Midwest Regional Burn Conference

Nichole Mayer Schiffer is a pediatric occupational therapist at Children’s Hospital Colorado. She earned her Master’s in Occupational Therapy degree from The Ohio State University. She has been an occupational therapist for 14 years treating a variety of diagnoses with specializations in both burn and hand therapy. Nichole holds her burn therapist certification through the American Burn Association and is a certified hand therapist. She further holds a Board Certification in Pediatrics through the American Occupational Therapy Association. Nichole is currently employed by Children’s Hospital Colorado and is part of the hand, burn and burn camps teams. 

Trudy Boulter is an Occupational Therapist, Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) and Certified Burn Therapist (BT-C).  She has worked for over 30 years at Children’s Hospital Colorado.   She was instrumental in establishing a hand program and now works exclusively in burn care. Trudy provides clinical care in the inpatient and outpatient setting and is the director of Children's Hospital Colorado Burn Camps program. 

Kayla Northrop, RN BSN CCRN-K is a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Nursing.  She has dedicated her entire nursing career to the care of the burn patient at the Burnett Burn Center at The University of Kansas Health System since 1989.  She has served in a variety of different roles including Hydrotherapy Technician, Bedside Staff Nurse, Charge Nurse, Clinical Nurse Educator and currently as the Burn Program Coordinator.  She is an Advanced Burn Life Support (ABLS) instructor as well as an ABLS National Faculty member. She is also passionate that the care of the burn injured patient extends beyond the hospital doors and into the community where she is a member of the Youth Fire-setter Intervention Team of Eastern Kansas, a Survivors Offering Assistance in Recovery (SOAR) Coordinator, a Board Member for Burns Recovered which assists burn survivors in their recovery. Additionally, she is dedicated to educating the public in burn awareness and fire prevention as well as burn care to pre-hospital and healthcare providers throughout the region.  In her free time, you can find her enjoying her family, including her two grandchildren at the lake. 

Dr. Wibbenmeyer is a Clinical Professor at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics. She was the 2020 president of American Burn Association (ABA) and the 2015 president of North American Burn Society (NABS). She served almost a decade on the ABA board and has had prominent positions on many other ABA committees. She is an active clinical researcher and has authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles over the span of her career as a surgeon and leader. She has designed, participated and led single center as well as multicenter studies.  In her spare time she enjoys swimming, biking and spending time with her friends, family and dog. 

Michael A. Serghiou is an Occupational Therapist, Certified Burn Therapist, practicing in Burn Rehabilitation for 35 years.  He began his professional career at Hermann Hospital in Houston Texas where he worked with Adult and Pediatric Burn Survivors for 11 years.  He then continued his career at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston Texas where he directed the rehabilitation department for 17 years.  Michael has published numerous burn rehabilitation manuscripts and authored chapters in the journals of Burn Care and Research and Burns and in various burn care related textbooks.  He has been serving the American Burn Association (ABA) and the International Society for Burn Injuries (ISBI) in various capacities including the ABA Board of Trusties (2012-2016) and the ISBI Executive Board as an Executive Director (2022-present).  Michael has received the ABA Barbara Knothe Outstanding Therapist Clinician Award, The ISBI Andre Zagame Therapist Prize and the Physicians for Peace Medical Diplomat Award for his outstanding service in the international outreach area.  Most recently, in 2023, Michael received the American Burn Association’s Curtis P Artz Award recognizing his service to the Burn Care Community.  Michael has dedicated his career to burn rehabilitation clinical practice, education and research and has helped built burn rehabilitation programs in developing countries around the globe.  Michael currently works for Bio Med Sciences Inc. as a Clinical Care Specialist specializing in Burn Rehabilitation education, clinical training, and research.         

Dr. Brooke Murtaugh received her Clinical Doctorate in Occupational Therapy from Creighton University in 2004. She began working as an occupational therapist at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals in Lincoln Nebraska in 2006. It was at Madonna that Dr. Murtaugh began her career in burn rehabilitation. Brooke has practiced in the area of post-acute inpatient burn rehabilitation for fifteen years. She is also Madonna’s burn program manager.  As Program Manager, Dr. Murtaugh is responsible for program development, collaboration and referral development with regional burn centers and education and training of interdisciplinary burn rehabilitation clinical staff. Brooke has presented on burn rehabilitation in the Midwest region and at National ABA conferences and ACRM. Dr. Murtaugh earned her National Burn Therapist Certification (BT-C) in 2019 and serves at the ABA PT/OT Special Interest Group Co-chair and the chair of the newly forming Burn Networking Group for ACRM.