Dr. Marcia J. Scherer's research laid the foundation for understanding why people use and don’t use the technology products that are meant to assist them.   She developed the Matching Person & Technology (MPT) model and assessment process based on the findings from her 1986 dissertation research study that was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Scherer is a rehabilitation research psychologist and founding President of the Institute for Matching Person & Technology.  She is also Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Rochester Medical Center, Editor of the journal Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology and Co-Editor of the book series for CRC Press, Rehabilitation Science in Practice Series.   She is past Project Director, Burton Blatt Institute, Syracuse University and a former member of the National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research, National Institutes of Health.  Dr. Scherer is Fellow of the American Psychological Association, American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, and the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA).  

Dr. Scherer holds a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester where she also earned an MPH degree from the School of Medicine and Dentistry.  She received a master of science degree in rehabilitation counseling from the University at Buffalo and her bachelor of science degree from Syracuse University.

PUBLICATIONS AND FUNDING

Dr. Scherer authored a trilogy of books describing the impact of various categories of technology products and services on people’s learning, health, and life quality.  Each book uses real-life situations to examine how technologies are being used to provide assistance for getting around, seeing and hearing, doing everyday tasks and thinking, remembering, and learning.  

The three books are: 

• Assistive Technologies and Other Supports for People with Brain Impairment (2012)

• Living in the State of Stuck:  How Assistive Technology Impacts the Lives of People With Disabilities 4th Edition

• Connecting to Learn:  Educational and Assistive Technology for People with Disabilities (2004)

She has authored, edited, or co-edited nine other books.  She has published over 95 articles on disability and rehabilitation in peer-reviewed scientific journals and over 40 book chapters; she has been cited over 8700 times by others.  She has been a keynote or invited speaker at scientific meetings both nationally and internationally. She and her collaborators have obtained nearly $8 million of federal funding from NIH, CDC and NIDRR for research involving her Matching Person & Technology model and assessment process. Dr. Scherer’s research has also received funding from Ireland and she is collaborating with researchers in Italy.  The Institute for Matching Person & Technology was a partner on a three-year grant funded by the European Union (2014-2016). 

MOST RECENT PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENT

From 2020-2023 Dr. Scherer served as Co-Chair of the Treatment/Intervention Data: Devices Subgroup for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health. 

 In September 2020, she gave an invited plenary address entitled The Global Importance of Assistive Technology for the Science Digital Side Event at the 75th United Nations General Assembly.  In 2022 she gave an Invited Keynote Address for the Science Summit at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA77).

Dr. Scherer was Co-Convener of the 2017 World Health Organization (WHO) Global Research, Education and Innovation in Assistive Technology (GREAT) Summit, Geneva, Switzerland and was a co-designer and beta tester, World Health Organization, 2021 WHO Academy.  

MOST RECENT MAJOR AWARDS

In 2010 she was presented the Roger G. Barker Award, Division 22 (Rehabilitation Psychology), American Psychological Association.  This annual award is conferred upon an individual who is judged to have made an outstanding lifelong contribution to rehabilitation psychology through empirical research, conceptual/ theoretical development, or both, for her seminal research in understanding the technology user experience.

In 2011 she was awarded the Sam McFarland Memorial Mentor Award, Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) which Recognizes members or groups of members who have influenced, counseled, and nurtured others in the fields of assistive technology or rehabilitation engineering.

She is a 2019 recipient of the AAATE Diamond Award, presented to the first non-European Union citizen, August 28, 2019 during the 15th annual conference of the Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe, Bologna, Italy:    

In 2022, Dr. Scherer was awarded she 13th Glen E. Gresham Visiting Professorship from April 28-29 by the Department of Rehabilitation Science, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York.  The award annually Features a nationally or internationally recognized authority in an area directly related to rehabilitation science. 

Citations

Spotlight article by the CDC

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