Cara Meixner

Cara Meixner, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at James Madison University and an award-winning teacher and scholar whose work is deeply informed by both professional expertise and lived experience. A brain injury survivor and former caregiver, Dr. Meixner brings a personal, relational lens to her research, teaching, and service, centering the voices and experiences of individuals and families navigating brain injury over time. Dr. Meixner conducts mixed-methods,

community-based research in brain injury and advances critical research methodologies, such as diffractive positionality and analysis. She is the principal investigator on Virginia’s Traumatic Brain Injury State Partnership Grant, where individuals with lived experience of brain injury and caregiving serve as core members of the project team. Her scholarship has been published in journals such as Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Psychology, and Brain Injury, and she serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Humanistic Counseling. In addition to her academic work, Dr. Meixner is a governor-appointed member of the Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative Advisory Board and serves on the triage team for Brain Injury Connections of the Shenandoah Valley. Her prior service includes chairperson of the Virginia Brain Injury Council and member of the Moody-Galveston Brain Injury Conference.