Leonard N. Matheson, PhD
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Dr. Leonard Matheson is a psychologist, author, and inventor who is a pioneer in the field of occupational rehabilitation. He is the originator of work hardening and has participated in setting national standards of practice for work hardening and functional capacity evaluation. The chapters on functional capacity evaluation in the American Medical Association’s Disability Evaluation handbook are among more than 120 peer-reviewed scientific papers and chapters in textbooks.
Dr. Matheson has designed many of the tests and treatment models that are in use in occupational rehabilitation today. His tests have been translated into more than two dozen languages. He has been a consultant to several Fortune 500 employers and insurance carriers, the Social Security Administration, the United States Congress, and hundreds of rehabilitation centers and governmental agencies in the United States, Canada, and other countries. He has testified before the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC. His doctoral work at the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of Southern California focused on cognitive function.
Among Dr. Matheson’s current projects is the development of new methods to evaluate and treat people who have brain injury and the reliable measurement of physical functional ability with self-report measures. He served on the editorial board of Spine for ten years and currently serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation and is on the editorial board of Work. He recently retired after fifteen years as an Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy and Neurology at the Washington University School of Medicine.
He maintains an active consulting practice in Chesterfield, Missouri, working with people who have physical, neurological and psychological disabilities, as well as with businesses and professionals on career satisfaction and employee selection. He is a licensed psychologist, certified vocational evaluator, and certified rehabilitation counselor. He uses a cognitive behavioral approach to assist his clients to learn positive psychology strategies to manage their lives optimally.
Dr. Matheson is the married father of two and has two grandchildren. He and his wife Mary are active at Windsor Crossing Community Church. The EpicRehab motto, “To recognize and develop the value in each of us”, has guided his professional development and has been the focus of his career for 37 years. He is delighted that the number of days that he has not wanted to go to work can be counted on the fingers of one hand.