ABIME Course Faculty Profiles

Mohammed I. Ranavaya, M.D., J.D., M.S., FACLM, FAADEP, MCIME
Course Director

Mohammed I. Ranavaya, MD, JD, MS, FRCPI, FFOM, FACPM, FAADEP, MCIME is a Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the Marshall University School of Medicine in West Virginia. He currently serves as Director of the Appalachian Institute of Occupational & Environmental Medicine in West Virginia. He is a consulting physician and American Board Certified in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

As a practicing consultant physician Dr. Ranavaya advises the US Federal Government Department of Labor. He has been an advisor to several states, including Ohio & California, on work place injury issues and disability management. He has served as consultant to many multinational insurance companies and businesses, advising them on injury management, rehabilitation, and return to work issues. Multiple national and international governmental departments and agencies, including Workers’ Comp and Motor Accident Compensation Systems from Australia, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and North America have consulted with Dr. Ranavaya and have retained his services to advise and train the personnel in Impairment and Disability Assessment as well as Strategies in Return to Work.

Dr. Ranavaya is the section editor and primary author of several chapters of the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides 6th ed). Dr. Ranavaya has performed several thousand Independent Medical Evaluations and is an internationally recognized expert on the AMA Guides and has taught, globally, over ten thousand physicians’ skills for performing Independent Medical Evaluations and how to be more effective in the use of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment.

Dr. Ranavaya has authored over 10 chapters in various internationally recognized textbooks on physical medicine and rehab, chronic pain management and disability medicine. He has also authored numerous articles regarding AMA Guides, Disability Guidelines, Medicolegal issues involving expert witnesses and independent medical evaluations, etc. He has served as the chair of the editorial board of the Medical Disability Advisor, a book on workplace disability duration guidelines for various injuries and diseases and has served as the senior medical editor for Official Disability Guides. He also served on the senior editorial advisory board of the AMA Guides 5th Edition and is a contributor to the AMA Guides 5th Edition. He recently authored Physician’s Guide to Medicolegal Practice, a 300-page book published by AMA press.

Dr. Ranavaya is the past President of the American Academy of Disability Evaluating Physicians. He is one of the founding fathers and current President of the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners (ABIME) and has helped develop the certifying exam for physicians seeking credentialing as Certified Independent Medical Examiners (CIME).

Dr. Ranavaya can be reached via Email: mranavayamd@abime.org

PHONE: (304) 733-0095 – Fax: (304)-733-5243

Robert D. Rondinelli, MD, PhD

Dr. Rondinelli did his undergraduate studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he obtained a BA degree in Anthropology in 1971. He then entered an NIMH Traineeship Program in behavioral biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he obtained his MA and PhD degrees in Physical Anthropology. Later, as a James Scholar, he obtained his MD degree from the University of Illinois at the Medical Center in Chicago, in 1980. He pursued a combined internship and residency program in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Washington Hospital, Seattle, Washington, where he obtained his Master of Science degree in Rehabilitation Medicine in 1983.

Dr. Rondinelli formerly served as an academic faculty member at Tufts-New England Medical Center and the University of Colorado Healthy Sciences Center, and became a full Professor and Chairman of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, where he worked from 1991 until 2002. During that time he also served as Medical Director of Rehabilitation Services for Health Midwest, a major regional integrated medical system in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Currently, he is the Medical Director of Younker Rehabilitation Services at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa. His clinical duties include general inpatient rehabilitation medicine with an emphasis upon evaluation and treatment of patients suffering from stroke, major multiple trauma including traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury, complex orthopedic procedures, amputation and work injury.

Dr. Rondinelli has published numerous peer reviewed research papers on disability measurement, functional outcomes assessment, and the relationship of impairment to disability. He has edited, authored and co-authored several books and multiple book chapters including a major textbook on Impairment Rating and Disability Evaluation, as well as a Study Guide for Industrial Rehabilitation Medicine and work disability management. Currently, he is Medical Editor for the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, 6^th Edition. He has served on the Boards of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R), and the Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP),respectively, and is the Immediate Past-President of the AAP.

Kathryn L. Mueller, MD

Kathryn L. Mueller, MD works for the National Jewish Medical Center in Denver, Colorado and is one of the founding members of ABIME She is the Medical Director for the State of Colorado Division of Workers’ Compensation. Dr. Mueller specializes in Occupational and Emergency Medicine and received her Masters in Public Healthfrom the Medical College of Wisconsin. She has numerous publications in the areas of Occupational Medicine and Causality in Workers’ Compensation, Causality assessment and disability management.

Gerald S. Steiman, MD, CIME

Gerald S. Steiman, MD, CIME, is a practicing neurologist in Columbus, with over 25 years experience in performing IMEs. After completing his internship and residency at the University of Manitoba, Canada, he completed a fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Steiman is board certified in neurology and a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He has authored several articles published in Disability Medicine which focus on the significance of various neurological diagnoses to the IME examiner and has lectured extensively on the use of the AMA Guides.

Anthony J. Dorto, DC, MD

Anthony J. Dorto, DC, MD, is Board Certified in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) with additional training and experience in Impairment and Disability Assessment, Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE), Independent Medical Examinations (IME’s), Work Capacity, Work Restrictions/Limitations, Work /Job Assessment, and Future Medical Care Needs, etc.

Dr. Dorto evaluates and/or consults regarding individuals with various impairments/disabilities such as spinal and joint pain, gait disorders, paraplegia/ quadriplegia, amputations, peripheral neuropathy, stroke and brain injury, work related injuries, motor vehicle accidents, and musculoskeletal conditions.

Dr. Dorto is licensed to practice in Florida, and able to travel to do IME’s, and other medical evaluations.