Orthotics and Myositis

Our speakers for the session

Megan McGowan, Occupational Therapy
Megan McGowan received her M.S. in occupational therapy from Keuka College of Keuka Park, NY in 2012. Megan has been practicing at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center for 5 years. Her clinical focus has been within acute care and within the Johns Hopkins Myositis Clinic. Megan has a clinical specialty in myositis and has been working in the clinic for 4 years. She has presented nationally at The Myositis Association conference and has held an active role in research studies being performed within the Johns Hopkins Myositis Clinic.

Lauren Burgess, Occupational Therapy
Lauren Burgess received her master’s degree in occupational therapy in 2015 at the University of Southern California. At Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center she practices in the acute care setting, working with a variety of patient populations. She is also one of two primary occupational therapists for the Johns Hopkins Myositis clinic, where she works collaboratively with other providers to offer a patient-centered, multi-disciplinary approach to care.

Fin Mears, Physical Therapy
Fin Mears received his bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore in 1990. He has been working at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center since 1990. Initially hired as an acute care therapist, for the past 15 years he has been Clinical Coordinator for Rehabilitative Services and Center Coordinator for Clinical Education. Since 2014 his clinical practice has focused on inflammatory myopathies and dysautonomia. Fin Mears and Ruben Pagkatipunan are the two primary physical therapists for the Johns Hopkins Myositis Center.

Ruben Pagkatipunan Jr., Physical Therapy
Ruben Pagkatipunan Jr. received his bachelor’s degree in physical therapy at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines in 1993. In 2016, he obtained his doctorate degree in Physical Therapy at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN. Ruben is also a board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist from the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties since 2014. His clinical practice and primary research areas of interests include evaluation and management of patients with inflammatory myopathies and dysautonomia. He is the primary physical therapist at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Neuromuscular Rehabilitation team, the Normal Hydrocephalus clinic, and the Dysautonomia clinic. In 2017, he published an article with the Johns Hopkins Myositis Center on the role of the myositis Functional Index-2 in identifying muscle impairment in myositis patients with near-normal or normal muscle strength. Currently, he participates in clinical research on inclusion-body myositis (IBM) that investigates the effect of the diabetes drug pioglitazone in the health and function of mitochondria in skeletal muscles of IBM patients.