David A. Ervin, BSc, MA, FAAIDD

David Ervin is CEO of Jewish Foundation for Group Homes, a Maryland-based nonprofit supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in Maryland and Virginia. With more than 30 years in the field, David has extensive professional experience working in and/or consulting to organizations and governments in the US and abroad. He is a published author and speaks internationally on healthcare for people with IDD and other areas of expertise.

David’s current research interests include cultural competence in healthcare delivery to people with IDD and the impact of integrating multiple systems of care. He was a contributing author to the Rubin, et al. seminal volume, Health Care for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities across the Lifespan, and has co-authored several articles in 2019 and 2020 on health outcomes achieved by people with IDD through access to multidisciplinary healthcare models. David serves on a number of policy and practice boards and committees, including the American Assoc. on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities/The Arc of the US Joint Committee on Long Term Services and Supports.

CO-HOST (AADMD) | FACILITATOR

Allen Wong, DDS, EdD, DABSCD, AADMD President-Elect, Professor, University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, Special Olympics Global Clinical Advisor

Dr. Allen Wong has taught postdoctoral general dentistry for 30 years in ( Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) programs and is the director of Pacific's Hospital Dentistry Program and Director of Highland Hospital Restorative Implant program.  He has lectured nationally and internationally in the areas of special care dentistry, rotary endodontics, implant restorations, and minimally invasive dentistry.  He is active with Special Olympics Special Smiles program as one of the two Global Clinical Advisors, President-Elect American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) and Special Care Dentistry Association( SCDA). Immediate Past President of the National Caries Management By Risk Assessment (CAMBRA) Coalition.

Currently, Professor at the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in the Department of Diagnostic Sciences as well as private practice in San Francisco.  He is a member of ADA, CDA and San Francisco Dental Society.  

• Education: University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry

• Advanced Clinical Experience and Advanced Education in General Dentistry Certificates

• Fellowship:  American Academy of Hospital Dentistry, American College of Dentists, International College of Dentist, Pierre Fauchard Academy, Academy of Dentistry International

• Diplomate American Board Special Care Dentistry (Hospital Dentistry)

• Doctorate Professional Education and Leadership (EdD)

• Recent recipient of the Golisano “Move to Include” Award.

• Published in over 40 journal articles and 5 book chapters.

CO-HOST (AAIDD)| FACILITATOR

Margaret A. (Maggie) Nygren, EdD, Executive Director, American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Dr. Nygren has served as the Executive Director and CEO of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) since 2010. Her prior roles include two progressively responsible positions at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) and a Fellowship in the Disabled and Elderly Health Programs Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in Baltimore.

During Dr. Nygren’s tenure at AAIDD, the organization has advanced the knowledge base of effective strategies to improve the inclusion and quality of life of people with IDD through its publications and educational offerings and provided policymakers and the public with evidence to inform policies that impact people with IDD and their families.

Dr. Nygren has authored or co-authored numerous technical reports, issue briefs, and peer-reviewed articles concerning IDD and public policy. She currently serves on a number of national advisory and scientific committees, and has served on the boards directors of the Alliance for Full Participation and the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education.

A Fellow of AAIDD, Dr. Nygren earned a bachelor’s degree from Beloit College (Wisconsin), a master’s degree in clinical psychology from West Virginia University, and a doctorate in organizational leadership from Nova Southeastern University (Florida).

PANELIST - AAIDD

Alison Barkoff, JD Director of Advocacy, Center for Public Representation

Ms. Barkoff is a disability advocate who works to advance the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities. As the Director of Advocacy at the Center for Public Representation, Ms. Barkoff leads disability policy and litigation about community integration, access to healthcare, employment, housing, and inclusive education. She has testified before Congress and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and was appointed to a federal advisory committee on disability employment. She is a co- chair of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities and leads several other disability coalitions.

Ms. Barkoff previously served as Special Counsel for Olmstead Enforcement in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, where she enforced the rights of people with disabilities to live, work and receive services in the community. She also worked on disability policy at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Department of Labor. Prior to her government service, Ms. Barkoff was an attorney with the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and clerked for judges on federal district and appellate courts.

Ms. Barkoff has an adult brother with an intellectual disability and has been involved in disability advocacy most of her life. She has published numerous articles and speaks nationally. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University (New York) and a juris doctor degree with highest honors from Emory University School of Law (Georgia).

PANELIST - AAIDD

Alexandra Bonardi, MA, MS

Ms Bonardi, senior policy associate at HSRI, directs the IDD team and the National Core Indicators effort. She is experienced and skilled in participatory research, integrating her experience as a clinical occupational therapist and her efforts to engage a range of stakeholders in developing effective systems of support. She was principal investigator on several grants, including a falls prevention initiative, a systems change project to enhance access to assistive technology, and a Citizen’s Jury to develop autism data collection recommendations. She is a core member of the collaborators working to advance health equity data for people with IDD.

PANELIST - AAIDD

Julia Bascom, Executive Director Autistic Self Advocacy Network

In her role as the Executive Director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) since 2017, Ms. Bascom has worked to increase both public acceptance of neurodiversity and the authentic representation of people with autism in public policymaking. Most notably, she gave the keynote address at the United Nations celebration of World Autism Awareness Day on April 2, 2018.

Ms. Bascom works with leaders of other national disability organizations to design and champion scalable public policy solutions, build advocacy coalitions, and develop research partnerships. She has served on the boards of directors of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, Advance CLASS, the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination, Allies for Independence, the Alliance for Citizen Directed Supports, and No Pity. She has served on advisory boards, leadership councils, or steering committees for the Centene National Disability Advisory Council, the National Disability Leadership Alliance, Felicity House, and the HSC Foundation’s Youth Transitions Collaborative.

A person who identifies as autistic, Ms. Bascom is a leading advocate for full community inclusion of people with autism. She has authored several articles in peer-reviewed journals concerning gender differences in autism and The Obsessive Joy of Autism (2015, Jessica Kingsley Publishers), a reflection on the lived experience of autism. Ms. Bascom’s contributions in the areas of autism inclusion and acceptance have informed and advanced the work of self-advocates and professionals.

PANELIST - AAIDD

Sue Swenson, President Inclusion International

Ms. Swenson is President of Inclusion International. She has served two presidential administrations in key disability appointments in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Ms. Swenson has also served as the chief executive of The Arc of the United States and the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation.

Before coming to Washington, Ms. Swenson advocated at local and state levels in Minnesota. She was a Kennedy Fellow in the U.S. Senate, where she had lead staff responsibility for the reauthorization of the DD Act and also contributed to the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). She has provided testimony before numerous Congressional committees and in legislatures concerning education and disability issues, and she testified with her son at the United Nations to inform the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), specifically on inclusive education and legal capacity.

A parent of a son with profound and complex disabilities, Ms. Swenson contributes speeches, articles, forewords, and other communications to bring a parent’s voice to the table. She earned degrees from the University of Minnesota and the University of Chicago.

PANELIST - AAIDD

Amy Hewitt, PhD University of Minnesota, Social Worker

Dr. Hewitt currently holds the following positions at the University of Minnesota: Professor, Director of the Institute on Community Integration (UCEDD), Director of the Minnesota Leadership in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND), and Director of the Research and Training Center on Community Living (UMN RRTC). In these roles, Dr. Hewitt promotes the full community inclusion of people with IDD through the enhancement of training, practices, and public policies that affect direct support professionals (DSPs).

Dr. Hewitt is the lead author of the National Community Living Training Curriculum (Elsevier, 2013). This curriculum is a framework for the College of Direct Support on the Elsevier online learning platform’s DirectCourse, which is used by across the country to move staff training beyond compliance and toward a world of possibilities for people with IDD. The courses offered on this platform offer DSPs insight and nationally recognized best practices and prepare their organizations to meet national competency-based credentials such as CQL, the Council on Quality and Leadership accreditation. Dr. Hewitt has also authored or co-authored a number of books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles on competency-based training and worker turnover; wages, benefits, and stability of DSPs; and outcome- focused evaluation of DSP quality.

A Fellow of AAIDD, she has served on the boards of directors of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD; President 2018–2019), AAIDD (President 2014–2015), The Arc Minnesota, and The Arc Minnesota Greater Twin Cities Region.

PANELIST - AAIDD

Susan M. Havercamp, PhD

Dr. Havercamp directs the RRTC on Mental Health and IDD, Health Promotion and Healthcare Parity at the Nisonger Center, and the Ohio Office on Disability and Health to promote health of people with disabilities. Her research focuses on physical and mental health in people with disabilities and has been highly instrumental in bringing national attention to health surveillance of people with IDD. She serves as the disability issue representative for diversity and inclusion for Association of American Medical Colleges. She is a core member of the collaborators working to advance health equity data for people with IDD.

PANELIST - AADMD

Steve Sulkes, MD, AADMD President, Professor of Pediatrics Golisano Children’s Hospital

Dr. Stephen Sulkes attended Boston University for college and medical school. He was fortunate to experience pediatric residency in Syracuse, NY, under Frank Oski, and completed his fellowship in developmental pediatrics (in the era before Boards) at Boston Children’s Hospital, mentored by Dr. Allen Crocker. He then followed his wife and US 90 for two tanks of gas and found himself in Rochester, NY, where he has spent the rest of his career.

Steve has provided primary care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in residential and community settings, and developmental-behavioral pediatric specialty care at Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester. In 1985, he developed Rochester’s fellowship program in developmental-behavioral pediatrics, initially funded by New York State, then by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) program.

A glutton for punishment, he then took on leadership of Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities, the Rochester University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), which he now co-directs. These two programs have given him the opportunity to hang out with colleagues from around the country at meetings of the Association for University Centers on Disability, on whose board he has served, and of the AADMD, where he currently serves as President.

His research and advocacy passions merge around improving health care delivery for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. When he is not working or thanking the nearest deity for his phenomenal family, he leads the Performance Measures, an ad hoc group of obviously non-professional and under-rehearsed singers of song parodies.

PANELIST - AADMD

Seth Keller, MD, Neurologist, Neurology Associates of South Jersey

Seth M. Keller, MD, a board-certified neurologist in private practice with Neurology Associates of South Jersey. He specializes in the evaluation and care of adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) with neurologic complications. He cares for individuals with IDD both in the community as well in New Jersey’s ICF/DD centers. Dr Keller is on the Executive Board of the Arc of Burlington County as well as on the board for The Arc of New Jersey Mainstreaming Medical Care Board.   Dr Keller is the Past President of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD). Dr Keller is the co-chair of the National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices (NTG). Dr. Keller is also the chair of the Adult IDD Section with the American Academy of Neurology.  He is actively involved in national and international I/DD health education as a speaker and webinar and workshop participant. He is a co- author on a number of articles and book chapters relating to aging and dementia in those with IDD. Raised in Philadelphia, PA, Keller received his bachelor’s degree from Temple University, earned his medical degree from The George Washington University School of Medicine in 1989, and completed his neurology internship and residency at Bethesda Naval Hospital. He also served as a neurologist at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Okinawa, Japan.

PANELIST - AADMD

Steve Perlman, DDS, MS, AADMD past president/ Pediatric Dentist, Special Olympics Global Clinical Advisor

Dr. Steven Perlman is a Clinical Professor of Pediatric Dentistry at the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine. For the past 40 years, he has devoted much of his private practice as well as his teaching, to the treatment of children and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities. Dr. Perlman is a past president of the academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities, the Massachusetts Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry.

He is a Fellow of the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities, A fellow of the American College of Dentists and a Diplomate of the American Board of Special Care Dentistry. Dr. Perlman was the first dentist in Massachusetts to receive the Exceptional Physician Award. He is a Distinguished Alumnus of the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine and the first graduate in the history of the Dental School to also be recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of Boston University. He is the recipient of the Harold Berk Award from the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities and the Manny Album Award from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Both awards are the highest honors of the organizations recognizing lifetime achievement in the care of people with disabilities. Dr. Perlman has also been honored by the Pierre Fauchard Academy and in 2002, the American Dental Association presented him with their Access Recognition Award.

In 1993, Dr. Perlman founded Special Olympics Special Smiles, an oral health initiative for the athletes of Special Olympics International. It now has over 200 events each year taking place in every state in the United States and in over 100 countries. He currently serves as their Senior Global Clinical Advisor. Dr. Perlman is cofounder and past president of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) and in 2005 and 2006 served as an advisor to the President’s Committee for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities.

In May 2002, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Foundation named Dr. Perlman Dentist of the Year for his significant contributions to the dental profession and the specialty of pediatric dentistry over an entire career of distinguished service. He has published over 300 articles, co-edited a textbook Treating the Dental Patient with a Developmental Disorder and was a contributor to the Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health in 2001. In 2005, Dr. Perlman received the Exceptional Parent Maxwell J. Schileifer Distinguished Service Award for dedication to improving the lives of individuals with special needs and disabilities as well as the Trudi Birger Community Service Award from Alpha Omega for extraordinary contribution to children with special needs all over the world.

In 2008, in Shanghai, China, Special Olympics honored Dr. Perlman with a special Lifetime Global Leadership Award in promoting human dignity. Among the 12 individuals honored were; Nelson Mandela, Deng Pu Fang, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams, Yao Ming and Nadia Comaneci. In 2009, A. T. Still University of Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health presented Dr. Perlman with the honorary degree: Doctorate of Humane Letters. On February 26, 2009, the Chicago Dental Society presented Dr. Perlman with the 2009 George Cushing Award for promoting awareness of the importance of oral health.

In July 2009, the Academy of General Dentistry honored Dr. Perlman with their Humanitarian Award. In 2010, Massachusetts Special Olympics honored him with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver “Let Me Be Brave” award at a banquet honoring his achievements. Dr. Perlman is an Adjunct Professor of Pediatric Dentistry at the A. T. Still University of Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health, the Lutheran Medical Centers, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He is also Adjunct Professor at the Jamaica School of Technology. He was the 2013 recipient of the Dr. Robert E. Cooke Achievement Award Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service and the Allen Crocker, M.D. Health and Services Award from the state of Massachusetts. He is the 2013 Holyoke Award recipient for his dedication to improving the lives of children and adults with intellectual disabilities from the North Shore Medical Center, which has over 1,000 physicians on their staff.

In 2014, in Berlin, Germany, International Association for Disability and Oral Health awarded him an Honorary Lifetime Membership. In 2017, in Graz, Austria, he received the Golisano Global Leadership Pioneer Award. On September 3, 2018, he received the Honorary Lifetime Member of Arabic Society of Disability and Oral Health. On October 27, 2018, the University of Louisville School of Medicine dedicated an symposium to Dr. Perlman for being an American Healthcare Hero. On May 26, 2019, he received the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s Ann Page Griffin Humanitarian Award.