Meet the team behind Zebrafish Neuro
We’re a small, but passionate, team working to provide the SCI community with resources to promote autonomy, ownership, and innovation in the world of SCI rehab.
Stephanie Comella
Co-founder & CEO
ZN Educator and Coach
NCPT, specializing in SCI & neurological conditions
Stephanie has worked directly with individuals with spinal cord injury and other neurological disorders since 2011. She blends her formal education in movement science, Pilates, and other mindful movement modalities with neurological science to provide an intuitive, hands-on style of teaching focused on body re-connection.
Stephanie graduated from the University of California, Davis in 2011 with a B.S. in Exercise Biology. She studied sports medicine and exercise-based rehabilitation as an intern with the university's Division I athletes. After graduation in 2011, Stephanie worked for a spinal cord injury & neurological disorder activity-based therapy facility in Pleasanton, CA for four years.
She was first introduced to Pilates in 2014, where she attended a workshop presented by Alejandra Monsalve of Body Wellness Hawaii, which forever changed her thinking about spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Stephanie quickly transitioned to this new model and started a Pilates-based SCI recovery program at a Pilates studio (Absolute Center in Lafayette, CA) in 2015.
Stephanie took three years to develop and write a book about her framework and methods for SCI recovery, co-authored by Theo St. Francis. From the Ground Up was published in 2020 and continues to be read and looked to as a guiding resource by movement professionals and individuals with SCI around the world today.
Stephanie opened a private practice in 2020, working one-on-one with individuals with SCI and other neurological conditions both remotely and at her private studio located in Bend, Oregon. While running the day-to-day operations at Zebrafish Neuro, Stephanie continues to develop a curriculum and teach courses to movement and rehab professionals about her methods around the world.
Stephanie is a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher (NCPT) and continues to educate herself through courses focused on neurological rehabilitation and healing.
The fun stuff:
Stephanie enjoys spending her summers hiking and paddleboarding on the Deschutes River with her two pups and husband, Tony. She enjoys spending time in her garden, tending to her house plants, and spending as much time outdoors in the sun as possible.
Barry Moore
Coach
Program Development
ACSM Certified Inclusive Fitness Trainer
Barry has worked with adaptive athletes in various settings since 2014. He blends his experience in adaptive sports, recreation, rehab and holistic wellness, with his formal education (MSc in Kinesiology) to offer well-rounded recovery programs for individuals of various types of neurological injuries and conditions. He fully believes in the phrase “Movement is Medicine” and enjoys finding new ways for his clients to experience movement.
After graduating from Dublin City University in Ireland in 2014, he moved to Indiana (USA) to pursue a career in adaptive fitness and recreation. During his graduate studies at Indiana University at IUPUI, Barry was awarded a scholarship and graduate assistantship to work and assist in teaching the university’s undergraduate course, “Exercise Prescription for Individuals with Disabilities.” Barry taught and coached senior undergraduate students how to write and implement exercise/physical activity plans through an adaptive physical activity clinic.
After earning his Masters in Kinesiology from Indiana University at IUPUI, Barry worked at NeuroHope as an exercise specialist and wellness program coordinator, providing physical, mental, and social services for clients with neurologic injuries and conditions. He was promoted to Lead Neuro Exercise Specialist in 2023.
Throughout his career, Barry has worked alongside physical and occupational therapists who each had over 30 years of experience in neurorehabilitation and gained experience in various “alternative” methods including Bobath and Affolter, as well as robotic gait training devices such as the Lokomat, Erigo & Andago.
Barry attended our very first professional course in spring 2023 where he finally felt like he found a comprehensive system for his coaching in neurorehabilitation. Barry immediately implemented the coaching principles and the ZN Framework for Recovery which led to plateau breakthroughs with many of his clients.
After demonstrating deep interest in our program and approach to SCI recovery, Barry joined the Zebrafish Neuro team in early 2024 to assist Stephanie in teaching ZN Professional Courses and offer remote 1:1 and group coaching services. Barry will be moving to Bend, OR in May 2024 to offer in-person Summer Training Intensives at ZN HQ and help Stephanie continue to develop ZN programs.
The fun stuff:
Barry grew up in Rush, Co. Dublin, Ireland playing Gaelic Football and snooker with his dad and grandad. An avid sports fan, he supports Manchester United and enjoys playing soccer and golf with his friends. Barry completed the David Goggins’ 4x4x48 challenge in 2021 and 3 Spartan/Tough Mudder races (5k, 10k, 15k) in 2023
Learn more about Barry in his “Meet the Team” podcast interview:
Advisors & Ambassadors
Theo St. Francis
Co-founder & Co-Author of FTGU
Advisor & SCI Athlete Ambassador
C6 incomplete spinal cord injury survivor
During his first semester as an undergraduate at MIT, Theo fractured his C6 vertebra. This immediately propelled him into the world of SCI rehab, where he set out to find restorative therapies that would enable him to return to school and pursue engineering as he had planned.
For Theo, recovery was never solely about walking. Of course, that was always a motivating goal, but most important were 1) to ensure that his brain was not hindered by his body, 2) to independently without making life decisions based on ability and 3) to simply feel in control and like himself again.
Now, all three of those are true. After five years in full-time rehab, working with practitioners across the U.S. and in Canada, and studying anatomy textbooks as if his life depended on them (it sort of did), Theo returned to MIT to pursue Aerospace Engineering, where he graduated in 2023. He fulfilled his dream of living in Brazil for 3 months before beginning his PhD in Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech with a focus on the science of fluids in low-gravity environments such as in orbit around Earth, on the Moon, and on Mars.