| Faculty Bios |
| Melissa Afterman MS-HFE, CPE Ergonomics Consultant University of California, San Francisco Melissa Afterman is a Board Certified Professional Ergonomist with 20 years of consulting experience and is part of the the UC Ergonomics Research and Graduate Training Program. She works with organizations on ergonomics program development, risk assessment and mitigation, and tool evaluation and design for industrial and knowledge workers. Melissa earned her Bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly SLO in BioResource/Agricultural Engineering and her Master’s degree in Human Factors/Ergonomics Engineering from San Jose State University. | |
| Robert Fox PhD, CPE Dr. Bob Fox has 40 years of experience in the field of ergonomics, human factors, and physical anthropology. He has worked in General Motors North American and global ergonomics activities from 1993 to 2022, and is both an HFES and IEA Fellow. He has been a Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE) since 1996. | |
| Carisa Harris PhD, CPE Director UCSF/UCB Ergonomics Research & Graduate Training Program Carisa Harris, PhD, CPE is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, and in the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley. She is also Director of the UCSF/UCB Ergonomics Research & Graduate Training Program and Director of the Northern California Center of Occupational & Environmental Health (COEH). She received her PhD in Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley and teaches a variety of classes including Occupational Biomechanics and Industrial Engineering Human Factors Design. Dr. Harris and her team perform research in a variety of areas focused on understanding and preventing work related injuries and improving human performance, productivity and health. Her epidemiological research assesses and adjusts for healthy worker survivor bias in the assessment of physical, personal and work psychosocial factors associated with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and subsequent work disability. Additionally, her team is developing a variety of exposure assessment devices (wearables) for primary and secondary prevention purposes and performs various intervention studies on occupational tasks with high risk of musculoskeletal injuries. The lab has a history of performing research in the construction, computer, medical, hotel and manufacturing sectors. From a global health perspective, Dr. Harris collaborates on research assessing the impact of heavy load carrying among women in developing countries (Nepal, Tanzania, Ethiopia) on associated morbidity. | |
| Meg Honan RPT, MS, CPE Ergonomics Consultant University of California, San Francisco Meg is a consulting ergonomist for the UC Ergonomics Laboratory and course instructor. She was the Ergonomics Program Manager for Genentech’s South San Francisco site until 2018, where she engaged leadership at all levels, and interdisciplinary teams through participatory ergonomics. This sphere of influence includes workplace and equipment design, process and production engineering, Safety, Health and Environment groups and safety improvement teams to integrate ergonomics into Genentech’s continuous improvement process. Her work experience has focused on employee work areas and work method assessment, and training employee based “Ergo-Advocate” improvement teams within Plant, Laboratory, Field operations, R&D and Office work environments. Meg has also been highly engaged in ergonomics as it relates to expanding the role of mobile devices, and how unassigned work environments and flexible work have transformed the way we work today. She received her Master’s at University of California, Berkeley and is a Board Certified Professional Ergonomist. | |
| Jim Potvin PhD Owner Potvin Biomechanics Inc. Dr. Potvin received a B.H.K. in Kinesiology from the University of Windsor (1986) and a M.Sc. (1988) and Ph.D. (1992) in biomechanics from the University of Waterloo. He was a professor for 23 years at the University of Guelph, University of Windsor and McMaster University, where is he now a Professor Emeritus. He is also the owner of Potvin Biomechanics Inc. Dr. Potvin researches in the areas of biomechanics and physical ergonomics. His basic research focuses on the study of joint mechanics and muscle fatigue and his applied research focuses on developing valid ergonomic methods to quantify injury risk in the workplace; including the assessment of manual materials handling tasks and the evaluation of risk of upper limb disorders. Jim has supervised over 70 graduate students, employed 60 graduates, and published over 90 scientific articles. | |
| Michelle Robertson PhD, CPE Executive Director Office Ergonomics Research Committee (OERC) Dr. Robertson is a Board Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE) and holds a Ph.D. in Instructional Technology, M.S. in Systems Management from the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Human Factors/Ergonomics from the University of California Santa Barbara. She is a Fellow of the HFES and IEA. Dr. Robertson has published over 95 articles in human factors/ergonomics and has presented her work nationally and internationally. She has been the recipient of several awards, including the Best Paper Award of HFES; NORA/NIOSH innovative research award for her work on designing a macro-ergonomics training program, the NIOSH/APA Best Intervention Honorable Mention paper for her office ergonomics intervention research, and the HFES Alphonse Chapanis best paper award. | |
| Elizabeth Sanli PhD Instructor Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland Dr. Sanli received her BKin. (2007) and M.Sc. Applied Health Sciences, Kinesiology (2009) from Brock University and her Ph.D. in Kinesiology (2013) from McMaster University. She is currently an Instructor (Research) at the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her research focuses on skills learning and cognitive ergonomics, particularly within vocational training contexts. Elizabeth has published over a dozen scientific articles. | |
