Board & Staff

Denny Armington serves as President of the Youth Opportunity Foundation, Inc. It was in this role that he became aware of the need for, and involved in the development of, a new brain injury advocacy group, Brain Injury Florida. A hospital administrator by training, he has been active in professional advocacy roles. Denny has experience serving as a volunteer field surveyor for CARF International, a board member for state brain injury associations in West Virginia, Indiana, and now Florida, and a supporter of community-based charitable activities including the American Stroke Association and Special Olympics. Denny is a brain injury survivor, and we are so fortunate to have his lived experience to guide our newly developing advocacy organization.

Dr. Drew Nagele is a Board Certified Rehabilitation Psychologist trained in NeuroRehabilitation with a 40 year career in creating and running brain injury rehabilitation
programs for children, adolescents, and adults with acquired brain injury. He is Chief
Clinical Officer for TBGHealth, and chairs the Advanced Practice WorkGroup for the Brain
Injury Association of America’s Academy for Certification of Brain Injury Specialists
(ACBIS). Dr. Nagele is Co-Principal Investigator on 3 federal grants working with brain
injury in schools, prisons, and juvenile justice. He is Clinical Professor at the Philadelphia
College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) teaching Neuropsychology, Neuropathology, and
Cognitive Rehabilitation. Most relevant to the development of BIF is that in Pennsylvania
where Drew is from, the same situation occurred about 25 years ago, where the state brain
injury association ceased operations. With the help of a brain injury survivor named Barb
Dively, together she and Drew started a new group known as the Brain Injury Association of
Pennsylvania. Today it is one of the most thriving and active State Affiliates of the Brain
Injury Association of America. Drew is eager to share his knowledge and help guide BIF, so
that Florida can reach that status in the near future.

Carrie Rayburn is an experienced Recreational Therapist and Certified Brain Injury Specialist at HCA Florida West Hospital in Pensacola, Florida. Carrie focuses on improving the cognitive, social, communicative, and physical limitations that occur after a brain injury, stroke, and spinal cord injury. With her compassionate and enthusiastic approach, Carrie is committed to providing individualized care and offers leisure interventions driven by evidenced-based practice. She leads multiple quality rehabilitation teams – including the Brain Injury Core Team and Community Support Groups, and has developed advanced programs for stroke education, family orientation, and peer support. As a clinician, Carrie is motivated by advocacy and outreach to support every patient, caregiver, and family that she encounters. Carrie was also recently appointed by the State Surgeon General to serve as a member of the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Advisory Council. She has already started BIF’s social media presence in Florida on Facebook and Instagram, and we are excited to have her help in building Brain Injury Florida.

Erick Collazo’s family has been involved with brain injury survivors since 2006 when their eldest son, Andrew, suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). As a family they assembled a team of medical and non-medical professionals to advise, consult, guide and suggest various forms of available treatments and care for TBI survivors not only in Florida but throughout the United States. They found the available information was disparate, limited and lastly frustrating as a caregiver for child. They actively pursued memberships with the previous Brain Injury Association of Florida (BIAF), Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program (BSCIP), Brian Injury Association of America and other associations in order to make the best informed possible decisions for their son and family. They visited multiple TBI centers throughout the United States including the Craig Center, Sheppard Center, Langone NYU Medical Center, since they found the resources and information of available resources to be lacking in the State Of Florida. Today Andrew is 32 years old, happy, and content living with them but has been designated disabled. Even the process of working with federal agencies can become disheartening. Erick believes we can provide guidance not only to survivors and their families but also medical professionals that have little understanding of the laborious “red tape” process to obtain assistance. We welcome Erick’s perspective to the development of Brain Injury Florida.