Dean P. Inman, Ph.D., Senior Scientist and the Director of the Applied Computer Simulation Labs at ORI, passed away in April 2018. He was a longtime friend and colleague at ORI. Dr. Inman worked with various populations of disabled individuals including deaf, blind, deaf-blind, orthopedically-impaired, stroke, spinal cord injured, developmentally delayed, and individuals with closed-head injuries, and pediatric populations with post-Hirschsprungs imperforate ani, and encopresis. He specialized in developing innovative programs that combined technology, special education, physiology, and learning theory to improve the functional capacities of the people he served.

Dr. Inman was nationally and internationally recognized as a pioneer in developing Virtual Reality programs to promote education and rehabilitation in children who are blind, deaf-blind, and severely orthopedically impaired. He presented his innovative material at national and international conferences and conducted in-service training seminars across the country. He also taught orientation and mobility skills to children who are blind including localization, tracking, directionality, and spatial awareness. He also worked at Northwest Pediatric Gastroenterology Clinic in Emmanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon, where he performed neuromuscular diagnosis and treatment.