2004-2005, he was the president of the International Society of Occupational Ergonomics and Safety. He has published more than 200 articles nationally and internationally.

Dr. Fernandez is co-author of Applied Occupational Ergonomics: A Textbook – Fourth Edition and co-author of Ergonomía Ocupacional: Diseño y Administración del Trabajo. From 1995-2010, he was the news editor of the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics; and from 1995-2011, he was the managing/executive editor of the International Journal of Industrial Engineering. He is on the editorial board of the EHS Today, Industrial and Systems Engineering Review, and the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, and is on the advisory panel of IIE Transactions on Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors. At present, Dr. Fernandez is an adjunct professor at the Catholic University of America and George Mason University.

Sang D. Choi, Ph.D., CPE, CSP
Professor and Director of Center for OESH
Department of Occupational & Environmental Safety& Health
University of Wisconsin - Whitewater, USA

Professor Choi is a nationally and internationally recognized scholar and practitioner in the areas of occupational ergonomics and industrial safety. He is the recipient of the University-Wide Outstanding Research Award and the National Safety Council Research Award. Dr. Choi has been serving as Program Committee Chair, Keynote Speaker and Session Chair at prestigious national and international conferences.

Professor Choi’s academic experience comprises teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in occupational ergonomics, construction accident prevention, analysis and design in safety, system safety analysis, and research methods. His field experience includes projects in multiple work environments including construction, manufacturing, healthcare, food process, steel production, and office settings projects. Professor Choi’s research and teaching interests are occupational ergonomics & safety, fall prevention & protection, work-related musculoskeletal disorders, aging workforce, human-computer interaction, work system analysis, prevention through design, and research to practice – practice to research (RtPtR).

Dr. Choi is also serving as the ANSI/ASSE A10-2 Technical Report (TR) – Prevention through Design (PtD) for Construction Safety and Health committee, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

James G. Borchardt, CPE, CSP, CRIS, CPSM
Principal/Managing Consultant
Construction Ergonomics LLC
6020 Shadowbrook Drive
Bettendorf, IA 52722-6565

Jim has 47 years of Safety, Health and Ergonomic (SH&E) experience in the industrial and construction insurance industry. For the first 24 years of his career, he held various technical and managerial positions with Liberty Mutual Insurance and a Kemper Insurance subsidiary in the Midwest and on West Coast. Since 1993, he has been Home Office Technical Advisor of Construction, Industrial and Public Entities’ Risk Control Services for a national insurance company. He has been the Principal and Managing Consultant of Construction Ergonomics LLC since 2013.

Since 2000, he has represented the American Insurance Services Group (AISG/ISO/Verisk) to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) A10 Construction Standards Committee serving on 4 committees: ASSE/ANSI A10-01 PreProject & PreTask S&H Planning; A10-40-2007 (2013) Reduction of Musculoskeletal Problems in Construction; A10-46 Hearing Loss Prevention; A10-47 Highway Construction Safety. He is also an acknowledged contributor to ASSE/ANSI Z590-3-2011 (2016) Prevention through Design - Guidelines for Addressing Occupational Hazards and Risks in Design and Redesign Processes and ANSI A10-2 Technical Report Prevention through Design (PtD) for Construction and Demolition Safety and Health (target completion – late 2017). Since 2008, he has collaborated with Professor Sang D. Choi, PhD, CSP, CPE from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater “bridging the gap between academia and safety, health & ergonomic practitioners” in an effort to make NIOSH’s goal of “Research to Practice” (RtP) a reality through peer-reviewed papers and professional development conferences. Since 2009, he has been a volunteer member of Ergonomists Without Borders whose objective is to provide ergonomic assistance to industrially developing countries. In 2013, he joined the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater Construction Safety Curriculum Advisory Board. In 2015 he was elected to the Executive Committee of the International Society of Occupational Ergonomics and Safety (ISOES).

Jim is a graduate of Illinois State University, Normal, IL concentrating in Mathematics, Physics and Education. His graduate studies (35 hours) are Safety and Human Factors Engineering from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL and Auburn University, Auburn. AL. He is recognized nationally and internationally as a Board Certified Safety Professional (CSP #4314), Board Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE #510), Certified Product Safety Manager (#447). The International Risk Management Institute (IRMI) designated him a Certified Construction and Insurance Specialist (CRIS) in 2011. He has been a Professional Member of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) since 1973 and Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) Occupational Ergonomics Technical Group and Safety Technical Group since 1999.

Jia-Hua Lin, PhD, CPE

Dr. Jia-Hua (Jim) Lin is a research ergonomist with the SHARP (Safety and Health Assessment of Research for Prevention) program within the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. Jim is also an affiliate Assoc. professor in the Dept. of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. Jim currently serves as a scientific editor for the journal Applied Ergonomics. His expertise includes laboratory research, biomedical instrumentation, motion analysis, and computer programming. Currently, Jim’s research involves ergonomics and occupational biomechanics in upper extremities, strength and capacity, human-machine interface, occupational safety and health, musculoskeletal disorders. Prior to joining SHARP in 2014, Jim has been active in occupational safety research for more than 13 years. His collaborations extend to domestic and international universities and hospitals. A member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and a BCPE certified professional ergonomist, Dr. Lin graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Ph.D. and M.S. in industrial engineering. He earned his B.S. in electrical engineering from the National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan.

Jay Kim, PhD

Dr. Jay Kim is an Assistant Professor at Oregon State University. Jay received his PhD in Ergonomics and Biomechanics from the University of Washington, Seattle. Before moving to OSU, Jay was an assistant professor at the Northern Illinois University for two years. Jay’s research interests are human-computer interaction and human vibration, and is interested in developing and evaluating evidence-based interventions to reduce physical exposures, and improve workers' health and well-being.

Gwendolyn Malone, MPH

Gwen is a Technical Fellow and Sr. Mgr. of Ergonomics for GM Global Manufacturing Engineering. She leads the Global General Motors Ergonomics Team, setting strategies and direction for GM, working across many functions within the company, and most recently re-establishing a Global Ergonomics Lab. She has received internal and external awards for her work. She directs the implementation of processes to reduce ergonomic issues as it relates to new vehicle and powertain programs. Gwen also represents GM on the United States Consortium of Automotive Research (USCAR) Ergonomics Task Force.

Gwen is a board member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineering Education Foundation, and various other professional organizations. She is active in many community service organizations. Gwen is married to Dr.Robert Rhodes of 23 years, they have 4 children and 4 grandchildren.

Robert Fox, PhD, CPE

Bob holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Texas Tech University and has worked in General Motors North American and global ergonomics activities since late 1993. He works with divisions, plants and the UAW-GM joint ergonomics program on addressing proactive ergonomics concerns and in developing and issuing ergonomics guidelines and evaluation tools and methods. He chairs the US Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the International Standards Organization (ISO) for anthropometry and biomechanics and participates on various work groups for ANSI and ISO standards and technical reports on ergonomics. He also chairs the HFES Technical Standards Division and participates on the NORA Musculoskeletal Health Cross-Sector Council.

Dianne McMullin, PhD

Dianne McMullin is an Associate Technical Fellow at Boeing. She leads and participates in research on passenger and flight attendant comfort and health and is currently leading the team looking at human factors and ergonomics for Boeing Commercial Airplanes products and services. Prior to Boeing she enjoyed her time as an assistant professor at West Virginia University. Dianne received her doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln but her heart will always be with her alma mater Iowa State University.